| West Indies anti-piracy operations of the United States | |||||||
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.jpg) American barges USSGallinipper and USSMosquito attacking a pirate ship off Cuba, April 1823 | |||||||
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2frigates2corvettes2sloops of war2brigs4schooners2cutters2gunboats1,346sailors and marine infantry | Unknown | ||||||
TheUnited States naval forces undertook a series of military campaigns and engagements to combatpiracy in and around theAntilles from 1814 to 1825. During that time, theU.S. West Indies Squadron pursued pirates on both sea and land, focusing primarily on key regions such asThe Bahamas,Cuba, andPuerto Rico. A range ofprivateers, hailing from the United States to Denmark, also participated in the conflict.[1]
United States Navy andU.S. Revenue Marinecutter ships had operated against piracy and theslave trade in the Caribbean andGulf of Mexico for several years prior to 1822 when a permanent squadron was formed. After a September 1821 attack by pirates, in which three American merchant ships were captured,Congress authorizedCommodoreJames Biddle to deploy a fleet to the Caribbean. This force consisted of twofrigates,USS Macedonian andUSS Congress, twocorvettes,USS Cyane andUSS John Adams, twosloops-of-war,USS Hornet andUSS Peacock, twobrigs,USS Spark andUSS Enterprise, theschoonersUSS Grampus,USS Alligator,USS Shark andUSS Porpoise. Gun schooners from the revenue marineUSRCAlabama andUSRCLouisiana, as well as two other revenue marinegunboats,No. 158 andNo. 168, also participated with a total of over 1,500 personnel. Before the fleet was sent, only single ship operations had been undertaken. Over the course of a few decades the American West Indies Squadron continually engagedSpanish,Venezuelan,Cuban andPuerto Rican pirates. Many of the actions ended with the sinking or capturing of pirate vessels though often the outlaws escaped to shore.[2] After the capture ofRoberto Cofresi and hissloop Anne in 1825, acts of piracy became rare, and the operation was considered a success, although limited occurrences went on until slightly after the start of the 20th century.[2]
During and after theSpanish American wars of independence, Spanish naval power in theCaribbean Sea andGulf of Mexico weakened, allowing for a resurgence ofpiracy along theGulf Coast. Many of the pirates in the period wereLatin Americans and doubled asprivateers. Revolution against Spain was widespread and both the rebel governments and the Spanish issuedletters of marque. Often the privateers captured American merchantmen and attacked their crews which resulted in them being branded as pirates.
Revenue cutters were dispatched to fight the pirates early on. The first anti-piracy action from theRevenue Marine Service occurred back in 1793 when thecutterDiligence ran a pirate vessel ashore in theChesapeake Bay. After the success, revenue cutters were charged with suppressing piracy and protecting the shores of America. In 1819, the cutter shipsUSRCAlabama andUSRCLouisiana as well as two gunboats joined the first established anti-piracy U.S. Naval fleet. The shipsfought major engagements with pirates, on the open sea, and a notableBattle of Breton Island. On 1818 June 22, boarding parties from the Revenue cutterDallas seized the privateerYoung Spartan, her crew, and the privateer's prize, thePastora, off Savannah, Georgia. The crew of thePastora had been set adrift, and their fate remained unknown. TheNew York Evening Post noted that the crew of the privateer had committed offenses "that can only be expiated by making their exits on the gallows."[3]
The Revenue cutterActive captured the pirate vesselIndia Libre in the Chesapeake Bay on July 18, 1818. On August 31, 1819, theBravo led by pirate captain Jean Le Farges' vessel engaged cuttersLouisiana andAlabama off the coast of Florida. The cutters' crews boarded the enemy and took the ship in a hand-to-hand struggle. Le Farges, a lieutenant ofJean Lafitte, was later hanged fromLouisiana's yardarm.[3]
On 19 July 1820,Alabama andLouisianacaptured four pirate ships offLa Balize.USRC Louisiana andUSS Peacock manned with several cutter men would engageHMS Speedwell,Alabamaengaged pirates again, which resulted in the taking of five more pirate ships. This campaign was the beginning of the anti-piracy, coastal defense, and maritime law enforcement mission which is still practiced in the modernU.S. Coast Guard today.[3]
