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142-615: The wars were largely a reaction to piracy by the Barbary states . Since the 16th century, North African pirates had captured ships and even raided European coastal areas across the Mediterranean Sea . Originally starting out with the goal of capturing individuals for the domestic North African slave trade, the focus later shifted to kidnapping for ransom. By the 19th century, pirate activity had declined, but Barbary pirates continued to demand tribute from American merchant vessels in

284-687: A Turkish harem, presumably captured by Barbary corsairs. Rossini 's opera L'italiana in Algeri is based on the capture of several slaves by Barbary corsairs led by the bey of Algiers . Original six frigates of the United States Navy The United States Congress authorized the original six frigates of the United States Navy with the Naval Act of 1794 on March 27, 1794, at

426-530: A better alternative. In 1793, Portugal reached a peace agreement with Algeria, ending its blockade of the Mediterranean, thus allowing Algerian ships back into the Atlantic Ocean. By late in the year, eleven American merchant ships had been captured. This, combined with the actions of Britain, finally led President Washington to request Congress to authorize a navy. On January 2, 1794, by

568-683: A book about the practise of piracy in the Mediterranean, aptly titled the Discourse of Pirates . In the book, Mainwaring outlined potential methods to hunt down and eliminate piracy. The most famous of the corsairs in North Africa were the Barbarossa brothers, Aruj and Khayr al-Din . They, and two less well-known brothers all became Barbary corsairs in the service of the Ottoman Empire who later became "Kings" when they established

710-479: A fight from which Belvidera eventually escaped. Pursuing a fleet of merchant ships, President sailed to within a day's journey of the English Channel before returning to Boston, capturing seven merchant ships en route. Her second cruise began with a pursuit of HMS  Nymphe and HMS  Galatea , but she failed to overtake either of them. Later prizes were the packet ship Swallow , carrying

852-433: A form of piracy and that their goal was mostly to seize ships to obtain spoils, money and slaves. Muslim sources, however, sometimes refer to the "Islamic naval jihad"—casting the conflicts as part of a sacred mission of war under Allah, differing from the more familiar form of jihad only in being waged at sea. Accounts of Andalusian Muslims being persecuted by the notoriously ruthless Spanish Inquisition —willingly abetted by

994-748: A guess about their total". Professor Ian Blanchard, an expert on African trade and economic history at the University of Edinburgh, said that Davis's work was solid and that a number over a million was in line with his expectations. Davis notes that his calculations were based on observers reports of approximately 35,000 European Christian slaves on the Barbary Coast at any one time during the late 1500s and early 1600s, held in Tripoli, Tunis and, mostly, Algiers. The history of Muslim enslavement of white Europeans has been cited by some as contextualising

1136-431: A heavy financial drain and by 1799 the U.S. was in arrears of $ 140,000 to Algiers and some $ 150,000 to Tripoli. Many Americans resented these payments, arguing that the money would be better spent on a navy that would protect American ships from the attacks of the Barbary pirates, and in the 1800 United States presidential election , Thomas Jefferson won against incumbent second President John Adams in part by noting that

1278-539: A hundred days a year, but when the slaves assigned to them were on land, they were forced to do hard manual labor. There were exceptions: galley slaves of the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople would be permanently confined to their galleys, and often served extremely long terms, averaging around nineteen years in the late seventeenth-century and early eighteenth-century periods. These slaves rarely got off

1420-489: A hundred or more fighting men armed with cutlasses and small arms. The Barbary navies were not battle fleets. When they sighted a European frigate , they fled. The scope of corsair activity began to diminish in the latter part of the 17th century, as the more powerful European navies started to compel the Barbary states to make peace and cease attacking their shipping. However, the ships and coasts of Christian states without such effective protection continued to suffer until

1562-655: A lack of written correspondence, making determination of the actual designers involved difficult to assemble. Secretary Knox reached out to ship architects and builders in Philadelphia, which was the largest seaport in North America at the time and possibly the largest freshwater port in the world. This meant that many discussions of ship design took place in Knox's office, resulting in few if any records of these discussions being available to historians. Joshua Humphreys

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1704-413: A large amount of currency, and eight other merchant ships. President returned on December 31. Her third cruise of the war began April 30, 1813, with her pursuit of HMS  Curlew , but she once again lost a race to overtake an enemy ship. President spent five months at sea, capturing several merchant ships, but the only highlight was the capture of HMS  Highflyer in late September. After

1846-671: A lengthy voyage off the Cape Verde Islands and the coast of Brazil. During this long cruise she captured only four small merchant ships, returning home in late 1813. Because of a lack of materials to repair her, she was placed in reserve for the remainder of the war. In 1815 she returned to active service for the Second Barbary War under Captain Charles Morris , and in August Congress joined

1988-663: A maritime blockade on North Africa. When this proposal was presented to the concerned countries, France refused, and Spain apologized for not accepting it, because of its recent treaty with Algiers. The proposal was favored by Portugal , Malta , Naples , Venice , Denmark and Sweden . But the project failed when the US Congress objected to it for fear of its high financial costs, and more Algerian ships attacked American ships because of their lack of association with Algiers by any treaty in this period. Thus, in February 1, 1791,

2130-563: A namesake of the Chesapeake Bay , ignoring the previous Constitutional naming protocol. United States was built in Philadelphia , launched on May 10, 1797, and commissioned on July 11, 1797. On October 25, 1812, United States fought and captured the frigate HMS  Macedonian . United States was decommissioned on February 24, 1849, and put in reserve at Norfolk, Virginia. In 1861, while still in reserve at Norfolk,

2272-548: A narrow margin of 46–44, the House of Representatives voted to authorize building a navy and formed a committee to determine the size, cost, and type of ships to be built. Secretary of War Henry Knox submitted proposals to the committee outlining the design and cost of warships. To appease the strong opposition to the upcoming bill, the Federalist Party inserted a clause into the bill that would bring an abrupt halt to

2414-522: A naval force had been a topic of debate in the new American republic for years. Opponents argued that building a navy would only lead to calls for a navy department, and the staff to operate it. This would further lead to more appropriations of funds, which would eventually spiral out of control, giving birth to a "self-feeding entity". Those opposed to a navy felt that payment of tribute to the Barbary States and economic sanctions against Britain were

