Expeditionary· Second Barbary War
Squadron Demonstration at Algiers
The campaign's decisive act needed no battle.
Having destroyed the Algerian navy at sea, Decatur brought his squadron to anchor off Algiers and presented the Dey with American terms backed by the visible threat of his guns. The Marines aboard the ships stood to as guard and boarding force throughout the tense negotiations conducted by Decatur and consul-general William Shaler. With the Mashuda and Estedio gone and the harbor under the squadron's broadsides, the Dey had no real choice. He signed the Treaty of Algiers on 30 June 1815, releasing American captives, renouncing tribute, and ending two centuries of such payments by the United States to Algiers. Decatur then sailed east to repeat the performance at Tunis and Tripoli, extracting treaties there by August. The bloodless demonstration at Algiers showed how completely sea power had reversed the old Barbary relationship.
Podcast episodes on Second Barbary War
Record no. 259