The first American Navy vessels to serve against West Indies piracy were the schooners USSEnterprise,USS Nonsuch andUSS Lynx were among the vessels deployed between 1817 and 1822. All of these ships operated independently and there was no commander of the squadron until its official establishment. In 1819PresidentJames Monroe sent CommodoreOliver Hazard Perry to Venezuela with the frigateUSS Constellation, the corvette USSJohn Adams and USSNonsuch. The commodore's orders were to demand restitution for the capture of American merchant ships by Venezuelan privateers and to receive an assurance that the privateers would be restrained from attacking again. Perry was successful in completing his mission initially and a treaty was signed on August 11, though on his cruise back to the United States, he died ofyellow fever atTrinidad which caused the agreement to fail. On December 22, 1817, USSJohn Adams forced thefilibusterLouis-Michel Aury to evacuate his base atAmelia Island,Florida. Later,John Adams wasflagship of Commodore Biddle's squadron.[2]
By 1820, hostilities with the pirates and privateers started to increase, United States warships engaged in several naval actions that year and a total of twenty-seven American merchant ships were captured. In Between 1818 and 1821, USSEnterprise captured thirteen pirate and slave ships while serving with theNew Orleans Squadron and later in the West Indies. On October 24, 1819, while under command ofLieutenant J. R. Madison, USSLynx captured two pirate schooners and two boats in the Gulf of Mexico and on November 9, she captured another pirate boat inGalveston Bay.Lynx disappeared in January 1820 while sailing toJamaica, she likely sank due to a storm, none of her crew were ever seen or heard from again. In October 1821, while sailing offCape Antonio, Cuba, USSEnterprise came to the assistance of three merchantmen which had been seized by four pirate craft. Boats were launched and attacked the brigands, in the end, over forty pirates were killed or captured and two of their vessels taken. A month later,Enterprise attacked a pirate base near Cape Antonio and cleared the area criminals. In September 1821, three American merchant ships weremassacred offMatanzas, Cuba. The crew of one ship was tortured and the vessel was set on fire, survivors were able to escape to shore in a boat. Three men were killed on the second American ship and everyone on the third vessel which was also burned. This incident was one of the main reasons why the anti-piracy operation was continued. USSHornet captured a privateer schooner namedMoscow on October 29, 1821, and on December 21, she captured a pirate ship apparently without a fight and the crew escaped to shore.[2]
On December 16, 1821, LieutenantJames Ramage in USSPorpoise was sailing off Cape Antonio and found five enemy vessels, including the merchant brigBolina. Forty sailors were lowered into five boats and Ramage led the advance. Though some of the pirates fled to shore, many resisted and the five American boats destroyed the five pirate ships by burning them. They also freed theBolina. Three pirates were captured and several killed according to reports. In autumn of 1821, USSSpark, under LieutenantJohn Elton, departedBoston and joined the list of vessels assigned to counter piracy. In January 1822, Elton captured aDutch flagged pirate sloop. Seven prisoners were taken toCharleston for trial,Spark then returned to the Caribbean and remained on station for the next three years by which time the official West Indies Squadron was formed.[2]
Three significant engagements occurred between the pirates and British ships in 1822 and 1823. In March, boat crews from USSEnterprise captured twolaunches and four boats in a creek near Cape Antonio and on March 6, they seized eight more craft and over 150 pirates. A British merchantman under Captain William Smith was captured by Spanish pirates from the schoonerEmanuel in July 1822. The pirates made Smithwalk the plank and when he attempted to swim away they shot him in the back. Also on the ship was Smith's fourteen-year-old son, whose head was crushed by the pirate captain when he could no longer stand to hear him crying.USSGrampus encountered the brigPalyrma flying Spanish colors on August 15, 1822. Commanding Lieutenant Gregory suspected the ship to be a pirate so he approached to board but asGrampus drew near,Palyrma opened fire and a brief three and a half minutebattle was fought. After boarding the wrecked vessel, the pirates were found to be from Puerto Rico and had aletter of marque that was intended to get the outlaws out of a situation like this. The letter was found to be fake so the pirates were detained and handed over to the Spanish in Cuba. At this time the usual procedure for dealing with captured pirates was turning them over to Spain because the United States didn't have the authority to imprison them.[2][4]