2556-793: A new state in the Maghreb known as the Ottoman Regency of Algiers . They were called the Barbarossas (Italian for Redbeards) after the red beard of Oruç, the eldest. Oruç captured the island of Djerba for the Hafsids in 1502 or 1503. He often attacked Spanish coasts and their territories on the coast of North Africa; during one failed attempt in Béjaia in 1512 he lost his left arm to a cannonball. The eldest Barbarossa also went to capture Algiers in 1516. Well aided by his Berber allies from

2698-788: A number of other noted novels, including Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe , The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, père , The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame , The Sea Hawk and the Sword of Islam by Rafael Sabatini , The Algerine Captive by Royall Tyler , Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian , the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson , The Walking Drum by Louis Lamour , Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting , Corsair by Clive Cussler , Tanar of Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs , and Angélique in Barbary by Anne Golon . Miguel de Cervantes ,

2840-581: A peace agreement in favor of America. The dey was forced to pay $ 10,000 in compensation and to renounce all that America had been paying him. When the United States military efforts of the early 19th century were successful against the pirates, partisans of the Democratic-Republicans contrasted their presidents' refusals to buy off the pirates by paying tribute with the failure of the preceding Federalist administration to suppress

2982-611: A position of neutrality . Thus, the countries of Europe and the United States of America failed to ally against the countries of the Islamic Maghreb and Algiers in particular, and the matter so remained until the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815. James Madison recommended that Congress declare the "existence of a state of war between the United States and the Dey and Regency of Algiers." While Congress did not formally declare

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3124-400: A ship for transport. An additional set of more detailed molds was required for each frigate for the construction crews to follow. Secretary Knox suggested to President Washington that six different construction sites be used, one for each ship, rather than building at one particular shipyard. Separate locations enabled the allotted funds to stimulate each local economy, and Washington approved

3266-527: A smaller scale. Europeans at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818 discussed possible retaliation. In 1824 a British fleet under Admiral Sir Harry Burrard Neale bombarded Algiers. Corsair activity based in Algiers did not entirely cease until France conquered the state in 1830 . From bases on the Barbary Coast, North Africa, the Barbary pirates raided ships traveling through the Mediterranean and along

3408-542: A so called 'slave fund' (slavekasse) was established by the state in 1715. Funds were brought in through a compulsory insurance sum for seafarers. 165 slaves were ransomed by this institution between 1716 and 1736. Between 1716 and 1754 nineteen ships from Denmark-Norway were captured with 208 men; piracy was thus a serious problem for the Danish merchant fleet. During the American Revolutionary War ,

3550-415: A speed to escape from a ship of the line . The design was unusual for the time, being deep, long on keel and narrow of beam (width); mounting very heavy guns; incorporating a diagonal scantling (rib) scheme aimed at limiting hogging ; while giving the ships extremely heavy planking. This gave the hull greater strength than the hulls of other navies' frigates. Knox advised President Washington that

3692-550: A squadron and began patrol duties, subsequently making appearances off Tripoli and Tunis. Returning to Boston, she decommissioned in December. She patrolled against piracy in the Gulf of Mexico from December 1816 to July 1817 and made a voyage to South America in 1818. Early in 1819 she made a voyage to China, becoming the first U.S. warship to visit that country. In 1822 she served as the flagship of James Biddle , combating piracy in

3834-496: A state of war, they did pass legislation, enacted on March 3, 1815, that authorized the president to use the U.S. Navy, "as judged requisite by the President" to protect the "commerce and seamen" of the United States on the "Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas." Congress also authorized the president to grant the U.S. Navy the ability to seize all vessels and goods belonging to Algiers. The legislation also authorized

3976-683: A three-year, 90-port tour of the nation, and in 1997 after a comprehensive restoration to her 1812 configuration she finally sailed again under her own power for her 200th birthday. The oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, Constitution is berthed at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Massachusetts and is used to promote understanding of the Navy's role in war and peace through educational outreach, historic demonstration, and active participation in public events. Constitution

4118-585: A total cost of $ 688,888.82 (equivalent to $ 19,833,259.52 in 2024). These ships were built during the formative years of the United States Navy , on the recommendation of designer Joshua Humphreys for a fleet of frigates powerful enough to engage any frigates of the French or British navies, yet fast enough to evade any ship of the line . One of these original six, the USS ; Constitution ,

4260-401: Is generally credited as the designer of the six frigates, but Revolutionary War ship captains John Foster Williams and John Barry and shipbuilders Josiah Fox and James Hackett also were consulted. The final design plans submitted to President Washington for approval called for building new frigates rather than purchasing merchant ships and converting them into warships, an option under

4402-574: Is open to visitors year-round, providing tours, with the USS Constitution Museum nearby. Chesapeake was built at the Gosport Navy Yard , Virginia , and was launched on December 2, 1799. The Chesapeake was the only one of the six frigates to be disowned by Humphreys due to liberties taken by her Master Constructor Josiah Fox during construction relating to overall dimensions. The frigate that became Chesapeake

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4544-853: Is still in commission and is the world's oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat. After the Revolutionary War , a heavily indebted United States disbanded the Continental Navy , and in August 1785, lacking funds for ship repairs, sold its last remaining warship, the Alliance . But almost simultaneously troubles began in the Mediterranean when Algiers seized two American merchant ships and held their crews for ransom. Minister to France Thomas Jefferson suggested an American naval force to protect American shipping in

4686-420: Is thought that around 8,500 new slaves were needed annually to replenish numbers—about 850,000 captives over the century from 1580 to 1680. By extension, for the 250 years between 1530 and 1780, the figure could easily have been as high as 1,250,000. Historians welcomed Davis's attempt to quantify the number of European slaves, but were divided as to the accuracy of the unorthodox methodology which he relied on in

4828-656: The Chesapeake – Leopard affair occurred when the Chesapeake was fired upon by HMS  Leopard for refusing to comply with a demand to permit a search for deserters from the Royal Navy . After several quick broadsides from Leopard , to which the Chesapeake replied with only one gun, the Chesapeake struck her colors . HMS Leopard refused the surrender, searched the Chesapeake , captured four alleged deserters, and sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia . Chesapeake

4970-747: The Berbers . The corsairs predation covered the Mediterranean, and extended south along West Africa 's Atlantic, even to the eastern coast of Brazil, into the North Atlantic Ocean raiding the coasts of Ireland and western Britain, and going as far north as Iceland, but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean. In addition to seizing ships, they engaged in razzias , raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain , and Portugal, but also in England , Scotland ,

