In 1856, privateering (or seizure of a belligerent country's merchant ships as a private enterprise) lost international sanction under the Declaration of Paris. From 1861-65 European countries built high speed ships to run the Union Blockade during the American Civil War. Some of these were armed and served as Confederate States Navy raiders. * 1890 - German and British shipyards built new civilian ships designed for wartime conversion, and France, Italy, Japan, Austria-Hungary, and the United States made similar agreements with their shipyards.