Myths of American History 3

The Tripolitan war was one of many America fought.  Yet most Americans know nothing about it.

Although it flies in the face of Europeans and their myths of being Great Conquerors, African Pirates were extremely powerful, and did enslave thousands of Europeans.

These Pirates, (often called corsairs) would attack ships, capture the people, and sell them into slavery. To regain them, the victim nation had to pay a ransom.

(Not very different from Somali Pirates today)

The African Corsairs did not just attack ships, they invaded coastal cities, carrying off the inhabitants, and not just in the Mediterranean. The village of Baltimore in Ireland was depopulated and the Corsairs reached as far as Iceland, capturing 400 people.

The European powers were unable to stop these attacks. The best they could do was to have funds to redeem the captives. Many churches collected great sums of money for this purpose.

In 1783, the same year the Treaty of Paris was signed, corsairs (Pirates) from the Barbary States began to attack American shipping in the Mediterranean.

Because of the problems America was facing, border wars with Indians, naval conflict with Revolutionary France, the US Congress capitulated to demands for tribute.

A yearly sum was paid to the four Barbary states: Morocco, Algeria,Tunisia and Tripolitania (one of three regions which were combined to form Libya).

Nearly twenty years later, when Thomas Jefferson was president (1801), the American ship, George Washington, transporting the yearly tribute to Algiers, was ordered to sail on to Constantinople to deliver the money directly to the Ottoman sultan.

America had, by this time, paid over $2,000,000 in tribute to the Barbary States, but this was only 1/5th of what was expected.

The Pasha of Tripolitania, Yusuf Karamanli, ordered the flag staff flying the ‘Stars and Stripes’ in front of the US consulate cut down. This symbolic act was taken as a declaration of war against America.

A squadron of four ships under the command of Commodore Richard Dale were dispatched to the Mediterranean. On the 17th of July, 1801, a blockade was imposed on the harbour at Tripoli.

Although there were a few naval successes against the corsairs, the squadron was too weak to effectively control the situation.

In 1803, the frigate Philadelphia was captured by Tripolitan gunboats, Captain William Bainbridge and the ship’s 307 crew were imprisoned.

On the 16th of February, 1804, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid on the harbour in a previously captured ketch, renamed Intrepid. Although the main aim of the raid was to retake the Philadelphia, Decatur had to settle with burning the frigate to the water line.

The raiding party escaped before an alarm was sounded. The British Admiral, Lord Nelson, described the raid as “the most daring act of the age.”

The American Consul to Tunis, William Eaton, proposed to President Jefferson that they should back Hamet Karamanli, the elder brother of the current Pasha and the rightful heir to the regency, in a military coup.
(The first time this tactic was officially used by the American Government).

Around 400 mercenaries, including Europeans (mainly Greeks), Arab cavalry, Turks, and a caravan of camels were recruited. They were promised supplies and money on arrival at their first target, the Tripolitan port of Derna.

Recorded as the first land engagement of American troops outside the American continent, the battle at Derna has a particular place in the memory of the United States Marine Corps. The trek across the desert is commemorated in the first verse of the Marine Hymn: “to the shores of Tripoli”.

Tradition has it that Hamet was so impressed by O’Bannon’s bravery that he presented him with his own sword – an honour commemorated by the presentation of a ‘Mameluke’ sword, engraved with the legend “The Shores of Tripoli”, to every US Marine Officer on graduation or direct commission.

A treaty, signed on June 4 1805, provided Yusuf Karamanli with $60,000 for the release of Captain Bainbridge and the crew of the Philadelphia.

The problem of Barbary pirates was forgotten for the next decade, as Napoleon once again went on the offensive in Europe, and America went to war (be it briefly) with Britain.

After the war of 1812 American ships were once again under attack in the Mediterranean. Two naval squadrons, under the joint command of Commodores Decatur and Bainbridge were sent out.

Under threat of heavy bombardment, the Bey of Algiers agreed to a new treaty which protected the US from future predation by Barbary corsairs.

Thus ended America’s war against the corsairs, the little known Tripolitan War.