5112-621: The Dauphin were captured by Algerian pirates in July 1785 and the survivors forced into slavery, their ransom set at $ 60,000. A rumor that Benjamin Franklin , who was en route from France to Philadelphia about that time, had been captured by Barbary pirates, caused considerable upset in the U.S. Thomas Jefferson , who was elected to the presidency twice, was inclined to the idea of confronting Algiers with force. He wrote in his autobiography: I

5254-666: The East Indies , but soon after her masts were destroyed in a gale, forcing her return to port; repairs took six months. She sailed again on July 26 for the West Indies and made uneventful patrols through April 1801. Under the command of John Rodgers , Congress sailed for the Mediterranean in June 1804 and performed services during the First Barbary War . She assumed blockade duties off Tripoli and participated in

5396-556: The First Barbary War . She is most well known for her actions during the War of 1812 against Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated four British warships : HMS  Guerriere , HMS  Java , HMS  Cyane , and HMS  Levant . The battle with the Guerriere earned her the nickname of " Old Ironsides " and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping . She continued to actively serve

5538-523: The French conquest of Algeria in 1830 and so-called "pacification" by the French during the mid-to-late 19th century. The Barbary corsairs were active from medieval times to the 1800s. Both Europeans (e.g. the Dum Diversas ) and Muslims considered themselves to be waging holy wars against each other during this era. European and American historical sources bluntly consider these operations to be

5680-646: The Jay Treaty prompted Congress to debate authorizing completion and manning of the three frigates. Secretary McHenry reported that an additional $ 200,000 would be required for this stage of construction, touching off grumbling in Congress over the escalating costs. Nevertheless, on July 1, Congress approved the completion and appropriated the requested funds. When the next session of Congress convened in November, Secretary McHenry again requested funds to complete

5822-545: The Kerkennah Islands off the coast of Tunisia and took away almost 500 Muslim captives. Between 1568 and 1634 the Knights of Saint Stephen may have captured about 14,000 Muslims, with perhaps one-third taken in land raids and two-thirds taken on captured ships. Ireland was subject to a similar attack. In June 1631 Murat Reis, with corsairs from Algiers and armed troops of the Ottoman Empire, stormed ashore at

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5964-572: The Kingdom of Kuku , he vanquished a Spanish expedition intended to replace the Spanish vassal ruler of Algiers that he executed with his son along with everybody he suspected would oppose him in favor of his Spanish foes, including local Zayyanid rulers. He was finally captured and killed by the Spanish in Tlemcen in 1518 , and put on display. Oruç, based mainly on land, was not the best-known of

6106-686: The Little Belt affair , President , under the command of Captain John Rodgers, mistakenly identified HMS  Little Belt as the frigate HMS  Guerriere while searching for impressed American sailors taken by the Royal Navy. Though the sequence of events is disputed on both sides, both ships discharged cannon for several minutes before Rodgers determined that Little Belt was a much smaller ship than Guerriere . Little Belt suffered serious damage and thirty-one killed or wounded in

6248-531: The Maghreb countries, the U.S. announced its desire to establish friendly relations with Algiers in February 1792, and reported this to the Dey Hassan III Pasha, like how Great Britain bought peace and security for its ships. When the American government began negotiating with Algiers, the Dey asked for $ 2,435,000 as the price for the peace contract and the ransom of the prisoners, then reduced

6390-547: The Mediterranean , south along West Africa 's Atlantic seaboard and into the North Atlantic as far north as Iceland , but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean. In addition to seizing merchant ships , they engaged in razzias , raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, and Iceland. While such raids began after

6532-585: The Netherlands , Ireland, and as far away as Iceland. The main purpose of their attacks was to capture Europeans for the slave market in North Africa. The Barbary states were nominally part of the Ottoman Empire , but in practice they were operating independently and the Ottoman government in Constantinople was not involved. Since the 1600s, the Barbary pirates had attacked British shipping along

6674-442: The United States Navy , in order to stop these attacks and the demands for more and more money. The United States had signed treaties with all of the Barbary states after its independence was recognized between 1786 and 1794 to pay tribute in exchange for leaving American merchantmen alone, and by 1797, the United States had paid out $ 1.25 million or a fifth of the government's annual budget in tribute. These demands for tribute imposed

6816-504: The dey followed on April 12, 1815 informing him of America's decision to enter into war against him and giving him the choice between peace and war after reminding him of the horrors of war and the advantages of peace and understanding. In the year 1816, Dey Omar answered this letter and offered America the renewal of the previous treaty concluded during the reign of Hassan Pasha (1791-1798). Madison answered him on August 21 and asked him to resume negotiations. These were renewed and ended with

6958-478: The mainmast 2 ft (61 cm) farther aft. In the case of President , construction was begun at New York in the shipyard of Foreman Cheesman and work on her was discontinued in 1796. Construction resumed in 1798, under Christian Bergh and naval constructor William Doughty. Rated at 44 guns, President was the last frigate to be completed, launching from New York City on April 10, 1800, with Captain Thomas Truxtun in command. She departed for patrols during

7100-406: The plague . English corsair Jack, or John, Ward was once called "beyond doubt the greatest scoundrel that ever sailed from England" by the English ambassador to Venice. Ward was a privateer for Queen Elizabeth during her war with Spain; after the end of the war, he became a corsair. With some associates he captured a ship in about 1603 and sailed it to Tunis; he and his crew converted to Islam . He

7242-482: The 16th and 19th centuries. However, to extrapolate his numbers, Davis assumes the number of European slaves captured by Barbary pirates were constant for a 250-year period, stating: There are no records of how many men, women and children were enslaved, but it is possible to calculate roughly the number of fresh captives that would have been needed to keep populations steady and replace those slaves who died, escaped, were ransomed, or converted to Islam. On this basis it

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7384-472: The 19th century. Between 1580 and 1680, corsairs were said to have captured about 850,000 people as slaves and from 1530 to 1780 as many as 1.25 million people were enslaved. However, these numbers are estimated and provided by only one historian, Robert Davis, and have been questioned by others like David Earle. Some of these corsairs were European outcasts and converts (renegade) such as John Ward and Zymen Danseker . Hayreddin Barbarossa and Oruç Reis ,

7526-401: The 44-gun and one of the 36-gun frigates. The three frigates nearest to completion, United States , Constellation and Constitution , were chosen. Construction of Chesapeake , Congress , and President was halted, and some of their construction materials were sold or placed in storage. The earlier predictions of Henry Knox regarding costs of the frigates came to a head in early 1797. Of