The United States Navy could not pursue the pirates on Spanish soil either so in April 1822, CommodoreDavid Porter, in USSMacedonian, assumed command of the station and one of his first missions was to consult withGovernorCaptain GeneralDonNicholas Mahy of Cuba and the governor of Puerto Rico. Both governors denied Porter's request to allow American shore parties to land but at the same time the United States government permitted the West Indies Squadron to do so but only in remote areas. Commodore Porter thenattacked and destroyed a pirate force atFunda Bay, Cuba between September 28 and 30, 1822. Also on September 28,Peacock captured a boat filled with pirates about sixty miles (97 km) fromHavana, and later that afternoon, USSPeacock encountered the merchant vesselSpeedwell which had been attacked by pirates two hours before. In response, CaptainStephen Cassin launched a boat expedition which captured four schooners but again most of the pirates escaped. On September 30, 1822, the twenty-six gunHMS Tyne was escorting a one-gun merchant sloopEliza when attacked by a five-gun pirate felucca namedFirme Union. During theensuing engagement, the British boarded and captured the pirate ship. Ten pirates were killed and the rest abandoned ship and escaped. On November 2, 1822,USRC Louisiana along with USSPeacock and the Royal Navy schoonerHMS Speedwell captured five pirate vessels off Havana. On November 8, 1822, LieutenantWilliam Howard Allen of USSAlligator was killed in battle while leading an attack against three enemy schooners which were holding five merchantmen hostage. In theaction, two of the schooners were captured and at least fourteen pirates were killed. Due to Lieutenant Allen's death,Secretary of the NavySmith Thompson authorized Commodore Porter to procure new vessels for the squadron.[2]
Porter acquired eight newshallow draft schooners, five largebarges, a steam poweredriverboat and astoreship schooner. The schooners were each armed with three guns and became theUSS Beagle,USS Ferret,USS Fox,USS Greyhound,USS Jackal,USS Terrier,USS Weasel, and theUSS Wild Cat.[4] The storeship wasUSS Decoy and the steamer becameUSS Sea Gull. The new squadron left the United States for Cuba on February 15, 1823. Commodore Biddle also received new orders of conduct: he was now able to land shore parties in populated areas as long as he informed the locals first. Biddle was also ordered to cooperate with any other sovereign naval forces operating against pirates.HMS Grecian of six guns captured the eight-gun schoonerLa Cata on March 1, 1823, south of Cuba. Thirty brigands were killed inaction and only three were taken prisoner out of a force of over 100 men. USSFox was sent toSan Juan, Puerto Rico, in March 1823 to obtain a list of all legally commissioned privateers and a details of their instructions. When the American schooner enteredSan Juan Harbor on March 3, anartillery battery fired on the ship. A few shots hit theFox which mortally wounded her commander, LieutenantWilliam H. Cocke. Commodore Porter later accepted an apology for theincident from Puerto Rico's governor. The British warshipsTyne andHMS Thracian of eighteen guns defeated the pirateCayatano Aragonez's thirteen-gun shipZaragozana on March 31, in a runningbattle, the two British ships chased Captain Aragonez intoMata Harbor where boats were lowered and captured the vessel. Ten pirates were killed and twenty eight were captured while the Royal Navy sustained only slight casualties. Two barges,USS Gallinipper andUSS Mosquito,liberated an American merchant vessel on April 8. The navy sailors killed two of the pirates and arrested one other though most got away.[2]
On April 16,Mosquito,Gallinipper and USSPeacock, spotted afelucca offColorados, Cuba.Peacock managed to capture the felucca though its crew fled to shore beforescuttling three of their schooners.
