Captain John Crane, 1800-1815

by Thomas Wallace Knox

"Everybody's well, and Warwick's people getting on finely! Saw the gale coming and got everything snug before it struck us!"

He described the experience of the ship and crew in almost the identical words that I have told about the effects of the gale on the Washington, and so it isn't necessary to repeat. We gave him our latitude and longitude, which he had little need of just at that time, as he had been obliged to work them out for himself.

From this time on we had no incidents of consequence until we got within a hundred miles of the coast as we headed for the Straits of Gibraltar. Then we had an incident with some excitement in it.

We were sailing along nicely one morning, about eight bells, when a sail was discovered dead ahead. The Warwick was off on our weather beam about two miles, and a little astern. The strange sail was heading directly for us, and in a little while we made her out to be a Moorish or Algerine galiot. She was laying her course so straight for us that our captain felt sure she meant business and would capture us if she could.

At that time the Algerine corsairs were scouring the Mediterranean and the portion of the Atlantic just outside the Straits of Gibraltar, and were ready to capture anything. For hundreds of years they had been carrying on their piracy, capturing the vessels of every nation of Europe, confiscating the ships and their cargo, and selling the ship's crew into slavery. Sometimes the crew were ransomed, if they happened to have wealthy friends at home, and occasionally their ransoms were bought by wholesale by the nations to whom they belonged. Now and then nations made treaties with the pirates, paying them a stipulated sum each year to let their commerce alone; and payments were partially in cash and partially in guns, ammunition, naval stores, etc., the kind of goods that were required to keep up the piratical operations.

When the United States came into existence as a nation and its commerce was carried to the Mediterranean Sea, the Deys of Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, and the other states of the Barbary Coast rejoiced to think they had a new country against which they could press their depredations. American ships fell into their hands very early in our national history, and President Washington called the attention of the national government to these piracies as early as 1790.

In an able report, Secretary Jefferson laid before Congress important details touching the position of American interests in that part of the globe. Little could be done, however, as the Americans had no navy, and the commerce of the United States in the Mediterranean was for a long time dependent upon the Portuguese fleet for protection. Portugal was at war with Algiers for several years, and ships of other nations sought the protection of her flag, and were thereby saved from capture.

Captain Dawson signaled to the Warwick to come within hail, and without changing their courses materially to do so, the ships were speedily not more than a hundred yards apart. Before leaving America we had news that the war between Algiers and Portugal had been brought to an end through the assistance of Great Britain, with the avowed purpose of injuring France, with which the last-named country was then at war.

It was not exactly a treaty of peace, but simply a truce for one year; and in the treaty was introduced the remarkable stipulation that the Portuguese government should not afford protection to any nation against Algerine cruisers. The treaty went into effect immediately, and the result of the agreement was very disastrous to American commerce. Having heard of the truce just before we sailed, we were on the lookout for the sea robbers. The state of the case was that the ships of every nation except those of Great Britain and Portugal were liable to be captured, and their only safety was in running away, or being sufficiently strong to resist.