7668-414: The Barbarossas. His youngest brother Hızır (later called Hayreddin or Kheir ed-Din) was a more traditional corsair. After capturing many crucial coastal areas, Hayreddin was appointed admiral-in-chief of the Ottoman sultan's fleet . Under his command the Ottoman Empire was able to gain and keep control of the Mediterranean for over thirty years. Barbaros Hızır Hayreddin Pasha died in 1546 of a fever, possibly

7810-419: The Barbary Coast during peacetime to pursue their trade. These outcasts, who had converted to Islam, brought up-to-date naval expertise to the piracy business, and enabled the corsairs to make long-distance slave-catching raids as far away as Iceland and Newfoundland . Infamous corsair Henry Mainwaring , who was initially a lawyer and pirate-hunter, later returned home to a royal pardon. Mainwaring later wrote

7952-405: The Barbary states and ending the first war. During the War of 1812 , with the encouragement of the United Kingdom, the Barbary corsairs resumed their attacks on American vessels. Following the conclusion of the War of 1812 and America's peace with Britain, James Madison , Jefferson's successor, directed military forces against the Barbary states in the Second Barbary War. Lasting only three days,

8094-437: The Barbary states attracted English pirates, many of whom had previously operated as privateers under Queen Elizabeth I , but found themselves unwanted by her successor King James VI and I . Where in England these pirates were reviled, in the Barbary states they were respected, and had access to safe markets in which to resupply and repair their ships. Many of these pirates converted to Islam. A notable Christian action against

8236-409: The Barbary states occurred in 1607, when the Knights of Saint Stephen (under Jacopo Inghirami ) sacked Bona in Algeria, killing 470 and taking 1,464 captives. This victory is commemorated by a series of frescoes painted by Bernardino Poccetti in the "Sala di Bona" of Palazzo Pitti , Florence . In 1611 Spanish galleys from Naples , accompanied by the galleys of the Knights of Malta , raided

8378-403: The Barbary states. Similar raids were undertaken from Salé (see Salé Rovers ) and other ports in Morocco . Barbary corsairs captured thousands of merchant ships and repeatedly raided coastal towns in Europe. As a result, residents abandoned their former villages on long stretches of coast in Spain and Italy. The raids were such a problem that coastal settlements were seldom undertaken until

8520-438: The French frigate Vengeance . Although Vengeance was not captured or sunk, she was so badly damaged that her captain intentionally grounded the ship to prevent her from sinking. Constellation was struck in 1853 and broken up. During construction of a new Constellation in 1854, it was claimed that it was a "repair" of the original ship (a common dodge of the time for political reasons) leading to uncertainty over which ship

8662-414: The Mediterranean, but his recommendations were initially met with indifference, as were the recommendations of John Jay , who proposed building five 40-gun warships. Shortly afterward, Portugal began blockading Algerian ships from entering the Atlantic Ocean , thus providing temporary protection for American merchant ships. Piracy against American merchant shipping had not been a problem when under

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8804-442: The Mediterranean. Refusal to pay would result in the capture of American ships and goods, and often the enslavement or ransoming of crew members. After Thomas Jefferson became president of the US in March 1801, he sent a U.S. Navy fleet to the Mediterranean to combat the Barbary pirates. The fleet bombarded numerous fortified cities in present-day Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria, ultimately extracting concessions of safe conduct from

8946-430: The Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 710s, the terms "Barbary pirates" and "Barbary corsairs" are normally applied to the raiders active from the 16th century onwards, when the frequency and range of the slavers' attacks increased. In that period, Algiers , Tunis and Tripoli came under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire , either as directly administered provinces or as autonomous dependencies known as

9088-476: The Naval Act were not available until June 1794. Shipbuilder John T. Morgan was hired by the War Department to procure the live oak and supervise the cutting and crews. Morgan wrote to Humphreys in August reporting that it had hardly ceased raining since his arrival and "the whole country is almost under water". Captain John Barry was sent to check up on progress in early October; he found Morgan and several persons sick with malaria . Timber cutting finally began when

9230-425: The Naval Act. The designers realized that the fledgling United States could not match the European states in the number of ships afloat. Nevertheless, this gave the Americans the distinct advantage in that their ship design was not constrained by access to timber nor limited crew. This allowed the designers to plan for enormous ships given their role. They had the ability to overpower other frigates, but were capable of

9372-455: The Ottoman Empire, and (briefly) the independent Sultanate of Morocco . This war began during Thomas Jefferson's term when he refused to pay an amount that greatly increased when he became president. A U.S. naval fleet was sent on May 13, 1801, under the command of Commodore Richard Dale . Other notable officers in the fleet included Stephen Decatur , assigned to the frigate USS  Essex and William Bainbridge in command of Essex which

9514-407: The Ottoman sultan in 1800. As Lieutenant and consul William Eaton informed newly appointed Secretary of State John Marshall in 1800, "It is a maxim of the Barbary States, that 'The Christians who would be on good terms with them must fight well or pay well.'" America paid to Algiers during the presidency of George Washington and his successor, John Adams (1797-1801), $ 1,000,000, or a fifth of

9656-415: The Quasi-War on August 5 and recaptured several American merchant ships. After the peace treaty, she returned to the United States in March 1801. In May 1801 she sailed under the command of Richard Dale for service in the First Barbary War. She made appearances off Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, capturing a Greek vessel with Tripolitan soldiers aboard and participating in a prisoner exchange. She returned to

9798-453: The Spanish and Portuguese. There are several cases of Sephardic Jews , including Sinan Reis and Samuel Pallache , who upon fleeing Iberia turned to attacking the Spanish Empire 's shipping under the Ottoman flag. During the first period (1518–1587), the beylerbeys were admirals of the sultan , commanding great fleets and conducting war operations for political ends. They were slave-hunters and their methods were ferocious. After 1587,

9940-511: The Spanish author, was captive for five years as a slave in the bagnio of Algiers, and reflected his experience in some of his fictional (but not directly autobiographical) writings, including the Captive's tale in Don Quixote , his two plays set in Algiers, El Trato de Argel (The Treaty of Algiers) and Los Baños de Argel (The Baths of Algiers), and episodes in a number of other works. In Mozart 's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (a Singspiel ), two European ladies are discovered in

10082-571: The Turkish Barbarossa brothers, who took control of Algiers on behalf of the Ottomans in the early 16th century, were also notorious corsairs. The European pirates brought advanced sailing and shipbuilding techniques to the Barbary Coast around 1600, which enabled the corsairs to extend their activities into the Atlantic Ocean . The effects of the Barbary raids peaked in the early-to-mid-17th century. Long after Europeans had abandoned oar -driven vessels in favor of sailing ships carrying tons of powerful cannon, many Barbary warships were galleys carrying

