Infidel: Don't Tread On Me

By Barry D. Boothe

George Washington, President of a very young United States of America must once again resort to mayhem and destruction to save his administration and avoid a possible reunification with England and its King.

Trade in the Mediterranean Sea area is totally cut off by the Washington Administration's refusal to pay the piratical Islamic Mussellmen tributes. So with the support of his Vice-President John Adams and his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Washington turns to a former Continental Army friend, Benjamin Stoddert. Benjamin Stoddert now operates the largest and most successful commercial shipping lines in America.

With Benjamin's management skills and his son Nathaniel's ship handling skills, the Stoddert Shipping Line was able to establish trade in the very lucrative West Indies while fighting off a hoard of pirates. This resulted in a very successful Stoddert Shipping Lines (SSL). It also resulted in a very handsome contribution from Benjamin Stoddert to George Washington and his political ambitions.

But a successful effort in the Mediterranean will require all of Benjamin and Nathaniel's skills. Not only will they need to defeat the numerous gunboats and fierce Mussellmen fighters, they will also have to defeat a Mussellman frigate that is reportedly manned by former British Royal Navy seaman.

Success will also require a fighting ship that is capable of doing a lot of different things. It will require unique gunnery as well as fighting men. Can the Stodderts pull this off? Can anyone pull this off? There is only one way to find out and the army General in President Washington was not familiar with retreat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Proisle Publishing Services
• Release date: May 31, 2024
• ISBN: 9781963735628

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to thank Joe for taking the time

and putting up with me.

His effort, particularly his inspiration, was invaluable.

PREFACE

Whether we are talking about captivity, slavery, piracy and tributes of yester-year or the suicide bombers and twin towers of today, radical Muslims have been problematic to western Christian societies for hundreds of years.

From the Crusades of King Richard the Lionhearted to current day Iraq and Afghanistan, religious people, particularly Christians, have been in conflict with the Islamic world.

And if you are not of the Islamic faith, one thing has been consistent throughout all that time—you are considered an

INFIDEL !

Prologue

The very first secret, covert mission sanctioned by an American administration actually happened very early in our country’s history. It happened during the first presidential administration in fact. Good ’ole George Washington, President of the United States. The same George Washington that was formerly known as General George Washington of the Continental Army.

The guy that we were all taught was the defender of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The man that couldn’t tell a lie when asked about chopping down a cherry tree. The one with the wooden false teeth. Yeah, that’s the guy. And by the way, those things never happened. Nope, they didn’t. But—even though he didn’t chop down a cherry tree and didn’t use wooden false teeth, he did sanction the very first secret mission.

But before we can get into this secret mission that unknowingly set the precedent for future secret, covert missions, we need to talk about a few things. Especially the state of American politics back around the time when George Washington became the president of a very young and struggling United States of America. Not that politics or politicians, other than getting better at being sneaky, have changed very much since then. Nevertheless, we best talk about it.

This was back when nothing was as it appeared to be. Wait a minute, am I describing now? Hold on, this was way, way back when your own brother may openly appear to support the struggle of the American Revolution but secretly supported the other side. He would stab you in the back politically, if you weren’t on your toes. Or maybe even if you were on your toes, hmm. Your brother wouldn’t do that now. Would he?

This was back when secret meetings were taking place everywhere one turned—no, no—I mean way, way back. In private homes, maybe in the wood sheds, in the back of the neighborhood taverns, in the neighborhood coffee shops. One never knew where one may encounter subtle, yet solid political defiance against a revolution to break away from England and the King.

As we explore the politics and the revolution, we find out that good ’ole George Washington was not quite as we had been led to believe. As I said before; no cherry tree—no wooden teeth.

After the Continental Congress reluctantly appointed Washington Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, he purposely withheld some information from Congress. That’s right, I said that the Continental Congress reluctantly appointed him Commander-In-Chief.

There were a couple of military general type folks that were more experienced than George. The powers at be were convinced they would do a better job at prosecuting whatever action that may be taken against the Motherland—England. Unfortunately, their past association with England was just too strong. George Washington was the only candidate that did not have those strong ties. His ties, though they were there, were not nearly as strong. So he was reluctantly appointed Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army.

Like I said, after he was Commander-In-Chief he purposely kept a few morsels of information on his comings and goings from Congress. He knew that Congress, even during war time, was having difficulty reaching a consensus, so he secretly formed a Continental Navy to assist his Continental Army with, what was at the time, the siege of Boston, Massachusetts.

