WWW-Tipp 3/2002

Die U.S.S. Constitution
Die Barbarenstaaten
Thomas Jefferson
Stephen Decatur
Der Frieden
Der zweite Barbarenkrieg 1812-1815
Exkurs
Musik

1785 verkauften die USA ihr letztes Kriegsschiff, weil man annahm, keine Kriegsmarine mehr zu benötigen. Schon ein Jahrzehnt später wurde das als Irrtum erkannt. und am 27. März 1794 genehmigte der Kongreß den Bau von sechs Fregatten. Eine davon, die "Constitution" wird in EDMOND HARTTs Reederei in Boston gebaut, und in Boston liegt sie auch heute noch als ältestes seetaugliches Schiff und gernbesuchtes Denkmal.

CONSTITUTION was built by Colonel GEORGE CLAGHORN at EDMOND HARTT's shipyard in Boston. Made from more than 1,500 trees, with timbers felled from Maine to Georgia and armed with cannons cast in Rhode Island and copper fastenings provided by PAUL REVERE, the vessel is truly a national ship. Launched in Boston on October 21, 1797, she first put to sea in 1798. Having remained a part of the U.S. Navy since that day, CONSTITUTION is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world...

Oct. 21 1797: -- CONSTITUTION is launched and christened by Capt. JAMES SEVER. It was the third attempt to launch her. The first, a month earlier, failed when the ship moved only 25 feet down the ship ways. Two days later she was moved an additional 30 feet. Workers had to make the ways steeper before the launch could be completed. The public was warned beforehand that the launch might cause a dangerously large wave, but none materialized...

July 22 1798: -- First put to sea and commanded by Capt. SAMUEL NICHOLSON.


http://www.panoramamagazine.com/panoramamagazine/sightseeing/freedom_trail/images/uss_constitution.jpg

Weitere Links:

• U.S.S. Constitution Museum
• U.S.S. Constitution
• USS Constitution "Old Ironsides"

Inzwischen ist einem Journalisten aufgefallen, daß das Schiff von zwei startenden Flugzeugen aus zu sehen war, die am 11.9.2001 zu Terrorangriffen genutzt wurden. Originell daran ist, daß es selbst vor 200 Jahren gegen Schurkenstaaten und islamische Terroristen im Einsatz war.

Echoes from the Barbary Coast
America's war against the Barbary pirates 200 years ago bears similarities—and lessons—for the present war against terrorism.

By RAND H. FISHBEIN, Ph.D./Special to Jewsweek.com

Jewsweek.com | On the day that United Airlines flight 175 and American Airlines flight 11 lifted off from Boston’s Logan airport, bound for a fiery collision with the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center, a lone observer watched from below. That observer was the U.S.S. Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy and an early witness to the ravages of Middle Eastern terrorism.

Launched in 1797, the U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironside") and her sister ship, the U.S.S. Constellation, were built to wage war on the Muslim pirates operating along North Africa’s Barbary coast. It was a wild, untamed region of petty states and warlords whose reach extended deep into the Mediterranean Sea, from Gibralter to the borders of Egypt. Each owed his allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan, who demanded that payment of an annual tribute be made to his treasury in exchange for the protection afforded by his Army. It was a tidy arrangement, one that worked well for the Sultan and those who knew their place in the social order.

That the local rulers were obliged to share a portion of their meager income with Constantinople meant that new, more assured opportunities for profit would have to be found. The solution was piracy.

For nearly four centuries the Barbary states, and the brigands they employed, prowled the Mediterranean in search of prey. The lumbering merchant vessels of the time were no match for the Muslim corsairs, built for speed and lightening strikes. It was a way of life that took its toll on countless merchant ships, most of which were only lightly armed and had little capacity to resist capture.

The crews who fell victim to this banditry were destined, often times, for a miserable fate. After seizing their cargo and scuttling the vessels, the pirates would then ransom the ill-fated seamen back to their sovereign or the company that had chartered them. Usually, though, the victims of these maritime hijackings would languish in fetid prisons, unsure of when, or even if, they would ever be rescued. Some were sold into slavery.