10224-598: The U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship treaty with a foreign power. Until the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, British treaties with the North African states protected American ships from the Barbary corsairs. Morocco , which in 1777 was the first independent nation to publicly recognize the United States , in 1784 became the first Barbary power to seize an American vessel after

10366-503: The US Congress was forced to allocate $ 40,000 to free American captives in Algiers. But two years later, it passed the " Naval Act of 1794 " on the need to establish a defensive naval fleet, but stipulated in one of its articles that the project be stopped if an agreement was reached with Algiers. During the presidency of George Washington (April 30, 1789 – 1797), and after America failed to form an American-European alliance against

10508-523: The United States on April 14, 1802, then left for a second patrol on the Barbary coast in 1804 under the command of Samuel Barron . In company with Congress , Constellation , and Constitution , President experienced a mostly uneventful tour, assisting in the capture of three vessels, performing blockade duties, and undergoing two changes of commanding officers. She sailed for home on July 13, 1805, carrying with her many sailors released from captivity in Tripoli. On May 16, 1811, in what became known as

10650-583: The United States to capture any armed French vessels lying off the coast of the United States. As Constellation , Constitution and United States were still fitting out, the first U.S. Navy vessel to put to sea for this undeclared Quasi-War was the sloop Ganges with Richard Dale in command. Finally, on July 16, Congress appropriated $ 600,000 for completion of the remaining three frigates; Congress launched on August 15, 1799, Chesapeake on December 2, and President on April 10, 1800. The 44-gun ships sometimes carried over 50 guns, and Constitution

10792-529: The United States was "subjected to the spoliations of foreign cruisers" and was humiliated by paying "an enormous tribute to the petty tyrant of Algiers". After Spain concluded a peace treaty with Algiers in 1785, the Algerian corsair captains entered the waters of the Atlantic and attacked American ships, refusing to release them except for large sums of money. Two American ships, the schooner Maria , and

10934-685: The War Department used substandard bookkeeping practices, and that the authorized funds had to be released by the Treasury Department, resulting in delays, causing waste. These problems led to the formation of the Department of the Navy on April 30. Simultaneously, relations with France soured even further when President John Adams informed Congress of the XYZ Affair . In response, on May 28, Congress authorized vessels of

11076-492: The West Indies. Under Biddle she made a voyage to Spain and Argentina. She began serving as a receiving ship in 1824 and remained on that duty until ordered broken up in 1834. Minor alterations were made to President based on experience gained in constructing the 44-gun ships Constitution and United States . Humphreys instructed President' s naval contractor to raise the gun deck by 2 in (5.1 cm) and move

11218-423: The absence of written records. The historian David Earle, author of The Corsairs of Malta and Barbary and The Pirate Wars , questioned Davis, saying "His figures sound a bit dodgy and I think he may be exaggerating." He cautioned that the true picture of European slaves is clouded by the fact that the corsairs also seized non-Christian whites from eastern Europe and black people from west Africa. He wouldn't "hazard

11360-519: The amount to $ 642,500 and $ 21,000 in military equipment that is presented to Algiers every year. Reconciliation took place between the two parties, and the dey pledged to work with Tunisia and Tripoli , to also sign this treaty, and peace would be achieved for America in the entire Mediterranean basin. On September 5, 1795, American negotiator Joseph Donaldson signed a peace treaty with the dey of Algiers, with 22 articles that included an upfront payment of $ 642,500 in specie ( silver coinage ) for peace,

11502-674: The call for security. Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates , Barbary corsairs , Ottoman corsairs , or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states . This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast , in reference to the Berbers . Slaves in Barbary could be of many ethnicities, and of many different religions, such as Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Their predation extended throughout

11644-688: The capture of a xebec in October. In July 1805, she helped to blockade Tunisia, and in September of that year carried the Tunisian ambassador back to Washington, D.C. Afterward, she served as a classroom for midshipman training through 1807. Under the command of Captain John Smith during the War of 1812 , she made three extended cruises in company with President and briefly with United States . She

11786-835: The construction of the ships should the United States reach a peace agreement with Algiers. The bill was presented to the House on March 10 and passed as the Naval Act of 1794 by a margin of 50–39, and without division in the Senate on March 19. President Washington signed the Act on March 27. It provided for acquisition, by purchase or otherwise, of four ships to carry forty-four guns each, and two ships to carry thirty-six guns each. It also provided pay and sustenance for naval officers, sailors and marines, and outlined how each ship should be manned in order to operate them. The Act appropriated $ 688,888.82 (equivalent to $ 14,148,000 in 2023 ) to finance

11928-467: The cost of new construction would likely exceed the appropriations of the Naval Act. Despite this, Washington accepted and approved the plans the same day they were submitted, April 15, 1794. Joshua Humphreys was appointed Master Constructor of the ships. An experienced draftsman , Josiah Fox , was hired into the War Department to put plans to paper. However, Fox disagreed with the large dimensions of

12070-419: The crews arrived on the 22nd. The earliest delivery of timber occurred in Philadelphia on December 18, but another load of live oak destined for New York was lost when its cargo ship sank. Delays continued to plague the timber cutting and delivery operations throughout 1795. By December of that year all six keels had been laid down, though the frigates were still unframed and far from finished. Construction of

12212-399: The decks of the enemy ship. The frigates were originally designated by the letters A through F until March 1795, when Secretary of War, Timothy Pickering , prepared a list of ten suggested names for the ships (in addition to those later used, the list also included Defender , Fortitude , Perseverance , Protector , and Liberty ). President Washington was responsible for selecting five of

12354-408: The design and, according to Humphreys, attempted to downsize the measurements while producing his drafts. This incensed Humphreys enough that Fox was soon assigned to the mold loft with William Doughty . After or simultaneously with the creation of the drawings, a builder's half model was assembled from which measurements were taken to create molds of the timbers. In a process known as "molding",

12496-409: The dimensions of the framing pieces were chalked onto the floor of a mold loft where a template was formed using strips of light wood. Once the molds were transported to the timber crews, the templates were used to select the part of a tree that closely matched the template. From there the timber was felled and roughed out close to the required dimensions, then numbered for identification and loaded onto

12638-481: The early 19th century. Between 1801 and 1815, occasional incidents occurred, including two Barbary Wars waged by the United States , Sweden and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary states. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, European powers agreed upon the need to suppress the Barbary corsairs entirely. The remainder of the threat was finally subdued for Europeans by

