Aegean Sea Anti-Piracy Operations of the United States
Encyclopedia
Aegean Sea Anti-Piracy Operations began in 1825 when the United States
government dispatched a squadron of ships to suppress Aegean
Greek
pirates
. Due to the Greek civil wars
and the decline of the Greek Navy, the Aegean quickly became a haven for pirates who sometimes doubled as privateer
s. American merchant vessels were attacked so the Mediterranean Squadron began escort and patrol duties. The operation was declared a success in 1828.
James Monroe
sent Commodore John Rodgers
to protect American commerce. From 1825 to 1828, seven American warships were assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron including the flagship
USS North Carolina
, the frigate
USS Constitution, the sloops
USS Fairfield
, USS Lexington
and USS Ontario
, and the schooner
s USS Porpoise
and USS Warren
. The sloops and schooners were the main vessels deployed against the pirates because the larger men-of-war were too large to be effective. Many of the Greek pirates used small three masted vessels called mistikos and were usually armed with one bow gun.
Commodore Rodgers' first squadron in the Aegean occupied its time by convoying merchant ships and did not fight any engagements. In 1826 the squadron was withdrawn but another was sent in 1827 after a new escalation in piracy. Again the naval force was under John Rodgers' command. USS Warren would be the first to fight the brigands in a battle, she was newly constructed and sailed from Boston
in February 1827. In September, the Warren ceased escort duty and under the command of Lieutenant
Lawrence Kearny
, she captured a sixteen gun brig on October 4 while patrolling around Cape Matapan
and the port of Carabusa
. One boat and fifteen pirates were also taken.
While sailing in convoy on October 16, Lieutenant Louis M. Goldsborough
of the Porpoise liberated the British
brig Comet after watching it get captured by 250 pirates in five vessels. In the ensuing battle
, around ninety brigands were killed or wounded while the Americans suffered no casualties. Three brigs left the convoy at that point and two of them were later attacked. The first brig was captured off Chios
and the second was abandoned by her crew before it was captured. On October 23, one American sailor from the Porpoise was wounded in a skirmish near Andros. USS Warren chased a ten gun pirate brig on October 25 and it grounded off Argentiere
before sinking, the pirates escaped to shore. Warren recovered the American ship Cherub and the Austrian vessel Silence off Syros
on October 28 and two days later the Americans captured a pirate tratta propelled by forty oars and landed sailors and marines on Mykonos
to recover stolen property from the Cherub, Silence and the Rob Roy. One pirate boat was burned during the landing and the town shelled.
On November 7, a boat expedition from the Warren under the command of Lieutenant William L. Hudson
destroyed one pirate boat and captured another off Andros. The Warren also landed men on Argentiere and Milos
in December, and convoyed eight American merchant vessels from Milos to Smyrna
. In just over two months, the Warren captured or destroyed seven pirate vessels, rescued three merchant ships, recovered stolen property, escorted two convoys, and patrolled hundreds of miles in the Mediterranean. By the end of 1827, the United Kingdom, Russia
and France had deployed their own fleets to the Aegean for suppression of piracy and to support Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire
.
In January 1828 a combined fleet of British and French warships attacked Carabusa
which was a major center of piracy. Following its destruction, reports of pirate attacks began to cease and by the end of 1828, Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard
declared that because of the convoy system enforced by the United States Navy and the arrival of powerful fleets in the Aegean, the threat of piracy was eliminated.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government dispatched a squadron of ships to suppress Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
pirates
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
. Due to the Greek civil wars
Greek civil wars of 1824–1825
The Greek War of Independence was marked by two civil wars, which took place in 1824–1825. The conflict had both political and regional dimensions, as it pitted the Roumeliots against the Peloponnesians or Moreots...
and the decline of the Greek Navy, the Aegean quickly became a haven for pirates who sometimes doubled as privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s. American merchant vessels were attacked so the Mediterranean Squadron began escort and patrol duties. The operation was declared a success in 1828.
Operations
In the wake of the Greek Navy's defeat in the 1823 Battle of Bodrum, the Greek Navy turned to privateering. With the breakdown of law and order in the Aegean, piracy became widespread. Several American merchant ships were plundered by 1825 so that year PresidentPresident
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
sent Commodore John Rodgers
John Rodgers (naval officer, War of 1812)
John Rodgers was a senior naval officer in the United States Navy who served under six Presidents for nearly four decades during its formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s, committing the greater bulk of his adult life to his country...
to protect American commerce. From 1825 to 1828, seven American warships were assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron including the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
USS North Carolina
USS North Carolina (1820)
The first USS North Carolina was a 74-gun ship of the line in the United States Navy.One of the "nine ships to rate not less than 74 guns each" authorized by Congress on 29 April 1816, she was laid down in 1818 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, launched on 7 September 1820, and fitted out in the...
, the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
USS Constitution, the sloops
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
USS Fairfield
USS Fairfield
USS Fairfield may refer to:, was a sloop-of-war launched 28 June 1828 and decommissioned on 3 February 1845, was a cargo ship launched on 6 February 1945 and decommissioned on 11 January 1946...
, USS Lexington
USS Lexington
USS Lexington may refer to one of many actual or fictional vessels:In the United States Navy:, a brigantine acquired in 1776 and captured in 1777, a sloop in commission from 1826 to 1830 and from 1831 to 1855, a timberclad gunboat in commission from 1861 to 1865, an aircraft carrier commissioned in...
and USS Ontario
USS Ontario (1813)
The second USS Ontario was a three-masted, wooden-hulled sloop of war in the United States Navy, bearing 16 guns, and saw service during and following the years of the War of 1812 and in the Second Barbary War...