It was a lucrative business, one that yielded great riches not only for the pirates, but also for the Muslim states that gave them refuge. For many of the rulers, plunder became a mainstay of their survival. In the parlance of our time this was state-sponsored terrorism pure and simple -- an extortion racket in which the pirate, the petty states of North Africa and the Ottoman Empire were all complicit.

Marokko, Tunesien, Algerien und Tripolitanien bildeten damals die Achse des Bösen. Diese Schurkenstaaten Nordafrikas (damals "Barbarenstaaten" genannt) waren generell kein neues Problem, nur für die USA, denn bisher hatte vor der Unabhängigkeit der USA England die nordamerikanischen Schiffe beschützt, danach Frankreich, das mit den USA gegen England verbündet war. Nun aber mußten die USA sich selbst helfen und dabei dachte man zunächst an die Zahlung von Schutzgeld. So handelten auch europäische Staaten jener Zeit. Piraterie erschien zudem noch als Teil des allgemeinen Lebensrisikos von Kaufleuten.

Mit Tributzahlungen hatten die USA aber nur wenige Jahre Erfolg. FISHBEIN schreibt weiter:

By 1801, however, it became clear that the policy of appeasement had failed. The Pasha of Tripoli, who five years earlier had been satisfied with a payment of $56,000, now demanded increasingly larger sums. When they were not forthcoming, piracy resumed. The same held true for the other Barbary states. The Algerians received payments from the U.S. totaling $990,000 plus another $585,000 in 1793 to cover the ransom of 11 American ships. At the same time, the Bey of Tunis received $50,000. These were extraordinary sums for a nation with a budget of no more than $7 million, but the appetite of the Muslim states seemed to grow evermore insatiable.


http://africanhistory.about.com/library/graphics/TripolitanWar.jpg

Druckmittel der Piraten waren gefangene Amerikaner.

America’s First Hostage Crisis

... The episode began in 1785, when an American schooner Maria, sailing off the coast of Portugal, was boarded by Algerian pirates. Its captain and five crew members were taken prisoners. Then a second American ship, the brig Dauphin was captured, and its 15-member crew was taken to Algiers and enslaved. Several hostages were put to work as domestic servants; another was forced to care for the Dey of Algiers's lion. Much of the time the hostages were kept in leg irons, chained to pillars or locked in a rat-infested prison. Six Americans died of bubonic plague; one went insane.

... In a bid to free the American hostages, THOMAS JEFFERSON, then Minister to France, offered to pay $200 ransom for each American prisoner. This sum was well below the going rate of $1,600 per hostage. As a result, the hapless prisoners languished in captivity. Over the next eight years, Algerian pirates seized more than a hundred hostages from a dozen captured American ships.

Finally, in 1795, the State Department dispatched a poet, JOEL BARLOW, to negotiate for the hostages' release. To gain the captives' freedom, the United States agreed to pay $800,000 plus annual tribute--and to provide the Dey of Algiers with a brand-new 36-gun frigate. In 1797, the hostages were freed and sailed to Philadelphia, where they were greeted by cheering crowds.

Although the hostages were now free, the story was not yet over. After the military ruler of Tripoli learned that the Dey of Algiers had received an American frigate, he demanded a ship of his own. When the United States refused to accede to his demand, the Bawshaw of Tripoli seized an American merchant ship and ordered the flag of the U.S. consulate in Tripoli cut down.

weitere Links:

• Barbary Wars
• Barbary Wars 1801-1805, 1815
• Barbary Wars - examines the U.S. conflict with the four Barbary States of North Africa: Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.
• The Tripolitan War, 1801 - 1805 Teil 1:
  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.
• The Tripolitan War, 1801 - 1805 Teil 2
  Attack on Derna.
• The Tripolitan War, 1801 - 1805 Teil 3
  Bringing the war to a close.
• Bombardment of Tripoli, 1804 - accounts from the USS Constitution.
• Columbia Encyclopedia: The Tripolitan War - brief profile of the conflict over piracy.
• Encarta Encyclopedia: Tripolitan War - overview of the conflict between the United States and the North African state of Tripoli (now in Libya).
• Encyclopedia.com: Tripolitan War - provides an overview of the conflict between the United States and the Barbary States.
• Encyclopedia.com: Barbary States
• Encyclopedia.com: Lord EXMOUTH
• Encyclopedia.com: Tripolitania
• Encyclopedia.com: Tunisia
• Encyclopedia.com: Algeria
• Encyclopedia.com: Morocco
• Treaties with The Barbary Powers, 1786-1836 - from The Avalon Project.
• War with Tripoli - early 19th century war between the United States and Tripoli over demands for tribute by pirates. From DAR Report Internet References.
• MICHAEL BROWN CARROLL and the Barbary Coast Pirates
• ARNOLD E. VAN BEVERHOUDT, Jr: These Are the Voyages. A history of the ships, aircraft, and spacecraft named Enterprice.
  4 - Challenges to a Young Nation
• Pirates! Fact- General History