12780-456: The engaged side only; if a ship engaged two opponents, gun crews had to be divided. All of the guns were capable of using several different kinds of projectiles: round shot , chain or bar shot , grape shot , and heated shot . Each gun was mounted on a wooden gun carriage controlled by an arrangement of rope and tackle . The captain ordered the gun crews to either open fire together in a single broadside , or allowed each crew to fire at will as

12922-598: The exchange. Rodgers offered assistance to Little Belt ' s Captain Arthur Bingham , but he declined and sailed off for Halifax, Nova Scotia. The U.S. and Royal Navy investigations each determined the other ship to be responsible for the attack, increasing tensions leading up to the War of 1812. Still under the command of John Rodgers, President made three extended cruises during the War of 1812 in company with Congress and briefly with United States . President encountered HMS  Belvidera and engaged in

13064-533: The experience of enslavement by the Barbary pirates preceded the Atlantic slave trade and "the memory of slavery, and the methodology of slaving, that was burned into the British consciousness was first and foremost rooted in a North African context, where Britons were more likely to be slaves than slave masters." According to historian, Adrian Tinniswood , the most notorious corsairs were European renegades who had learned their trade as privateers , and who moved to

13206-468: The frigates slowly continued until the 1796 announcement of the Treaty of Tripoli , which was witnessed by Algiers. In accordance with the clause in the Naval Act, construction of the frigates was to be discontinued. However, President Washington instead requested instructions from Congress on how to proceed. Several proposals circulated before a final decision was reached allowing Washington to complete two of

13348-708: The galley but lived there for years. During this time, rowers were shackled and chained where they sat, and never allowed to leave. Sleeping (which was limited), eating, defecation and urination took place at the seat to which they were shackled. There were usually five or six rowers on each oar. Overseers would walk back and forth and whip slaves considered not to be working hard enough. The number of slaves captured by Barbary pirates are difficult to quantify. According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa and Ottoman Empire between

13490-623: The government's annual budget, in tribute. The First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the Tripolitian War or the Barbary Coast War, was the first of two wars fought by the alliance of the United States and several European countries against the Northwest African Muslim states known collectively as the Barbary states. These were Tripoli and Algiers, quasi-independent entities nominally belonging to

13632-515: The importance of subsequent European and American enslavement of blacks. Scholar Robert Davis noted that the larger picture isn't so one-sided: during a "clash of empires... taking slaves was part of the conflict," and at the same time 2 million Europeans were enslaved by Muslims in North Africa and the Near East, 1 million Muslim slaves in Europe. As Dr. John Callow at University of Suffolk notes,

13774-468: The island of Ischia , taking 4,000 prisoners, and enslaved some 2,000–7,000 inhabitants of Lipari . In 1551 Turgut Reis enslaved the entire population of the Maltese island of Gozo , between 5,000 and 6,000, sending them to Ottoman Tripolitania . In 1554 corsairs under Turgut Reis sacked Vieste , beheaded 5,000 of its inhabitants, and abducted another 6,000. In the early years of the 17th century,

13916-431: The little harbor village of Baltimore, County Cork . They captured almost all the villagers and took them away to a life of slavery in North Africa. The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates—some lived out their days chained to the oars as galley slaves, while women spent long years as concubines in harems or within the walls of the sultan's palace. Only two of these captives ever returned to Ireland. England

14058-593: The names: Constitution , United States , President , and Congress , each of which represented a principle of the United States Constitution, together with Constellation which derived from the blazon of the Arms of the United States , "13 stars, forming a constellation." The sixth frigate, Chesapeake , remained nameless until 1799, when Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Stoddert , designated her

14200-579: The nation achieved independence. The Barbary threat led directly to the United States founding the United States Navy in March 1794. While the United States did secure peace treaties with the Barbary states, it was obliged to pay tribute for protection from attack. The burden was substantial: from 1795, the annual tribute paid to the Regency of Algiers amounted to 20% of United States federal government 's annual expenditures. In 1798, an islet near Sardinia

14342-654: The nation as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons and made a circumnavigation of the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy and carried artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878 . Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907. In 1931 she made

14484-428: The new American nation would be under the protection of the sultanate and could thus enjoy safe passage into the Mediterranean and along the coast. The Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship stands as America's oldest unbroken friendship treaty with a foreign power. In 1787, Morocco became one of the first nations to recognize the United States. Starting in the 1780s, realizing that American vessels were no longer under

14626-517: The northern and western coasts of Africa, plundering their cargo and enslaving the people they captured. From at least 1500, the pirates also conducted raids along seaside towns of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, England and as far away as Iceland, capturing men, women and children. On some occasions, settlements such as Baltimore , Ireland were abandoned following the raid, only being resettled many years later. Between 1609 and 1616, England alone had 466 merchant ships lost to Barbary pirates. At night

14768-525: The northern coast of Africa, holding captives for ransom or enslaving them. Ransoms were generally raised by families and local church groups, including the Roman Catholic Church. The British became familiar with captivity narratives written by Barbary pirates' prisoners and slaves. During the American Revolutionary War , the pirates attacked American ships. On December 20, 1777, Morocco's sultan Mohammed III declared that merchant ships of

14910-518: The numbers, but it was not until the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and the arrival of the privateer and admiral Kemal Reis in 1487 that the Barbary corsairs became a true menace to shipping from European Christian nations. From 1559, the North African cities of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, although nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, were in fact autonomous military republics that chose their own rulers and lived by war booty captured from

15052-513: The original appropriation of $ 688,888.82, only about $ 24,000 remained. Secretary of War James McHenry requested of Congress an additional $ 200,000, but only $ 172,000 was appropriated. The additional funds were enough to finish the three frigates' construction, but did not allow them to be manned and put to sea. United States launched on May 10, Constellation on September 7, and Constitution on October 21. Meanwhile, interference with American shipping by France because of their disagreement over

15194-450: The overall tonnage of cargo, complement of personnel on board, and planned routes to be sailed. Consequently, the armaments on ships would change many times during their careers, and records of the changes were not generally kept. Commonly, twelve men and a powder-boy were required to operate each gun. If needed, some men were designated to take stations as boarders , to man the bilge pumps, or to fight fires. Guns were normally manned on

15336-407: The piracy. The Federalist Party had adopted the slogan, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute," but had failed to end the attacks on merchant ships. From 1796 to 1797 French raiders seized some 316 merchant ships flying American colors. To counter this ongoing advent, three frigates, USS  United States , USS  Constitution and USS  Constellation , were built to answer

