Before the United
States won independence from Britain, pirates from the Barbary states (Morocco,
Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli) had a long history of depradations in the
Mediterranean, beginning as far back as the era of the Crusades. In the
sixteenth century, upon becoming part of the powerful Ottoman Empire, they
expanded into the Atlantic, raiding not only shipping but even European coastal
towns as far north as Iceland. Plunder was not their greatest prize; more than
anything, they sought captives, some to hold for ransom but most to sell into
slavery in the Ottoman and Arab worlds. It is estimated that over one million
Europeans were thus enslaved, some doomed to wretched lives as labourers, perhaps
manning the oars of a pirate galley, some kept as house slaves, a lucky few
given positions as high-level officials, women, and especially young boys, kept
as sex slaves. The European powers never subdued the pirates or their political
masters militarily, apparently finding it preferable to make annual “tribute”
payments as well as putting up with periodic demands for luxury gifts, such as
diamond-studded daggers and gold-inlaid pistols, by the various beys and
pashaws.
At the end of the War
of Independence in 1783, the U.S. lost its protection under Britain`s deal with
the Barbary states, and soon several American merchant ships were captured. The
Americans on board were enslaved, chained, and set to work breaking rocks.
Several died.
The U.S. was not in a
position to do much. It had sold off its Continental Navy, and its treasury was
so depleted that tribute payments to pirate nations were almost beyond its
capacity. Yet it needed to keep its trade with Europe and the Mediterranean free
in order to pay off its war debts. In 1786 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams,
then ambassadors to France and Britain respectively, met in London with the
ambassador from Tripoli to Britain, hoping to negotiate a reasonable settlement
that would free American captives and protect American shipping. Instead, they
were met with demands for tribute payments of enormous proportions. And, what
shocked them even more, the ambassador blithely told them that the Quran made
it a right and a duty for Muslims to plunder and enslave unbelievers. By 1793
ten American merchant ships had been captured and hundreds of American citizens
were imprisoned. The pirates built a new fleet aimed specifically at American
shipping.
Although it took
thirty years of effort, both diplomatic and military, the young U.S. finally
achieved what no other nation had done, ending Barbary piracy through military
force, although not without some serious setbacks. Today the First and Second
Barbary Wars are mostly forgotten, the memory kept alive mainly by the U.S.
Marine Corps in a song memorializing their first victory on land (“From the
halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli”) and in their ceremonial sword,
which is fashioned after the Ottoman-style, Mameluke sword presented to the
Marine commander who won that battle.
Thomas Jefferson and
the Tripoli Pirates is a vivid account the Barbary wars, well researched from original
sources, detailed enough to satisfy ordinary curiosity but with no unnecessary
digressions, always keeping its focus on action and narrative. The big surprise
of the story is how badly the effort went for the U.S. for so long, the number
of mistakes, defeats, and humiliations. Interesting characters appear amid all
the action. Remarkable for his lack of heroism is the American naval commander,
Richard Morris, sent with the U.S.S. Chesapeake
to blockade Tripoli. His wife wrote to the secretary of the navy for permission
to accompany her husband on the mission and before the day of departure showed
up with their son, too. Morris delayed his departure a month or two to avoid
the rough weather of early spring. Arriving at Gibraltar for repairs, he
delayed for three more months while he and Mrs. Morris enjoyed the local social
life, hobnobbing with the British elite. Finally under direct orders to join
the blockade immediately, he sailed out of Gibraltar but only to visit friendly
ports along the southern European coast. In the first report he gave of his
progress, he explained that he did not plan to advance toward North Africa
until early in the following year because of the “advanced period of the
season.” Not long afterward, he was relieved of duty. There is also the
renegade Scotsman Peter Lisle who, after being captured, converted to Islam,
took the name Murat Rais, and became captain of a pirate ship. Eventually he
was promoted to admiral of Tripoli’s navy, and he married a daughter of the dey
of Tripoli. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams presented a stark contrast. Adams
always advocated negotiating with the pirate nations, even after the dey of
Tripoli declared war. During his term as president he reduced the size of the
navy. Early on Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, decided that force would be
necessary to bring the pirates to heel, and throughout his career as
ambassador, secretary of defense, and as president, he sought to expand the
navy and gain the authority to use military force.
One of the most
shocking incidents occurred when an American ship, arriving with tribute in
Algiers, was found not to have all the promised goods. Infuriated, the dey took
control of the ship, replaced the American flag with his own, and forced the
American crew to sail to Istanbul with the tribute he owed to the Ottoman
emperor. Since slaves were part of his cargo, an American naval ship suffered
the humiliation, not just of serving as an Ottoman cargo ship but of working as
a slave transport.
After several
military engagements, not all of which redounded to American glory, treaties
were signed with all four Barbary nations. Then, during the War of 1812 Britain
urged them to capture American ships again and take captives, and Algiers
declared war on America. When the war with Britain ended in 1815, a much
stronger U.S. sent a formidable fleet of eleven warships to the North African
ports as gunboat diplomacy, and the era of Barbary piracy came to a quick end.