Tributzahlungen waren JEFFERSON stets zuwider, und er hat von Anfang an eine Anti-Terror-Koalition zusammenführen wollen.

http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mtj/mtj1/006/0700/0780.gif
THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1786, Proposals for War Powers Against the Barbary States

Die Suche in den THOMAS JEFFERSON Papers findet insgesamt 18 Treffer für "barbary"

Als gewählter US-Präsident verfolgte THOMAS JEFFERSON diese Politik weiter. GERALD W. GAWALT, Manuskriptspezialist der Kongreßbibliothek, schreibt darüber:

America and the Barbary Pirates: An International Battle Against an Unconventional Foe

THOMAS JEFFERSON, United States minister to France, opposed the payment of tribute, as he later testified in words that have a particular resonance today. In his autobiography JEFFERSON wrote that in 1785 and 1786 he unsuccessfully "endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredation from them. I accordingly prepared, and proposed to their ministers at Paris, for consultation with their governments, articles of a special confederation." JEFFERSON argued that "The object of the convention shall be to compel the piratical States to perpetual peace." JEFFERSON prepared a detailed plan for the interested states. "Portugal, Naples, the two Sicilies, Venice, Malta, Denmark and Sweden were favorably disposed to such an association," JEFFERSON remembered, but there were "apprehensions" that England and France would follow their own paths, "and so it fell through."

Paying the ransom would only lead to further demands, JEFFERSON argued in letters to future presidents JOHN ADAMS, then America's minister to Great Britain, and JAMES MONROE, then a member of Congress. As JEFFERSON wrote to ADAMS in a July 11, 1786, letter, "I acknolege [sic] I very early thought it would be best to effect a peace thro' the medium of war." Paying tribute will merely invite more demands, and even if a coalition proves workable, the only solution is a strong navy that can reach the pirates, JEFFERSON argued in an August 18, 1786, letter to JAMES MONROE: "The states must see the rod; perhaps it must be felt by some one of them. . . . Every national citizen must wish to see an effective instrument of coercion, and should fear to see it on any other element than the water. A naval force can never endanger our liberties, nor occasion bloodshed; a land force would do both." "From what I learn from the temper of my countrymen and their tenaciousness of their money," JEFFERSON added in a December 26, 1786, letter to the president of Yale College, EZRA STILES, "it will be more easy to raise ships and men to fight these pirates into reason, than money to bribe them."

JEFFERSON's plan for an international coalition foundered on the shoals of indifference and a belief that it was cheaper to pay the tribute than fight a war. The United States's relations with the Barbary states continued to revolve around negotiations for ransom of American ships and sailors and the payment of annual tributes or gifts. Even though Secretary of State JEFFERSON declared to THOMAS BARCLAY, American consul to Morocco, in a May 13, 1791, letter of instructions for a new treaty with Morocco that it is "lastly our determination to prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form, and to any people whatever," the United States continued to negotiate for cash settlements. In 1795 alone the United States was forced to pay nearly a million dollars in cash, naval stores, and a frigate to ransom 115 sailors from the dey of Algiers. Annual gifts were settled by treaty on Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli.

When JEFFERSON became president in 1801 he refused to accede to Tripoli's demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. The pasha of Tripoli then declared war on the United States. Although as secretary of state and vice president he had opposed developing an American navy capable of anything more than coastal defense, President JEFFERSON dispatched a squadron of naval vessels to the Mediterranean. As he declared in his first annual message to Congress: "To this state of general peace with which we have been blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean. . . ."