15478-489: The pirates attacked American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean. However, on December 20, 1777, Sultan Mohammed III of Morocco issued a declaration recognizing America as an independent country, and stating that American merchant ships could enjoy safe passage into the Mediterranean and along the coast. The relations were formalized with the Moroccan–American Treaty of Friendship signed in 1786, which stands as

15620-593: The plan for the redesigned frigate was approved by Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert . When construction finished on Chesapeake , she had the smallest dimensions of all six frigates. A length of 152.8 ft (46.6 m) between perpendiculars and 41.3 ft (12.6 m) of beam contrasted with the other two 36-gun frigates, Congress and Constellation , which were built to 164 ft (50 m) in length and 41 ft (12 m) of beam. On June 22, 1807, what has become known as

15762-590: The president to commission privateers for the same purpose. During the reign of the Dey Omar Pasha (1815-1817), American-Algerian relations worsened when the Dey began to demand an increase in the annual tribute. The Americans went to Algiers to fight under Commodore Stephen Decatur , which culminated in the Battle off Cape Gata and the death of the famous corsair captain Raïs Hamidou . A letter to

15904-613: The prisoners, and agreed to continue sending gifts to the dey and replace its consul with another one, then withdrew its fleet from the Mediterranean in 1807. When the war broke out between America and Britain in 1812, the regent on the British throne, George IV , sent a letter to Dey Haji Ali Pasha (1809-1815) confirming to him the bonds of friendship that united the two countries and declaring his country's readiness to defend Algiers against every aggressor as long as these ties remained. By that he intended to win over Algiers to Britain against America, or at least convince Algiers to adopt

16046-659: The prosperity of the Deylik of Algiers , and gave it its last glory before the French invasion . His biography is relatively well known because the French archivist Albert Devoulx has found important documents, including a precious register of prizes opened by the authorities of the Deylik in 1765. Songs and legends have also taken hold of this charismatic character. Barbary corsairs are protagonists in Le pantere di Algeri (the panthers of Algiers) by Emilio Salgari . They were featured in

16188-466: The protection of the British navy , the Barbary pirates seized American ships in the Mediterranean. In 1785, the U.S. had disbanded its Continental Navy and therefore had no seagoing military force, its government agreed in 1786 to pay tribute to stop the attacks. On March 20, 1794, at the urging of President George Washington, Congress voted to authorize the building of six heavy frigates and establish

16330-741: The protection of the British Empire prior to the Revolution, but after the Revolutionary War the " Barbary States " of Algiers, Tripoli , and Tunis felt they could harass American merchant ships without penalty. Additionally, once the French Revolution started, Britain and France each began interdicting American merchant ships suspected of trading with the other. Lacking a proper navy, the American government could do little to prevent such seizures. The formation of

16472-409: The release of American captives, expenses, and various gifts for the dey's royal court and family. America suffered another humiliation when it sent tribute carried by the large armed frigate " USS George Washington (1798) " to Algiers; Dey Mustapha Pasha forced US commodore William Bainbridge to hoist an Ottoman Algerian flag over his warship before sailing to Constantinople carrying tribute to

16614-495: The second conflict ended the need for further tribute from the United States, granted the U.S. full shipping rights in the Mediterranean Sea, and significantly reduced incidents of piracy in the region. The Barbary corsairs were pirates and privateers who operated out of North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast , in reference to

16756-459: The ship spent a year blockaded in port, Stephen Decatur assumed command of President . On the evening of January 14, 1815, President headed out of New York harbor but ran aground, suffering some damage to the copper. Unable to return to port, she was forced to head out to sea. Later the next afternoon she fought a battle with HMS  Endymion . Decatur attempted to capture Endymion to replace President , but this plan failed because Endymion

16898-615: The ship was seized and commissioned into the Confederate States Navy , which later scuttled the ship. In 1862, Union forces raised the scuttled ship and retained control until she was broken up in 1865. Constellation was built in Baltimore and launched on September 7, 1797. On February 9, 1799, she fought and captured the French frigate Insurgente . This was the first major victory by an American-designed and -built warship. In February 1800, Constellation fought

17040-415: The sites on April 15, 1794. At each site, a civilian naval constructor was hired to direct the work. Navy captains were appointed as superintendents, one for each of the six frigates as follows: Humphreys wished to use the most durable materials available for construction, primarily white pine , longleaf pine , white oak , and, most importantly, southern live oak . Live oak was used for framing as it

17182-556: The slaves were put into prisons called ' bagnios ' (derived from the Italian word "bagno" for public bath , inspired by the Turks' use of Roman baths at Constantinople as prisons), which were often hot and overcrowded. Bagnios had chapels, hospitals, shops and bars run by captives. Although the conditions in bagnios were harsh, they were better than those endured by galley slaves. Most Barbary galleys were at sea for around eighty to

17324-402: The so-called "Catholic Monarchs" , who (though inaugurating what would later become Spain's " Golden Age ") were initially faced with the post- Reconquista necessity of binding their (hitherto-divided) territories together, and hence adopted a militantly Christian national identity —provided more than enough justification, in Muslim eyes. In 1198 the problem of Barbary piracy and slave-taking

17466-415: The sole object of their successors became plunder, on land and sea. The maritime operations were conducted by the captains, or reises , who formed a class or even a corporation. Cruisers were fitted out by investors and commanded by the reises . Ten percent of the value of the prizes was paid to the pasha or his successors, who bore the titles of agha or dey or bey . In 1544 Hayreddin captured

17608-406: The south, who were captives for a time. In 1675 a Royal Navy squadron led by Sir John Narborough negotiated a lasting peace with Tunis and, after bombarding the city to induce compliance, with Tripoli. Piracy was enough of a problem that some states entered into the redemption business. In Denmark: At the beginning of the 18th century money was collected systematically in all churches, and

17750-405: The target came close alongside. The gun captain pulled the lanyard to trip the flintlock which sent a spark into the pan. The ignited powder in the pan sent a flame through the priming tube to set off the powder charge in the gun and hurl its projectile at the enemy. The marine detachment on board provided the naval infantry that manned the fighting tops , armed with muskets to fire down onto