And be it known; George Washington could in fact, tell a lie. To be absolutely clear, he could tell some whoppers if he felt he needed to. And did you know that he was as much of a slick politician as he was a Commander-in-Chief or Founding Father or anything else?

Don’t get me wrong, George Washington was fundamentally a very good man. He was not only very political savvy, something he hid with his humility, he also happened to be a very good military strategist and an outstanding fighter as well. This he did not hide.

He was generally honest, especially when it came to his troops. He was also known for his perseverance. But few knew about him being a very impatient man. Something else he hid very well.

The Continental Army wasn’t doing anything since the English army in Boston was under siege. However, the English Army supply lines were by the sea, not the land. And with Boston being a harbor town, it was easily resupplied by the sea. So General Washington, without approval but at the expense of the Continental Congress, put together a few armed vessels to try and cut the English supply lines and force them into some sort of action. It didn’t work, England kicked his butt, but at least he tried.

Washington eventually told the Continental Congress about the armed vessels he had fitted out at their expense. And even though he had no authority to create them, Congress didn’t have any problems with his actions.

But nevertheless, he still misled them concerning the facts and the timing of those facts, since he did not see fit to tell them until well after he had fitted these armed vessels out and sent them to sea. He was overheard to say that if he were to ask for permission, the war would be over before Congress could decide. So he went ahead with his actions.

Of course, in what was to become the usual Congressional style, after Washington had armed a few schooners and informed Congress of his actions, Congress decided to go all out and actually create a formal Continental Navy, taking all credit in doing so. Never mind that the Continental Navy up to this point, had not been successful. Congress figured that if things continued not to work, they could always say they just followed the idea originally put forth by General Washington. Heck, how could they lose?

I want to explore some of the politics surrounding the revolution as it is primary, or I should say its outcome is primary to our subject. I want to explore, you know, a time when the federal folks really did vote on behalf of their constituency. When American politics consisted primarily of honest, working people that happen to have the gift of gab. A time when these same folks primarily had yours and that of the country’s best interest truly at heart. Oh there were plenty of sneaky and crooked politicians, but many of ’em were trustworthy.

Back in the day, American politics consisted of primarily two different thought processes: the federalists—who were in support of a strong, concentrated, centralized federal (thus the term federalists) government and the anti-federalists—strong defenders of individual states rights and very much against a strong, concentrated, centralized government.

The Federalists basically were in support of a government that had the power to supersede state’s rights on issues that were perceived as being necessary for the overall good of the country. One might say that at the end of the Revolutionary War, we ended up with a healthy combination of Federalists (currently Democrats) and Anti-Federalists (currently Republicans). These two varying political factions eventually formed what we now call the two-party system.

Oh, there were some pretty strong political storms along the way and there were several different political parties—at least in name. In fact, it got kind of confusing to follow. But we eventually ended up with what we have now—a two-party system.

During this time of revolutionary fervor, there were some folks that continued to be staunchly loyal to the King of England. These were very prominent folks. Many were considered the pillars of the community. Quite often, these pillars-of-the-community would have meetings in their own establishments under the guise of business.

These folks were generally influential people that basically constituted a third political position. Albeit a small, extremely secret and quite frankly sneaky political position, there were some members of congress that fell into this category. It mostly consisted of folks in the New England states, although there were some southerners who went right along with ’em.

As you can imagine, the time just after the Revolutionary War was not a popular time to try and maintain loyalty to the King of England. So these people had to keep their views well hidden. The loyalists that were exposed, Tory’s they were called, were publicly ridiculed. Some were outright killed and there was little to no interest in bringing the killer(s) to justice.

Part of that result was; this group of people was not very large. Wealthy yes, large no. Since money always seemed to be the big motivator not to mention the big influencer, most of this group migrated to politics.

Once in the political arena they would parade themselves as cautious patriots when in fact, they were nothing more than staunch loyalist Torys in disguise. They discreetly attempted to influence the overall political position of the United States of America with varying degrees of success.

Difference in political views notwithstanding, in post revolution 1785 everyone agreed that American naval power was non-existent. The Continental Navy was deemed not have been very successful against the British naval power and was disbanded.

If the Americans found out anything during the revolutionary war, they found out that there was no way American naval power could defend American shores from a determined enemy. They also learned that American naval power could not defend the carrying trade or any naval merchants attempting to trade American products all over the world.