Der "Pascha of Tripoli" ist bei FISHBEIN der "Bey of Tripoli" und heißt YUSUF KARAMANLI. Der Krieg im Mittelmeer zog sich noch einige Jahre hin. Die erwähnte Constitution wurde 1803 dorthin beordert.

http://www.mariner.org/usnavy/images_content/fullsize/06i_LP3750Philadelphia.jpg

The burning of the Philadelphia. From the collections of The Mariners' Museum.

So richtig überzeugend finde ich die amerikanischen Aktionen nicht. So war die U.S.S. Philadelphia in die Hand des Feindes gefallen und es gelang nur ("nur" ist meine Meinung, in den USA wird das als große Heldentat dargestellt), sie zu zerstören, ein Kommando unter Führung von Lieutenant STEPHEN DECATUR. Der gefangenen Besatzung half das nicht, und das Lösegeld wurde auf 200.000 $ erhöht, vgl. America’s First Hostage Crisis

Das Mariners Museum berichtet ausführlich und mit zahlreichen Abbildungen und mehreren Dokumenten über den Krieg im Mittelmeer. Da mir die einzelnen Kampfhandlungen aber nicht so wichtig sind, nenne ich nur die Links.

• The Mariners' Museum : Birth of the U.S. Navy
• PREBLE's Order to Decatur to Destroy the Philadelphia
• PREBLE and DECATUR's Report of the Burning of the Philadelphia
• STEWART's Report of the Burning of the Philadelphia

http://204.176.104.93/usnavy/images_content/fullsize/06a_BarbaryWars.jpg

Siehe auch View of Tripoli

FISHBEIN: Echoes from the Barbary Coast... verknüpft auch dieses Ereignis mit den Attentaten vom 11.9.2001:

On the day that American Airlines flight 77 lifted off from Dulles International Airport, bound for a fiery crash into the west side of the Pentagon, a venerable Washington landmark stood quietly against the dawn. Located just a block from the White House, the residence of Lieutenant STEPHEN DECATUR prepared to welcome visitors as it has since 1818. Here, amidst the mementos of an adventurous life, its famed occupant regaled guests with stories of piracy on the high seas, and the heroic deeds he and his crew had performed long ago.

Nearly two hundred years later, and just two miles away, another drama was unfolding. Only this time, Middle Eastern terrorism had come home to America, the pirates were in the skies above, and the heroes were those racing to save their co-workers from an all-consuming darkness. Their efforts, too, will prove not to have been in vain.

Das Decaturhaus hat einen eigene Homepage

Decatur House has been a monument on the northwest corner of Washington D.C.'s Lafayette Square since 1818.  Designed by architect BENJAMIN HENRY LATROBE for America's greatest 19th century naval hero, STEPHEN DECATUR, it was subsequently occupied by many of our nation's most important political leaders.  This unique history provides Decatur House an opportunity to tell a significant and interesting  story about 19th century America--a world both familiar and distant from our own. Built in 1818, DECATUR's home was the first private residence on the President's Park.  Known as Decatur House, it was a nearly square three-story town house constructed with red brick in the austere Federal fashion of the day.  In 1819, the Decaturs moved in with high expectations for the Capital as well as their own social position.  Unfortunately, the couple only occupied the house for a mere 14 months as STEPHEN was mortally wounded in a duel against Commodore JAMES BARRON on March 22, 1820.  After STEPHEN's death, SUSAN auctioned many of the furnishings, moved to a small house in Georgetown and rented the Decatur House for the next 15 years to a string of foreign and American dignitaries history of the Decatur house

http://www.decaturhouse.org/museum/ Biography%20Images/Decatur2.gif

Da der Vertrag von 1805 die Barbarenkriege nicht endgültig beendete, wurde Decatur 1815 erneut im Mittelmeer eingesetzt:

      Praised for a decisive style of leadership during the encounter with the PHILADELPHIA, DECATUR became the most striking figure of the Tripolitan Wars. He subsequently received the commission of Captain, commanding the CONSTITUTION and later the CONGRESS. Responsibility for the gunboat flotilla in the Chesapeake, management of the Norfolk Navy Yard, and command of all U.S. Naval forces on the Southeast coast followed. He also presided over various courts of inquiry for naval affairs.

