So far as my fortunes are concerned, I was rid forever of Barbary's corsairs. But, to make my narrative complete, it may be well to state that the end of their piracies was in sight, and that Stephen Decatur was the man who struck the blow that marked the beginning of their end.
The United States had borne these insults and oppressions meekly during the time she was evolving into a nation, but at last, under Decatur, her true spirit showed itself. The Dey of Algiers, the last to affront us, was at length forced to take tribute in the way our naval officers had long wished to deliver it—from the cannon's mouth.
The War of 1812 tempered the spirit of our navy for this closing campaign with the buccaneers of Barbary. The frigate Constitution thrilled the nation by her victory over the British warship Guerrière, although the Constitution's captain, Isaac Hull, had to steal out to do battle without the knowledge of the timid Monroe administration, which feared that our ships were no match for the British frigates. Then the United States, commanded by Captain Stephen Decatur, defeated and captured the Macedonian, one of the swiftest and strongest and best-equipped ships in John Bull's navy, and Lieutenant Archibald Hamilton marched into a ball given to naval officers in Washington with the flag of the captured ship across his shoulders.
Then the Constitution met the British frigate Java, and by splendid gunnery reduced her to a burning hulk. Then the British had their innings and Captain Broke, of the Shannon, defeated the chivalrous but over-confident Captain Lawrence in the Chesapeake.
Decatur, with his feathers drooping somewhat from the fact that he had been forced to surrender the President to two British frigates after a hard fight, was sent, after the treaty of peace had been signed, to deal again with the Barbary states, to which we still paid tribute. These powers had grown insolent again when the United States became engaged in war with England and had resumed their piracy. Decatur sailed in the flagship Guerrière and commanded a squadron of nine vessels.
Algiers, the chief offender this time, had organized a strong navy under the command of Admiral "Rais Hammida," called "the terror of the Mediterranean." Decatur's squadron sighted this Algerine admiral in his forty-six-gun frigate Mashouda off Cape Gatte, and pursued and captured the Turkish ship. Her captain was killed in the first encounter.
Decatur now proceeded to Algiers to bring the Dey to terms. The captain of the port came out insolently to meet him. "Where is your navy?" demanded Decatur.
"Safe in some neutral port!" retorted the Algerine officer.
"Not the whole of it," Decatur said. "We have already captured the frigate Mashouda and the brig Estido, and Admiral Hammida is dead."
The captive lieutenant of the Mashouda was brought forth to confirm these statements. The Dey's representative became humble and begged that hostilities should cease until a treaty could be drawn up on shore.