West Indies anti-piracy operations of the United States

The United States naval forces worked hard to stop pirates in and around the Antilles between 1814 and 1825. Pirates were causing trouble for ships and people living near the sea. To fight back, the U.S. West Indies Squadron was created. This group of sailors chased pirates both on the water and on land.

They focused on important places like The Bahamas, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Many different groups, including some called privateers, joined in to help stop the pirates. These privateers came from many countries, such as the United States and Denmark. Their work helped make the seas safer for everyone.

Operations

The United States Navy and U.S. Revenue Marine cutter ships worked against piracy and the slave trade in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico for several years before 1822. After pirates attacked three American ships in September 1821, Congress allowed Commodore James Biddle to send a fleet to the Caribbean. This fleet included many ships and over 1,500 people. Before this, only single ships were used. Over many years, the American West Indies Squadron fought pirates from Spain, Venezuela, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Many fights ended with pirate ships being sunk or captured, though sometimes the pirates escaped to land. After catching Roberto Cofresi and his ship in 1825, piracy became rare, and the operation was seen as a success, though some piracy continued until the early 1900s.

1817–1821

During and after the Spanish American wars of independence, Spanish naval power weakened, allowing piracy to grow along the Gulf Coast. Many pirates were Latin Americans and also acted as privateers. Revolts against Spain were widespread, and both rebel governments and Spain issued letters allowing privateers to attack enemy ships. Often, these privateers attacked American ships and were called pirates.

Revenue cutters were sent early to fight pirates. The first action happened in 1793 when the cutter Diligence ran a pirate ship ashore in Chesapeake Bay. After this success, revenue cutters were used to stop piracy and protect America’s shores. In 1819, cutters like Alabama and Louisiana joined the first U.S. Naval fleet against pirates. They fought big battles on the open sea and in places like the Battle of Breton Island. In June 1818, the cutter Dallas seized a privateer named Young Spartan and her prize, the Pastora, near Savannah, Georgia. The crew of the Pastora had been left adrift, and their fate was unknown.

The cutter Active captured the pirate ship India Libre in Chesapeake Bay in July 1818. In August 1819, the ship Bravo, led by pirate captain Jean Le Farges, fought cutters Louisiana and Alabama off Florida’s coast. The cutters’ crews boarded the ship and took it after a close fight. Le Farges, a lieutenant of Jean Lafitte, was later hanged from Louisiana's yardarm.

In July 1820, Alabama and Louisiana captured four pirate ships near La Balize. Louisiana and Peacock worked with HMS Speedwell, and Alabama fought pirates again, taking five more ships. This started the anti-piracy, coastal defense, and maritime law enforcement mission that the modern U.S. Coast Guard still uses today.

Navy engagements

The first American Navy ships to fight West Indies piracy were schooners like Enterprise, Nonsuch, and Lynx between 1817 and 1822. These ships worked alone until the squadron was officially formed. In 1819, President James Monroe sent Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Venezuela with the frigate Constellation, the corvette John Adams, and Nonsuch. Perry’s mission was to get Venezuela to pay for captured American ships and promise not to attack again. He succeeded at first, and a treaty was signed on August 11, but he died of yellow fever in Trinidad on his way back, so the agreement failed. On December 22, 1817, John Adams forced filibuster Louis-Michel Aury to leave his base at Amelia Island, Florida. Later, John Adams became the flagship of Commodore Biddle’s squadron.

By 1820, fights with pirates and privateers grew, and U.S. warships had many battles that year. Twenty-seven American merchant ships were captured between 1818 and 1821. Enterprise captured thirteen pirate and slave ships while serving with the New Orleans station and later in the West Indies. On October 24, 1819, Lynx captured two pirate schooners and two boats in the Gulf of Mexico, and on November 9, she captured another pirate boat in Galveston Bay. Lynx disappeared in January 1820 while sailing to Jamaica, likely sunk in a storm, and none of her crew were ever seen again. In October 1821, Enterprise helped three merchant ships seized by four pirate boats. The boats attacked the pirates, killing or capturing over forty and taking two ships. A month later, Enterprise attacked a pirate base near Cape Antonio and cleared the area of criminals. In September 1821, three American merchant ships were attacked near Matanzas, Cuba. The crew of one ship were tortured, and the ship was burned, while survivors escaped to shore. Three people were killed on the second ship, and everyone on the third ship was killed as it was burned. This event was one reason the anti-piracy operation continued. Hornet captured a privateer schooner named Moscow on October 29, 1821, and on December 21, she captured a pirate ship without a fight, and the crew escaped to shore.