      During the War of 1812, DECATUR fought and defeated the MACEDONIAN, the second of his three famous frigate encounters. Other notable encounters include the battle between the PRESIDENT and a British blockade of New York harbor, where DECATUR was able to destroy the enemy frigate ENDYMION. The PRESIDENT was later captured and DECATUR wounded, but the victory over ENDYMION earned him high praise.

      In 1815, DECATUR commanded a nine-ship squadron headed for Algiers to settle conflicts which had persisted since 1812. DECATUR's abilities as a negotiator were recognized after he secured a treaty with the Algerians and extracted compensation from the Tripolitans. During celebration of the truce with the North African States, Decatur declared his famous line: "Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country right or wrong."

      From November 1815 until his death, DECATUR served on the Board of Navy Commissioners. Successful Naval leaders of DECATUR's time were rewarded financially for their exploits; DECATUR invested his ample prize money in the Washington, D.C. area, building Decatur House which still stands today in Lafayette Square.

      DECATUR's death was predictably both heroic and tragic. As Navy Commissioner, he opposed the reinstatement of Captain JOHN BARRON whom he had suspended from service much earlier while serving on an inquiry board. BARRON responded with a challenge to duel with the much younger DECATUR. Ever the honorable warrior, DECATUR allowed only a short distance of eight paces out of respect for BARRON's faulty eyesight and claimed he would not fire to kill. At the first exchange, BARRON was shot in the thigh, DECATUR received a fatal shot. All of Washington turned out to mourn the hero who remains today a prominent figure in U.S. Naval history.

weitere Links

• RESOLUTION Expressive of the Sense of Congress of the Gallant Conduct of Captain STEPHEN DECATUR, the Officers and Crew of the United States Ketch Intrepid, in Attacking in the Harbor of Tripoli, and Destroying, a Tripolitan Frigate of Forty-four Guns.
• Die ausführlichste Biographie hat in: Virtual War Museum >> Hall of American Wars and Conflicts >> STEPHEN DECATUR
• DAR Report Internet References STEPHEN DECATUR, Jr.
• Encyclopedia.com - Results for DECATUR, STEPHEN
• Grave of STEPHEN DECATUR

1805 unterstützte die U.S.S. Constitution die Landung der Marines "on the shores of Tripoli", was heute noch in der "Marine Corps hymn" [meine Hintergrundmusik] verherrlicht wird. Immerhin ein Erfolg. So kann man auch den Versuch des US-Konsuls WILLIAM EATON beurteilen, den Pasha durch seinen älteren Bruder HAMET zu ersetzen. Am 23. Februar 1805 wurde der Vertrag mit HAMET geschlossen:

ARTICLE 1.

There shall be a firm and perpetual peace and free intercourse between the Government of the United States of America and His Highness HAMET CARAMANLY Bashaw, the legitimate sovereign of the kingdom of Tripoli, and between the citizens of the one and the subjects of the other.

ART. 2.

The Government of the United States shall use their utmost exertions SO comports with their own honor and interest, their subsisting treaties, and the acknowledged laws of nations, to re-establish the said HAMET Baswah in the possession of his sovereignty of Tripoli, against the pretensions of JOSEPH Bashaw, who obtained said sovereignty by treason, and who now holds it by usurpation, and who is engaged in actual war against the United States

usw.

Aber dieser Putschversuch scheiterte, veranlaßte aber YUSSUF zur Freilassung aller gefangenen amerikanischen Seeleute und zum Verzicht auf alle Tributzahlungen. Kleiner Schönheitsfehler: Für die beteiligten muslimischen Verschwörer endete dieser Putsch aber mit der Hinrichtung.

U.S. Navy History: Our Country was published in 1877 as "Houshold History for All Readers"
This Article is an excerpt from the second volume of the bool in which the author Benson J. Lossing, chronicles the American Revolution from 1760 until the early days of independence around 1800.