Against the powerful Royal Navy of England or that of France, America was totally helpless. America was unable to defend against a reasonably small naval capability. The Barbary States of North Africa, which consisted of only a few xebecs and galleys that were cheaply built with inexpensive materials, stood as an excellent example.

Until the revolution, the colonial maritime interests were under the protection of His Majesty’s (HM) Royal Navy of England. The successful conclusion of the revolution saw the colonials winning their independence from England, hence the naval protection formerly enjoyed was now withdrawn. The result was American commercial trading being unprotected and as such had a very negative impact on trade in the Mediterranean Sea. Particularly around the North African coast where the Barbary States were located.

With the English protection gone, the Barbary States, particularly Algiers, began constantly harassing and in many cases capturing American merchant vessels. The Algerines, in the name of the Dey of Algiers, the leader of the Algerine peoples, demanded ransom for the crews as well as costly tributes or treaties in order to cruise and trade unmolested in the Mediterranean. Barbary State naval power, such as it was, had even ventured out into the Atlantic, becoming even more menacing. They were especially menacing to a young and struggling nation like America, who would not, or could not pay the high cost of tributes demanded. Nor could the United States of America, as everyone knew, defend against this sort of piracy.

To make matters even worse, the Revolutionary War was seen by many powerful Englishmen to have been abominable. It was not unusual to hear Englishmen ask, How could peasants rise against their king? With the surprising loss of the revolution it became obvious to many of those powerful Englishmen that force was not a solution against the Americans. However, secret, discreet political pressure, and the additional support of the Algerines against the Americans, even though it was a back door action, may serve to not only change the American political view but also deter American trade in the region, and thereby hurting the Americans in a way favorable to England.

There is no question that there was much bitterness left over in England immediately following the revolution. A bitterness prevalent in certain realms of English politics. It was a bitterness that, from time to time, so overwhelmed some of the folks in parliament that they would openly call for revenge against the lowly Americans.

Many felt that the harassment by the Barbary States, short of another war, was one way of striking back at those lowly Americans. Loyalty to the Crown within the American political system was the other way.

The strategy of harassment from the Barbary States seemed to be more obviously successful and more likely to pay quick dividends. It also immediately served to stifle the American carrying trade, keeping that trade in check and out of competition with English commerce. No longer would any American merchant venture into the Mediterranean and take the huge chance of being captured by one of the Barbary States.

At the time, HM Royal Navy was backed by a wealthy English government and was considered the dominate power on the high seas. By wielding this kind of power, it became very easy to coerce and influence others to do the dirty work.

With the Barbary States desiring to be coerced by wealth and power, it was extremely easy for the Royal Navy to get them to do their bidding. A few pounds spread around here and there as well as a few cannon, some barrels of powder, some shot, a few small arms—all this was considered a relatively small price to pay.

This was accomplished so discreetly that it could never be proven the Barbary States were acting in secret as an arm of England against the United States of America. Because of the lack of proof, this phenomena was rarely discussed in the open, even though the thought was prevalent with many American’s—both merchants and politicians alike.

Intelligence indicated that the Barbary States had very few vessels in general. Even fewer of those constituted any real threat to a man-of-war type vessel—something the United States of America, at that time, did not possess. Though all of the Barbary States had some form of navy, it was said that the Algerines commanded the most credible threat.

By way of questionable intelligence, the Americans had determined the Algerine threat to consist of one 32 gun frigate, a few xebecs that mounted between six and twenty guns and several of the smaller galleys. Most of the galleys were not much more than large row boats. They were coastal vessels and didn’t venture out more than twenty or thirty miles.

These galleys were primarily rowed by slaves. Slaves that were actually the Christian infidel crews captured from the United States of America and other country’s vessels. In many cases, the slaves were captives from Christian countries that bordered the Mediterranean Sea.

Generally these galleys mounted only one heavy gun in the bow. In fact, the galleys were not only small and narrow, usually no larger than about fifty to seventy-five feet in length, but had to be turned toward the enemy vessel in order to aim the gun.

But due to the galley’s shallow draft, they could operate very close to the shore. So any combative attempt from a larger vessel would result in the galley running in close to shore in the shallow water, where the larger vessel could not go. Distance would cause the larger vessel’s guns to be very inaccurate. This saved the galley from any type of combat damage or from being captured.

