Dodged my point. They treated him as if he was a real captain of a real ship of war of a sovereign nation. They did not treat him as if he were a criminal in rebellion against his government.
This business of "rebellion" was a carefully crafted legal fiction created for the sole purpose of lending some quasi legitimacy to the deliberate attack on another country.
17 posted on 06/20/2018 6:51:07 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp
("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")