Combat· Second Barbary War
Action off Cape Palos
The second prize of the Second Barbary War, taken two days after the Mashuda.
Pursuing the remnants of the Algerian navy along the Spanish coast, Decatur's squadron ran down the brig Estedio, a 22-gun vessel, off Cape Palos. Hard pressed, the Algerians ran her aground on the beach to escape, but American boats went in and carried her, the Marines firing in support and forming part of the boarding party that secured the wreck. Algerian losses were heavy and the surviving crew taken prisoner. With both of the Dey's principal warships, the Mashuda and now the Estedio, lost inside forty-eight hours, Algiers had no fleet left to oppose the Americans. The swift double blow stripped the Dey of any means of resistance and set the stage for the capitulation Decatur would force on him at Algiers within days.
Podcast episodes on Second Barbary War
Record no. 258