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Escalation, a new American President, and a failure to honour treaties, led to a declaration of war between the Barbary State of Tripolitania and the United States of America.
When the United States of America gained independence from Great Britain there was an unexpected problem - piracy. Removed from the protection of the world's greatest navy, US ships were prize targets for pirates all cross the seven seas. In 1783, the same year that the Treaty of Paris was signed, corsairs from the Barbary States began to attack American shipping in the Mediterranean.
Inundated by many other problems which required immediate attention - border wars with Indians, navel conflict with Revolutionary France - the US Congress capitulated to demands for tribute. Within the next fifteen years, treaties were ratified with each of the four Barbary states: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania (one of three regions which were combined to form Libya).
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By the time Thomas Jefferson was appointed president (1801) the situation had changed: a treaty had been signed ending naval war between the US and France, and the American ship George Washington, transporting the yearly tribute to Algiers, had been ordered to sail on to Constantinople to deliver the money directly to the Ottoman sultan. (To add to the humiliation, Captain William Bainbridge was instructed to fly the Ottoman flag whilst in harbour at Algiers.) America had, by this time, paid over $2,000,000 in tribute and ransom to the Barbary States - but this was only one-fifth of what was expected.
Angered by delayed and undersized payments the Barbary State regents demanded more. The escalating situation was finally brought to a head by the Pasha of Tripolitania, Yusuf Karamanli. On May 14, 1801, he ordered the flag staff (flying the 'Stars and Stripes') standing in front of the US consulate to be cut down. This symbolic act was taken as a declaration of war against America.
A squadron of four ships were being made ready at that time in the US. Under the command of Commodore Richard Dale they were dispatched to the Mediterranean. On the 17th of July, 1801, a blockade was imposed on the harbour at Tripoli. Although there were a few naval successes against the corsairs, the squadron proved too weak to effectively control the situation. The US envoy to Tripoli, James Cathcart, continued discussions with the Pasha hoping to reach a compromise on the amount of tribute now being demanded - a one-off payment of $250,000 and an annual tribute of $20,000.
In 1803, an enlarged squadron was sent to the Mediterranean under the command of Commodore Edward Preble (of the 44-gun frigate Constitution). On the 31st of October 1803, one of Preble's ships, the frigate Philadelphia, ran aground on a reef near the harbour. Captured by Tripolitan gunboats, the frigate was floated free and taken into port. Captain William Bainbridge and the ship's 307 crew were imprisoned.
On the 16th of February, 1804, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid on the harbour in a previously captured ketch, renamed Intrepid. Although the main aim of the raid was to retake the Philadelphia, Decatur had to settle with burning the frigate to the water line. The raiding party escaped before an alarm was sounded. The British Admiral, Lord Nelson, described the raid as "the most daring act of the age." Unfortunately the crew of the Philadelphia remained in prison, and the Pasha was now asking for $200,000 for their release.
Commodore Preble, who considered the Barbary regents to be "a deep designing artfull treacherous sett of Villains" decided that a show of force was necessary. Two ineffectual and one highly successful bombardments on Tripoli were undertaken in August 1804. On the 4th of September, Preble once again used the captured ketch Intrepid, this time sacrificing it as a fire-ship in the hope of destroying the Pasha's fleet. Unfortunately for Preble, the ship was spotted by enemy gunners and blown up in the harbour entrance. None of the crew survived the premature detonation. Although the attack was a failure, the harbour was seriously compromised and the Pasha's fleet severely restricted.
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