While BARRON's ships blockaded Tripoli, and important land movement against that province was undertaken, under the general management of WILLIAM EATON, American consul at Tunis. The reigning Bashaw of Tripoli was an usurper, who had murdered his father and taken the seat of power from his brother, HAMET CARAMALLI. The latter had fled to Egypt. A plan was concerted between him and General EATON for the restoration of his rights. The latter acted under the sanction of his government. Eaton went to Egypt, and at the beginning of March he left Alexandria, accompanied by Hamet and his followers, some Egyptian soldiers, and seventy United States seamen. They made a march of a thousand miles across the borders of the Libyan desert; and at near the close of April, in conjunction with two American vessels, they captured the Tripolitan city of Derne, on the borders of the Mediterranean Sea. They had defeated the Tripolitan forces in two battles, and were about to march on the capital when news came that the American consul-general (Tobias Lear) had made a treaty of peace with the terrified Bashaw. So ended the hopes of Hamet, and also the four years' war with Tripoli. But the ruler of Tunis was yet insolent. He was speedily humbled by Commodore RODGERS, BARRON's successor, and the power of the United States was respected and feared by the half-barbarians of the north of Africa. Pope PIUS the Seventh declared that the Americans had done more for Christendom against the pirates than all the powers of Europe united.

Am 4. Juni 1805 wurde ein Friedens- und Freundschaftsvertrag geschlossen.

ARTICLE 1st

There shall be, from the conclusion of this Treaty, a firm, inviolable and universal peace, and a sincere friendship between the President and Citizens of the United States of America, on the one part, and the Bashaw, Bey and Subjects of the Regency of Tripoli in Barbary on the other, made by the free consent of both Parties, and on the terms of the most favoured Nation. And if either party shall hereafter grant to any other Nation, any particular favour or priviledge in Navigation or Commerce, it shall immediately become common to the other party, freely, where it is freely granted, to such other Nation, but where the grant is conditional it shall be at the option of the contracting parties to accept, alter or reject, such conditions in such manner, as shall be most conducive to their respective Interests.

ARTICLE 2d

The Bashaw of Tripoli shall deliver up to the American Squadron now off Tripoli, all the Americans in his possession; and all the Subjects of the Bashaw of Tripoli now in the power of the United States of America shall be delivered up to him; and as the number of Americans in possession of the Bashaw of Tripoli amounts to Three Hundred Persons, more or less; and the number of Tripolino Subjects in the power of the Amelicans to about, One Hundred more or less; The Bashaw of Tripoli shall receive from the United States of America, the sum of Sixty Thousand Dollars, as a payment for the difference between the Prisoners herein mentioned.

ARTICLE 3rd

All the forces of the United States which have been, or may be in hostility against the Bashaw of Tripoli, in the Province of Derne, or elsewhere within the Dominions of the said Bashaw shall be withdrawn therefrom, and no supplies shall be given by or in behalf of the said United States, during the continuance of this peace, to any of the Subjects of the said Bashaw, who may be in hostility against him in any part of his Dominions; And the Americans will use all means in their power to persuade the Brother of the said Bashaw, who has co-operated with them at Derne &c, to withdraw from the Territory of the said Bashaw of Tripoli; but they will not use any force or improper means to effect that object; and in case he should withdraw himself as aforesaid, the Bashaw engages to deliver up to him, his Wife and Children now in his powers.

So ganz traute man dem Frieden aber nicht und vereinbarte schon Regelungen für den nächsten Krieg:

ARTICLE 16^th

If in the fluctuation of Human Events, a War should break out between the two Nations; The Prisoners captured by either party shall not be made Slaves; but shall be exchanged Rank for Rank; and if there should be a deficiency on either side, it shall be made up by the payment of Five Hundred Spanish Dollars for each Captain, Three Hundred Dollars for each Mate and Supercargo and One hundred Spanish Dollars for each Seaman so wanting. And it is agreed that Prisoners shall be exchanged in twelve months from the time of their capture, and that this Exchange may be effected by any private Individual legally authorized by either of the parties.

ARTICLE 17^th

If any of the Barbary States, or other powers at War with the United States of America, shall capture any American Vessel, and send her into any of the ports of the Regency of Tripoli, they shall not be permitted to sell her, but shall be obliged to depart the Port on procuring the requisite supplies of Provisions; and no duties shall be exacted on the sale of Prizes captured by Vessels sailing under the Flag of the United States of America when brought into any Port in the Regency of Tripoli.