On December 16, 1821, Lieutenant James Ramage in Porpoise found five enemy ships near Cape Antonio, including the merchant brig Bolina. Forty sailors were sent in five boats, and Ramage led the attack. Some pirates fled to shore, but many fought, and the five American boats destroyed the five pirate ships by burning them. They also freed the Bolina. Three pirates were captured, and several were killed. In autumn 1821, Spark, under Lieutenant John Elton, left Boston and joined the fight against piracy. In January 1822, Elton captured a Dutch pirate sloop. Seven prisoners were taken to Charleston for trial, and Spark returned to the Caribbean for the next three years until the official West Indies Squadron was formed.

1822–1823

Three big fights happened between pirates and British ships in 1822 and 1823. In March, crews from Enterprise captured two small boats and four other boats in a creek near Cape Antonio, and on March 6, they took eight more boats and over 150 pirates. A British merchant ship under Captain William Smith was captured by Spanish pirates from the schooner Emanuel in July 1822. The pirates made Smith walk the plank and shot him when he tried to swim away. Smith’s fourteen-year-old son was also on the ship, and the pirate captain crushed his head when he couldn’t stop hearing the boy cry. Grampus met the brig Palyrma flying Spanish colors on August 15, 1822. Lieutenant Gregory thought the ship might be a pirate, so he moved to board, but Palyrma fired, and a short battle happened. After boarding the wrecked ship, the pirates were from Puerto Rico and had a letter that was supposed to protect them, but it was fake, so the pirates were held and given to Spain in Cuba. At this time, the usual way to deal with captured pirates was to give them to Spain because the United States couldn’t imprison them.

The United States Navy couldn’t chase pirates on Spanish land, so in April 1822, Commodore David Porter, in Macedonian, took command of the station and one of his first tasks was to talk to the governors of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Both governors refused to let American teams land, but the U.S. government allowed the West Indies Squadron to land in remote areas. Commodore Porter then attacked and destroyed a pirate force at Funda Bay, Cuba between September 28 and 30, 1822. Also on September 28, Peacock captured a boat with pirates about sixty miles from Havana, and later that day, Peacock found the merchant ship Speedwell which had been attacked by pirates two hours earlier. Captain Stephen Cassin sent a boat team that captured four schooners, but most pirates escaped. On September 30, 1822, the twenty-six-gun HMS Tyne was helping a one-gun merchant sloop Eliza when they were attacked by a five-gun pirate ship named Firme Union. During the fight, the British took the pirate ship. Ten pirates were killed, and the rest ran away. On November 2, 1822, USRC Louisiana with USS Peacock and the Royal Navy schooner HMS Speedwell captured five pirate ships near Havana. On November 8, 1822, Lieutenant William Howard Allen of USS Alligator was killed fighting three enemy schooners holding five merchant ships. In the fight, two schooners were taken, and at least fourteen pirates were killed. Because of Lieutenant Allen’s death, Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson let Commodore Porter get new ships for the squadron.

Porter got eight new shallow-draft schooners, five large barges, a steam-powered riverboat, and a storeship schooner. The schooners were each armed with three guns and became USS Beagle, USS Ferret, USS Fox, USS Greyhound, USS Jackal, USS Terrier, USS Weasel, and USS Wild Cat. The storeship was USS Decoy and the steamer became USS Sea Gull. The new squadron left the United States for Cuba on February 15, 1823. Commodore Biddle also got new orders: he could now land teams in populated areas as long as he told the locals first. Biddle was also told to work with any other navy forces fighting pirates. HMS Grecian of six guns captured the eight-gun schooner La Cata on March 1, 1823, south of Cuba. Thirty pirates were killed, and only three were caught from a group of over 100 men. USS Fox went to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March 1823 to get a list of all legal privateers and their rules. When the American schooner entered San Juan Harbor on March 3, an artillery battery fired at the ship. Some shots hit Fox and seriously hurt her commander, Lieutenant William H. Cocke. Commodore Porter later accepted an apology from Puerto Rico’s governor. The British warships Tyne and HMS Thracian of eighteen guns beat the pirate Cayatano Aragonez’s thirteen-gun ship Zaragozana on March 31 in a chase. The two British ships caught Captain Aragonez in Mata Harbor where boats were sent to take the ship. Ten pirates were killed and twenty-eight were captured while the Royal Navy had only small losses. Two barges, USS Gallinipper and USS Mosquito, freed an American merchant ship on April 8. The navy sailors killed two pirates and arrested one, but most got away.

On April 16, Mosquito, Gallinipper and USS Peacock saw a felucca near Colorados, Cuba. Peacock managed to capture the felucca, but its crew ran to shore before scuttling three schooners.

