---
kind: "section"
citation: "33 U.S.C. § 386"
title: "33"
title_heading: "Navigation and Navigable Waters"
number: "386"
heading: "Commissioning private vessels for seizure of piratical vessels"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/33/386"
units:
  - "Chapter 7 — Regulations for the Suppression of Piracy"
---

# §386. Commissioning private vessels for seizure of piratical vessels


The President is authorized to instruct the commanders of the public-armed vessels of the United States, and to authorize the commanders of any other armed vessels sailing under the authority of any letters of marque and reprisal granted by Congress, or the commanders of any other suitable vessels, to subdue, seize, take, and, if on the high seas, to send into any port of the United States, any vessel or boat built, purchased, fitted out, or held as mentioned in [section 385 of this title](/usc/33/385.md).


## Source credit

(R.S. § 4298.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

R.S. § 4298 derived from act Aug. 5, 1861, ch. 48, § 2, 12 Stat. 315.