17892-488: The three frigates. Though upset over the escalating costs, Congress approved an additional $ 115,833, but simultaneously launched an investigation into possible waste or fraud in the frigate program. On March 22, 1798, McHenry turned over a report outlining several main reasons for cost escalations: problems procuring the live oak; the logistics of supplying six separate shipyards; and fires, yellow fever, and bad weather. Additional inquiries prior to McHenry's report revealed that

18034-464: The work. With the formation of a Department of the Navy still several years away, responsibility for design and construction fell to the Department of War , headed by Secretary Henry Knox. As early as 1790 Knox had consulted various authorities regarding ship design. Discussions of the designs were carried out in person at meetings in Philadelphia. Little is known about these discussions due to

18176-418: Was a strong, dense, and long-lasting wood weighing up to 75 lb per cubic foot (1,200 kg/m ) when freshly cut. The live oak tree grows primarily in coastal areas of the United States from Virginia to Texas, with the most suitable timber found in the coastal areas of Georgia near St. Simons . This desire for live oak was the primary cause of delays in the frigates' construction. Appropriated funds from

18318-513: Was also subject to pirate raids; in 1640 sixty men, women and children were enslaved by Algerian pirates who raided Penzance . More than 20,000 captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The rich were often able to secure release through ransom, but the poor were condemned to slavery. Their masters would on occasion allow them to secure freedom by professing Islam. A long list might be given of people of good social position, not only Italians or Spaniards, but German or English travelers in

18460-483: Was attached to Commodore Richard Dale 's squadron which also included Philadelphia , President and Enterprise . The ship Philadelphia was blockading Tripoli's harbor when she ran aground on an uncharted reef. Under fire from shore batteries and Tripolitan gunboats , Captain William Bainbridge tried to refloat her by casting off all of her guns and other objects that weighed her down. The ship

18602-472: Was attacked by the Tunisians , and more than 900 inhabitants were taken away as slaves. The Barbary states had difficulty securing uniform compliance with a total prohibition of slave-raiding, as this had been traditionally of central importance to the North African economy. Slavers continued to take captives by preying on less well-protected peoples. Algiers subsequently renewed its slave-raiding, though on

18744-529: Was captured on June 1, 1813, by HMS  Shannon shortly after sailing from Boston, Massachusetts. Taken into Royal Navy service, she was later sold, and broken up at Portsmouth , England, in 1820 (with a good deal of her timbers being made into a watermill ). Congress —rated at 38 guns—was launched on August 15, 1799, from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, under the command of Captain James Sever. Beginning her maiden voyage on January 6, 1800, she headed for

18886-409: Was eventually captured and the crew taken prisoners and enslaved. To prevent this powerful warship from being used by the Barbary pirates, the ship was later destroyed by a raiding party of American Marines and soldiers and allied sailors from the armed forces of King Ferdinand of Sicily, led by Stephen Decatur. A treaty was reached on June 30, 1805, under which America paid Algiers $ 60,000 ransom for

19028-762: Was forced to flee to Morocco when she was very young to escape the Reconquista . In Morocco, she gathered a crew largely of exiled Moors , and launched pirate expeditions against Spain and Portugal to avenge the Reconquista, protect Morocco from Christian pirates, and seek riches and glory. Sayyida al-Hurra became wealthy and renowned enough for the Sultan of Morocco, Ahmad al-Wattasi to make her his queen. Notably, however, she refused to marry in his capital of Fez , and would not get married but in Tétouan , of which she

19170-412: Was governor. This was the first and only time in history that a Moroccan monarch married away from their capital. Hamidou ben Ali , known as Raïs Hamidou ( Arabic : الرايس حميدو ), or Amidon in American literature, born around 1770, and died on June 17, 1815, near Cape Gata off the coast of southern Spain , was an Algerian corsair . He captured up to 200 ships during his career. Hamidou ensured

19312-649: Was known to carry 24-pounder guns in her main battery instead of the normal 18-pounders most frigates carried. The Naval Act of 1794 had specified 36-gun frigates in addition to the 44s, but at some point the 36s were re-rated as 38s. Their "ratings" by number of guns were meant only as an approximation. Ships of this era usually had no permanent battery of guns, as modern navy ships carry. The guns and cannons were designed to be completely portable, and often were exchanged between ships or shore as situations warranted. Each commanding officer generally outfitted armaments to his liking, taking into consideration factors such as

19454-524: Was originally planned as a 44-gun ship, but when her construction began in 1798 Josiah Fox altered the original design plan, resulting in the ship's re-rating to 36 guns. Fox's reason for making the alteration is not clear, but may be attributed to construction materials that were diverted to complete Constellation . Additionally, Fox and Humphreys had earlier disagreed over the design of the six frigates, and Fox may have taken opportunities during construction to make alterations to his own liking. Regardless,

19596-646: Was part of a pursuit of a fleet of British merchant ships and assisted President in the attempted capture of HMS  Belvidera . On the return voyage, Congress and President captured seven merchant ships. Congress' second cruise began in October 1812, and she pursued HMS  Galatea and captured the merchant ship Argo . Arriving back in Boston on December 31, she assisted in capturing eight additional merchant ships. After repairs, she sailed in company with President on April 30, 1813, and pursued HMS  Curlew , which escaped. Setting off on her own, she made

19738-633: Was preserved in Baltimore until it was proven in 1999 to be the second Constellation . Constitution , rated at 44 guns, launched from Edmund Hartt 's shipyard in Boston on October 21, 1797, by naval constructor George Claghorn and Captain Samuel Nicholson . During the Quasi-War she captured the French merchant ship Niger , and was later involved in battling the Barbary pirates in

19880-485: Was so great that the Trinitarians , a religious order, were founded to collect ransoms and even to exchange themselves as ransom for those captured and pressed into slavery in North Africa. In the 14th century, Tunisian corsairs became enough of a threat to provoke a Franco - Genoese attack on Mahdia in 1390 (also known as the " Barbary Crusade "). Morisco exiles of the Reconquista and Maghreb pirates added to

20022-476: Was successful and became rich. He introduced heavily armed square-rigged ships , used instead of galleys, to the North African area, a major reason for the Barbary's future dominance of the Mediterranean. He died of plague in 1622. Sayyida al-Hurra was a female Muslim cleric, merchant, governor of Tétouan , and later the wife of the sultan of Morocco . She was born around 1485 in the Emirate of Granada , but

20164-483: Was very unwilling that we should acquiesce in the European humiliation of paying a tribute to those lawless pirates and endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredations from them. A proposal was made to put up a coalition of naval warships from nations at war with the Barbary states , provided that naval operations would be directed against Algerian vessels in particular, and then impose

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