Der Krieg der USA von 1812 mit England ermutigte Algier wieder zur Gefangennahme amerikanischer Kaufleute. DECATUR wurde wieder ins Mittelmeer geschickt:

On DECATUR's arrival in the Mediterranean, he captured the Algerine frigate "Mashouda," forty-six guns, flagship of Admiral RAIS HAMMIDA, after a brave resistance. He also captured, subsequently, the Algerine brig of war "Estedio." He arrived off Algiers on 28 June, 1815, where peace was concluded on terms very favorable to the United States. It was stipulated that the United States should never pay tribute to the dey of Algiers, and all Christian captives were to be released. This treaty and the demands of DECATUR gave the deathblow to that cruel system which for centuries, to the shame of Christendom, had elevated the Barbary powers into baneful importance. Decatur next went to Tunis and demanded indemnity from the bey for violating treaty stipulations, which demand was conceded. He then made a similar demand on the pacha of Tripoli, and for the release of Neapolitan and Danish prisoners, all of which was granted, thus ending forever the pretensions of the Barbary powers.

For this DECATUR received the thanks of all Europe; and, on the assembling Of congress in December, 1815, President MADISON began his message with a high eulogium upon his success against the Barbary states. DECATUR arrived in Washington in January, 1816, and was appointed navy commissioner with Commodores RODGERS and PORTER, in which office he gave all his zeal, skill, and experience in building up the young navy of the republic. While attached to the board of navy commissioners DECATUR made some remarks of a censorious nature against Com. BARRON, which the latter objected to, and which DECATUR refused to retract, though he disclaimed any intention to be insulting. A long correspondence ensued, in which DECATUR did all that an honorable man could do to remove unfavorable impressions from Com. BARRON's mind, but nevertheless the latter challenged DECATUR. The meeting occurred at Bladensburg, 22 March, 1820, Captain ELLIOTT being BARTON's second, and Com. BAINBRIDGE DECATUR's. When the word "fire" was given, BARRON fell, wounded in the hip, where DECATUR said he would shoot him. DECATUR was shot in the abdomen, and fell soon after BARREN. He was taken to his home, where he died that night. No man was ever more regretted by the country than this heroic officer, to whom the highest honors were accorded, and he was followed to his grave by the largest concourse of people public and private that had ever assembled in Washington City. 

STEPHEN DECATUR

Die USA hatten nun ihr Verhältnis zu den Staaten Nordafrikas geregelt, aber die europäischen Staaten mußten noch dafür sorgen, daß die Piraterie ein Ende nahm. Dabei spielt für mich überraschend auch mein Wohnort Aachen eine Rolle:

After the Napoleonic wars, European opinion clearly favored destroying the pirates. In 1816 Lord EXMOUTH with an Anglo- Dutch flotilla all but ended the naval power of the dey of Algiers. An ultimatum from the European Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1819) compelled the bey of Tunis to give up piracy. The Tunisian fleet was subsequently sent to help the Ottomans in Greece and was destroyed (1827) at the battle of Navarino. In 1830, France, after a three-year blockade of Algiers, began the conquest of Algeria. The Ottoman Turks were able to reassert (1835) direct control over Tripolitania and end piracy there. About the same time the sultans of Morocco, who had occasionally encouraged piracy, were forced by France, Great Britain, and Austria to give up plans to rebuild the Moroccan fleet, and North African piracy was at an end.

Barbary States An den Aachener Kongreß erinnert dieses Denkmal (zu KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL vgl. Surftipp 12/2001) :

Weitere Links:

• The Barbary Treaties : Treaty of Peace, Signed Algiers June 30 and July 3, 1815
• The Barbary Treaties : Tunis - Convention of February 24, 1824 Amending the Treaty of August 1797, and March 26, 1799
• The Barbary Treaties : Morocco - Treaty of Peace; September 16, 1836

In einem Aufsatz über Die Fortschrittlichkeit der historischen Piraten fand ich zwar nichts über die Seeräuber im Mittelmeer, aber über andere Piraten dafür umso erstaunlichere Informationen, die ich euch nicht vorenthalten möchte:

Vom Piratenkapitän HOVELL DAVIES ist aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert überliefert, dass er seine Mannschaft nach einer Streiterei zur Vernunft ruft: Sie seien nicht aus Rauflust Piraten geworden, sondern um sich an blutsaugerischen Kaufleuten und an grausamen Schiffsführern zu rächen. Kapitän SAMUEL BELLAMY (mit dem Beinamen "der Redner") versucht 1716 den Kapitän eines geenterten Handelsschiffes zur Mitarbeit auf Seite der Piraten zu überreden. Es kommt zu keiner Einigung, und BELLAMY hält eine Rede:

