Soon the illegal privateers were taking cargo ships in the Gulf of Mexico and all up and down the East Coast of the United States. An early Union victory was the capture of the "CSS Savannah" which had just been out to sea two days. The crew quickly found themselves on trial for piracy. The Confederacy threatened to hang captured Northern seamen if the crew was executed. In the end, the Union court dropped the charges of piracy and held the crew as prisoners of war. The crew was later traded in a prisoner exchange.