Combat· West Indies Anti-Piracy Campaign
USS Spark vs Dutch sloop in West Indies
A recapture that shows the international dimension of the piracy war.
The brig USS Spark retook a Dutch sloop that pirates had seized as a prize, the Marine guard providing the boarding party. The raiders of the Caribbean preyed on the shipping of every nation, and an American warship recovering a Dutch merchantman was a routine and uncontroversial act in a campaign where the United States, Britain, Spain, and others all had an interest in clearing the sea lanes. The recapture was bloodless. Small operations of this kind, returning a stolen vessel to its owners, were the everyday business of the West Indies Squadron, less glamorous than a stand-up fight but central to the campaign's real purpose: making Caribbean commerce safe and demonstrating that the piracy spawned by Spain's imperial collapse would not be tolerated.
Record no. 274