Grampus saved the crew of the American schooner Shiboleth after it was taken by pirates in June 1823. The pirates had quietly boarded the ship, killed the guards, and cornered the rest of the crew. They robbed the ship and set it on fire. Grampus arrived while Shiboleth was still burning and took off the surviving crew. A few days later, pirates attacked another merchant ship before being caught by the Spanish Army and arrested. USS Ferret's crew fought with the pirates in June. During one event, Ferret found some pirate boats in shallow water off Matanzas. First, Ferret attacked using her guns and sank two boats that were running along the coast. Because of the shallow water, a boat was used to attack the remaining boats, but when the Americans got close, the pirates shot a hole in their boat, which returned to Ferret and sank. With their only boat destroyed, the Americans had to keep patrolling, and the pirates reached shore. Later that day, Ferret took a small ship with shallow draft and went back to where their boat was sunk, hoping to fight the pirates again, but bad weather stopped the operation. The next morning the Americans found a British merchant ship that gave them a boat. Ferret went back to Matanzas Bay, but all that was there were the two sunken boats she destroyed earlier.

On July 5, 1823, USS Sea Gull, under Lieutenant William H. Watson, with the barges Gallinipper and Mosquito, fought pirates near Matanzas, close to where Lieutenant Allen was killed a year earlier. The three American ships found a heavily armed schooner with a crew of about seventy-five near a Cuban village. The United States Navy attacked with their cannons, and the schooner was hit so its captain started to leave. When more hits struck the schooner, the pirates panicked and began jumping into the water to escape. The barges moved close to the schooner, and the sailors and marines fired at their enemy, shouting “Allen, Allen.” Fifteen pirates reached shore but were attacked by an American team that landed. Eleven more were killed and the last four were captured by Cuban villagers. In total about seventy pirates were killed while only five survived. On July 21, the commanders of Beagle and Greyhound were looking at Cape Cruz, Cuba in a boat when it was shot at from shore. The Americans went back to their ship, and the next morning they landed sailors and marines who attacked and destroyed a small fort. The pirates ran away, but their base was torn down and some big guns were taken. USS Sea Gull, with Ralph Voorhees in command, took back the merchant schooner Pacification from pirates on March 30.

1824–1825

Tropical disease was common among the American warships in the West Indies Squadron, and ships often had to sail back to the United States when outbreaks happened. By January 1824, most ships had been called back, mainly because of illness, though in February, the squadron under Commodore Porter, sailing in flagship USS Firefly, returned to operate for a few months before sailing north again in July. During this time, piracy in Puerto Rican waters rose until mid-1825: between July and August, ten attacks on American merchant ships were reported, and only a few warships stayed on station. By October most were back in home waters. Commodore Porter was taken off duty in February 1825 and joined the Mexican Navy; this was after Spanish authorities in Puerto Rico arrested USS Peacock's commander Lieutenant Platt in October 1824. That month pirates attacked Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands and went back to Fajardo with $5,000 worth of stolen goods from an American business. The store owner asked Lieutenant Platt to help him get his goods back. Platt took men to Fajardo on October 27. To avoid alerting the pirates, the team wore civilian clothes, and as a result, they were arrested by the Spanish Army and charged with piracy. Platt explained why he was not in uniform, and later the Spanish let one of his men bring the lieutenant’s uniform and commission. Seeing this, the Americans were released. When Commodore Porter heard about this he sailed to Fajardo with USS John Adams, Beagle and Grampus. There he took a team ashore on November 14 and demanded an apology from the Spanish. Eventually the Spaniards agreed to make a public apology so the expedition got back on their ships and left. The United States government was not happy with Commodore Porter’s actions and he was court-martialed before leaving his job. The American operation against West Indies pirates was declared a success in 1825 though some piracy continued.

In March 1825, Gallinipper was with the frigate HMS Dartmouth and the schooners HMS Lion and HMS Union in an operation against Cuban pirates. United States Navy Lieutenant Isaac McKeever led an attack against a hostile schooner at the mouth of the Sagua la Grande. American and British forces took the ship, killed eight enemies and captured nineteen others, with only one man wounded. The next day, another schooner was captured but the pirates ran away and the ship was taken without fighting. El Mosquito, the ship of famous pirate Roberto Cofresí was disabled on March 5 by USS Grampus and two Spanish sloops off Boca del Infierno. With his crew scattered, the pirate captain ran inland, where a local named Juan Garay recognized and ambushed him, allowing authorities to capture him. Cofresí was considered the last successful Caribbean pirate. After he was executed on March 29, 1825, piracy went down in the region for good. United States naval operations in the West Indies were later taken over by the Home Squadron and the Brazil Squadron by 1842.