Year 1783. Modest ships of young USA start crossing the Atlantic Ocean, venturing into high seas.

On July 25, 1785, a Boston registered American ship, named MARIA and captained by Isaac Stevens was captured by the Ottoman naval patrol. Another US ship, DAUPHIN of Philadelphia soon followed the same fate.

When more captures followed, US Congress passed a bill on March 27, 1794 to allocate sufficient funds (700 000 gold pieces) at President's (G. Washington) disposal so that matching US ships could be built.

This was the beginning of the modern US Navy.

In October 5, 1795, USA sought an agreement with Ottoman Empire. According to a treaty that followed, USA paid 642 000 gold pieces for the freedom of American captives kept in Algiers and agreed to pay an annual fee of 12 000 gold pieces (216 000 $/year) for sailing rights in Ottoman controlled waters.

The treaty was written in Turkish only, and the Ottoman Sultan let it be signed by the Ottoman Regent in Algiers, against Washington's signature.

This - I think - is the only international treaty that USA ever signed in a foreign language and agreed to pay the other party.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/barbary/bar1795t.htm

Greed was inspiration

Although the Barbary pirates were good at instilling terror, they were not waging a holy war against Americans. They were opportunists, historians say. They first declared war against us in 1785 — when Algeria seized two American vessels off Portugal, imprisoning 21 people — and goaded us into combat again in 1801 and 1815.

They considered themselves "privateers," authorized to confiscate ships and crews just as other feuding countries did. Their enemy? Any nation that hadn't negotiated peace treaties with their rulers in Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and Morocco.

The banditry was rooted, however, in centuries of religious strife between Muslims and Christians. The pirates, nominally subject to the Ottoman sultan, were still battling the descendants of the Crusaders. In 1605, St. Vincent de Paul was among those kidnapped by the Barbary pirates and sold into slavery to Muslims.

One of the enduring lessons of the Barbary campaigns was to never give in to outlaws. In the late 1700s, America paid significant blackmail for peace — shelling out $990,000 to the Algerians alone at a time when national revenues totaled just $7 million.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Turkish_Navy#Famous_admirals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_pirates

America did not pay for peace...What do you think American ships were doing around Africa coast?

Slave running?

Of course, I would assume that the B. Coast area was part of the US-British slave trade

The surcharge by Ottomans must have pushed slave prices up, dont you think so?

He never kept slaves after Islam...One slave he had previosly was freed...

He chose to remain a close companion to Muhammad, in his free life.

This is history....Do you want to forget history?

I would not mind that...