It is said that when the ten liberated captives arrived on board the Guerrière, some knelt down as soon as they reached the deck to give thanks to God, while others hastened to kiss the American flag that once more waved over them.
And it is further said that the British consul stood by in the Dey’s palace while the Dey was signing the treaty with the United States, and ordering the money and the prisoners delivered. When all was done, the Dey’s prime-minister turned upon the British consul and said:
“You told us that the Americans would be swept from the seas in six months by your navy, and now they make war upon us with some of your own vessels which they have taken.”
The fate of the liberated captives was sad. They were placed on the Epervier with the treaty, and she was sent under Lieutenant John Templer Shubrick to the United States. They sailed with happy hearts, after their cruel life as slaves, but the Epervier never reached port nor ever was heard from after passing the Strait of Gibraltar.
With Shubrick “were Captain William Lewis and Lieutenant B. I. Neale, who had married sisters on the eve of their departure for the Mediterranean, and were now returning after the successful termination of the war with Algiers. Lieutenant I. I. Yarnell (who had distinguished himself in the battle of Lake Erie) and Lieutenant John T. Drury also were on board. Midshipman Josiah Tattnall, afterward commander of the celebrated Merrimac, was in the Epervier just before she sailed, but exchanged places with a brother officer in the Constellation.”
Sailing from Algiers to Tunis, where he arrived on July 25th, Decatur learned from the American consul, Mordecai M. Noah, that $46,000 would square the account for the prizes to the Yankee privateer Abellino which the Bey had turned over to the British cruiser Lyra. Mr. Noah took the demand for indemnity to the Bey. As Maclay tells the story, the Bey said, musingly:
“I know this admiral; he is the same one who in the war with Sidi Jusef, of Trablis, burned the frigate. Hum! Why do they send wild young men to treat for peace with old powers? Then you do not speak the truth. You went to war with England, a nation with a great fleet, and said you took her frigates in equal fight. Honest people always speak the truth.”
Noah pointed out the Guerrière, the Macedonian, and another vessel as ships taken from the British, which pretty nearly, if not literally, confirmed the story of captured frigates, and the Bey submitted. And when the award was paid, another British consul listened to a stinging rebuke from a Tunis official who said:
“You see, sir, what Tunis is obliged to pay for your insolence. I ask you whether you think it just, first to violate our neutrality and then leave us to be destroyed, or pay for your aggressions?”