"Ich bedaure, dass sie Euch Eure Schaluppe nicht wiedergeben wollen; ich halte nichts davon, irgend jemandem Schaden zuzufügen, wenn ich davon keinen Vorteil haben kann; zum Teufel mit der Schaluppe, wir müssen sie versenken, und sie hätte Euch nützlich sein können. Trotzdem: Ihr seid ein schleicherischer Hund, und ebenso alle, die es hinnehmen, von Gesetzen regiert zu werden, die reiche Männer zu ihrem eigenen Schutz gemacht haben - weil diese feigen Hunde nicht den Mut haben, auf andere Weise zu verteidigen, was sie in ihrer Unehrlichkeit zusammengetragen haben; aber sie seien alle miteinander verflucht: Meinen Fluch über dieses Pack verschlagener Luder, und über Euch, die Ihr Ihnen als ein Posten hühnerherziger Dummköpfe zu Diensten steht. Sie machen uns schlecht, ohne die geringste Zurückhaltung, und dabei ist der einzige Unterschied: Sie berauben die Armen unter dem Mantel des Gesetzes, so, und wir nehmen's von den Reichen unter dem Schutz unserer eigenen Courage. Ist es nicht besser, Ihr seid einer von uns, anstatt diesen Betrügern für eine Anstellung hinterherzulaufen?"

Die "Piratenrepubliken" als Vorläufer des Sozialstaats

Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts. Die staatlichen Justizsysteme basierten auf Folter und Todesstrafe. Die Ordnung im Militär, in Staaten und in Unternehmen war extrem hierarchisch, bei Bestrafungen wurde wenig zimperlich verfahren. Kriege waren an der Tagesordnung.

Zur gleichen Zeit gab es bei den Piraten in Westindien - auf Haiti und Tortuga - geregelte Versicherungsansprüche, ein ausgeprägtes Rechtssystem und eine Herrschaftsform, die um vieles demokratischer aufgebaut war als die der damaligen Regierungen. Es gab eine gemeinsame Kasse für Krankenversicherung und Sozialversicherung. Die Beute wurde unter allen (einschließlich Kapitän) gerecht aufgeteilt.

Zum Vergleich: Die staatliche Navy requirierte ihr Personal nicht selten per Kidnapping und zahlte einfachen Matrosen meistens nichts. Auf Fluchtversuche folgten unmenschliche Strafen. Auch auf Handelsschiffen war die Heuer immer noch verschwindend gering und die Disziplin unerbittlich. Bei den Korsaren, die sich im Unterschied zu eindeutigen Piratenschiffen immerhin durch einen Kaperbrief als politisch legitimierte Eingreiftruppe ausweisen konnten, behielt der Kapitän von der Beute den vierzigfachen Anteil seiner Mannschaftsmitglieder. Die unabhängigen Piraten schließlich hatten zur gleichen Zeit ein deutlich anderes Geschäftsmodell. Der Kapitän eines Flibustierschiffes erhielt höchstens zweimal so viel wie seine Kampfgefährten. Die Rechte und Pflichten aller waren durch Verträge geregelt.

Der Historiker CLIVE SENIOR resümiert: "Im Vergleich zum Dogmatismus ihrer Zeit muss man den Pragmatismus der Piraten einfach begrüßen."...

Hintergrundmusik: marine.mid. Drei Hymnen kommen für diesen Zweck in Betracht. "Eternal Father, Strong to save" ist zwar der älteste Text, mir aber zu religiös. Diese "U.S. Navy Hymn" wurde bei FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELTs und JOHN F. KENNEDYs Beerdigungen gespielt. Da paßt sie auch hin. "Anchors Aweigh" hat von den dreien die bekannteste Melodie. Als Hintergrundmusik hört ihr aber die "U.S. Marine Corps. Hymn", weil darin gleich am Anfang schon Tripoli vorkommt.

Weitere Links:

• "Eternal Father, Strong to Save": The Navy Hymn
• "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" (The Navy Hymn)
• The Coast Guard Hymn