, and the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
s USS Porpoise
USS Porpoise
USS Porpoise has been the name of more than one United States navy ship, and may refer to:, a schooner built in 1820 and wrecked in 1833, a brig in commission from 1836 to 1847, from 1848 to 1852, and from 1853 until lost in 1854, a submarine commission from 1903 to 1919, renamed USS A-6 in 1911*...
and USS Warren
USS Warren
Five ships in the United States Navy have been named USS Warren for Joseph Warren.* The first Warren was a schooner commissioned in 1775. Captured and later destroyed in 1776, she served in the Continental Navy....
. The sloops and schooners were the main vessels deployed against the pirates because the larger men-of-war were too large to be effective. Many of the Greek pirates used small three masted vessels called mistikos and were usually armed with one bow gun.
Commodore Rodgers' first squadron in the Aegean occupied its time by convoying merchant ships and did not fight any engagements. In 1826 the squadron was withdrawn but another was sent in 1827 after a new escalation in piracy. Again the naval force was under John Rodgers' command. USS Warren would be the first to fight the brigands in a battle, she was newly constructed and sailed from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in February 1827. In September, the Warren ceased escort duty and under the command of Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Lawrence Kearny
Lawrence Kearny
Commodore Lawrence Kearny was an officer in the United States Navy during the early nineteenth century. In the early 1840s he began negotiations with China which opened that country to U.S. trade and pointed the way toward the American Open Door Policy a half century later...
, she captured a sixteen gun brig on October 4 while patrolling around Cape Matapan
Cape Matapan
Cape Tainaron , also known as Cape Matapan , is situated at the end of the Mani, Laconia, Greece. Cape Matapan is the southernmost point of mainland Greece. It separates the Messenian Gulf in the west from the Laconian Gulf in the east.-History:...
and the port of Carabusa
Gramvousa
Gramvousa, also Grambousa, Grampousa or Krampouza , further names include Akra, Cavo Buso, Cavo Bouza, Garabusa and Grabusa, are names used for two small uninhabited islands off the coast of north-western Crete in the prefecture of Chania...
. One boat and fifteen pirates were also taken.
While sailing in convoy on October 16, Lieutenant Louis M. Goldsborough
Louis M. Goldsborough
Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough was a rear admiral in the United States Navy during the Civil War. He held several sea commands during the Civil War, including the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron...
of the Porpoise liberated the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
brig Comet after watching it get captured by 250 pirates in five vessels. In the ensuing battle
Battle of Doro Passage
The Battle of Doro Passage was a naval engagement during the United States Navy's operation against Greek pirates in the Aegean Sea. On October 16 of 1827 a British merchantship was attacked by pirates in Doro Passage off the islands of Andros and Negroponte but was retaken by American...
, around ninety brigands were killed or wounded while the Americans suffered no casualties. Three brigs left the convoy at that point and two of them were later attacked. The first brig was captured off Chios
Chios
Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...
and the second was abandoned by her crew before it was captured. On October 23, one American sailor from the Porpoise was wounded in a skirmish near Andros. USS Warren chased a ten gun pirate brig on October 25 and it grounded off Argentiere
Kimolos
Kimolos is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, belonging to the islands group of Cyclades, located on the SW tip of them, near the bigger island of Milos. It is considered as a middle class, rural island, not included in the tourist hotspots, thus, ferry connection is sometimes of bad quality...
before sinking, the pirates escaped to shore. Warren recovered the American ship Cherub and the Austrian vessel Silence off Syros
Syros
Syros , or Siros or Syra is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is located south-east of Athens. The area of the island is . The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano Syros, and Vari. Ermoupoli is the capital of the island and the Cyclades...
on October 28 and two days later the Americans captured a pirate tratta propelled by forty oars and landed sailors and marines on Mykonos
Mykonos
Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island spans an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 9,320 inhabitants most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, which lies on the west coast. The town is also...
to recover stolen property from the Cherub, Silence and the Rob Roy. One pirate boat was burned during the landing and the town shelled.
On November 7, a boat expedition from the Warren under the command of Lieutenant William L. Hudson
William L. Hudson
Captain William Levereth Hudson, USN was a United States Navy officer in the first half of the 19th century.-Career:Hudson was born 11 May 1794 in Brooklyn...
destroyed one pirate boat and captured another off Andros. The Warren also landed men on Argentiere and Milos
Milos
Milos , is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete...
in December, and convoyed eight American merchant vessels from Milos to Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
. In just over two months, the Warren captured or destroyed seven pirate vessels, rescued three merchant ships, recovered stolen property, escorted two convoys, and patrolled hundreds of miles in the Mediterranean. By the end of 1827, the United Kingdom, Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and France had deployed their own fleets to the Aegean for suppression of piracy and to support Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
In January 1828 a combined fleet of British and French warships attacked Carabusa
Gramvousa
Gramvousa, also Grambousa, Grampousa or Krampouza , further names include Akra, Cavo Buso, Cavo Bouza, Garabusa and Grabusa, are names used for two small uninhabited islands off the coast of north-western Crete in the prefecture of Chania...
which was a major center of piracy. Following its destruction, reports of pirate attacks began to cease and by the end of 1828, Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard
Samuel L. Southard
Samuel Lewis Southard was a prominent U.S. statesman of the early 19th century, serving as a U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, and the 10th Governor of New Jersey.-History:...
declared that because of the convoy system enforced by the United States Navy and the arrival of powerful fleets in the Aegean, the threat of piracy was eliminated.