Grampus rescued the crew of the American schoonerShiboleth after it was taken by pirates in June 1823. The brigands had boarded the merchantman silently, killed the guards, and then cornered the remainder of the crew within the ship. The pirates robbed the ship and set her on fire,Grampus arrived whenShiboleth was still burning and took off her surviving crew. A few days later, pirates attacked another merchant before being detected by theSpanish Army and captured. USSFerret's crew skirmished with the brigands in June. During one incident,Ferret found a few pirate craft in shallow water offMatanzas. FirstFerret attacked using her broadside guns and sank two of the boats which were fleeing along the coast. Due to the low depth, a boat was used to attack the remaining craft but when the Americans came within range, the pirates opened fire and shot a hole through their boat which returned toFerret and sank. With their only boat destroyed, the Americans were forced to continue their patrol and the brigands got to shore. Later that day,Ferret commandeered a small vessel with a shallow draft and returned to where their boat was sunk, hoping to engage the pirates again but bad weather stopped the operation. The following morning the Americans encountered a British merchantman which gave them a boat. AgainFerret returned toMatanzas Bay but all that was there was the two sunken boats that she destroyed earlier.[2]
On July 5, 1823, USSSea Gull, under the command of LieutenantWilliam H. Watson, with the bargesGallinipper andMosquito,fought pirates off Matanzas, near where Lieutenant Allen was killed a year earlier. The three American vessels encountered a heavily armed schooner, with a crew of about seventy-five, near a Cuban village. The United States Navy attacked with their cannon and the schooner was hit so her captain began a retreat. When further hits struck the schooner, the pirates panicked and began to abandon ship by jumping into the water. The barges maneuvered in close to the schooner and the sailors and marines on board fired volleys into their fleeing enemy, shouting "Allen, Allen" in the process. Fifteen pirates made it ashore but were attacked by an American landing party. Eleven more were killed and the last four were captured by the Cuban villagers. In total about seventy pirates were killed while only five survived. On July 21, the commanders ofBeagle andGreyhound were investigatingCape Cruz, Cuba in a boat when it was fired upon from the shore. The Americans withdrew to their ship and on the next morning they landed sailors and marines who attacked and destroyed a makeshiftfort. The pirates evaded the American shore party but their base was dismantled and a few heavy artillery pieces were removed. USSSea Gull, withRalph Voorhees in command, recaptured the merchant schoonerPacification from pirates on March 30.[2]
Throughout the history of the West Indies Squadron, tropical disease was common among the American warships which had to sail back to the United States when outbreaks occurred. By January 1824, most of the West Indies Squadron ships had been recalled, mainly because of illness though in February, the squadron under Commodore Porter, sailing in flagshipUSS Firefly, returned to operate for a few months before sailing north again in July. During this time, piracy in Puerto Rican waters began to briefly rise until mid-1825: between July and August, ten attacks on American merchant vessels were reported and only a few warships remained on station. By October the majority were back in home waters. Commodore Porter was relieved of duty in February 1825 and joined theMexican Navy; this was after the Spanish authorities in Puerto Ricodetained USSPeacock's commander Lieutenant Platt in October 1824. That month pirates raided Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands and returned toFajardo with $5,000 worth of stolen merchandise from an American owned business. The stores owner requested that Lieutenant Platt help him recover his goods. Platt landed men in Fajardo on October 27. In order to not alert the pirates, the shore party wore civilian clothes and as a result, they were arrested by the Spanish Army and charged with piracy. Platt explained why he was out of uniform and later the Spanish allowed for one of his men to retrieve the lieutenant's uniform and commission. Upon seeing this, the Americans were released. When Commodore Porter heard of this he sailed to Fajardo with USSJohn Adams,Beagle andGrampus. There he landed a shore party on November 14 and demanded an apology from the Spanish. Eventually the Spaniards agreed to make a public apology so the expedition boarded their ships and sailed away. The United States government was not happy with Commodore Porter's actions and he was court martialed before resigning his commission. The American operation against West Indies pirates was declared a victory in 1825 though occasional outbreaks of piracy continued.[2]
In March 1825,Gallinipper was accompanied by the frigateHMS Dartmouth and the schoonersHMS Lion andHMS Union in anoperation against Cuban pirates. United States Navy LieutenantIsaac McKeever commanded and led an attack against a hostile schooner at the mouth of theSagua la Grande. American and British forces took the ship, killed eight enemies and captured nineteen others, incurring only one man wounded. On the following day, another schooner was captured but the pirates escaped and the vessel was taken without bloodshed.El Mosquito, the ship of famed pirateRoberto Cofresí wasdisabled on March 5, by USSGrampus and two Spanish sloops offBoca del Infierno. With his crew scattered, the pirate captain fled inland, where a local by the name of Juan Garay recognized and ambushed him allowing the authorities to capture him. Cofresí was considered the last Caribbean pirate to be successful. After he was executed on March 29, 1825, piracy declined in the region for good. United States naval operations in the West Indies were eventually turned over to theHome Squadron and theBrazil Squadron by 1842.[2]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
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