The galleys would capture merchant vessels by exploiting their extraordinary rowing advantage. Often, several galleys, at least four, would maneuver into position, one off each quarter of the soon-to-be-captured vessel. The vessel, almost always a merchant, could not fire upon them at that angle, if in fact the vessel possessed any guns that would fire.

Once in position, the first of a couple of things would happen. The captains of the galleys, along with the fighters in the galleys, would parade around, hollering and whooping and shaking their weapons, in an attempt to instill fear. Then the captain of the galley would offer not to harm anyone aboard the vessel if the vessel would submit to being boarded.

If the vessel refused to submit, the galleys would rake the merchant vessel with their own bow guns, inflicting light to moderate damage with little fear from the small arms fire they inevitably received from the merchant vessel. The light to moderate damage would begin to take its toll, and the merchant vessel would surrender. Especially if there was loss of life aboard the merchant vessel.

With all the Barbary States boats, such as the galleys of the Algerines, so heavily manned with vicious, well-armed fighters, the preference was for the first tactic to succeed. That is, to demonstrate overwhelming force so the other vessel would capitulate and the fighters would not be needed.

This tactic of demonstrating overwhelming force usually did succeed as it would cause no desire to fight from the merchant vessel. No fighting also meant little to no damage to the captured vessel and practically no loss of life. When this happened, the Musselmen would put a prize crew aboard and send the vessel into port.

If the Dey of Algiers did not own the vessels sent out for the piracy, he was still intimately involved. Nothing happened of which the Dey did not approve. No approval meant no action. Approval meant the Dey was keenly aware. That awareness ensured the Dey had first dibs on any ship, cargo, crew and passengers that were sent in.

Generally the Dey would, at the very least, buy the crew and passengers. He would then turn around and demand huge ransoms for the passengers and sometimes some of the crew. Particularly if any of the crew or passengers were well-to-do, such as Americans whose family could afford to pay a ransom. Then the Dey stood a chance to make some real money. If the ransom failed to come about, the Dey would simply make the folks captured as some sort of slave and may even sell them to the locals.

Usually though, if the males were educated, the Dey would send them to work in various household capacities ranging from clerks to janitors. The women, if educated would become a part of the Dey’s harem. If the women were uneducated, generally the Dey would maintain possession and enter them into prostitution.

Any captured crew that had no direct knowledge of sailing, the Dey would enter into various slave duties for himself or sell them to the locals. If the male passengers he had bought were not well educated, they too would be sold to the locals.

There were many ways for the Dey to add to his overall money coffers— slavery, prostitution, ransom, etc. But a huge money maker was tribute. The Dey would indicate that if a country would pay a tribute, the confiscation of ships, cargo, crew and passengers would cease.

But it seemed that when the tribute involved a small, less powerful, fledgling country, the Barbary States tended to go back on their word— especially if the Barbary State happened to be Algiers and the less powerful, fledgling country was the United States of America. A very perplexing and frustrating situation for countries attempting to establish themselves in the world of commerce.

It should be said that the Barbary States did not see their aggression as piracy. Part of the reason for them seeing their aggression as perfectly fine was their interpretation of their religion. The Barbary States were Musselmen. That is, they were Moslem, followers of the religion of Islam. Islamic teachings considered all Christians to be infidels. It could easily be interpreted that the capture of any Christian vessel was fine. The enslavement of the people of those vessels was also fine.

In fact, if one was considered an infidel, just about anything you chose to do to them was okay, according to their religion. So sailing to foreign Christian shores, such as Italy—a country known for its Catholic religion, and capturing and enslaving the infidel people from there was just fine and happened routinely.

The struggle between Islam and Christianity was nothing new. This struggle, whether it took the form of kidnapping, ransoms, tributes or all-out war, had been going on for centuries and there did not seem to be any reason that it should not continue. King Richard the Lionhearted and his quest via the Crusades is one of the most well-known examples of this epic struggle.

It seemed there would always be Islamic people who would interpret their religion in such a fashion that they could justify aggressively attacking infidel Christians in the name of their god. Conversely, it seemed there would always be Christians willing to mount attacks against the Islamic people who acted in this way.

Currently plunder, ransom and tributes was the way. The plunder, ransom and tributes demanded by the Barbary States carried little significance to the Barbary State people since this particular behavior was considered civil and well within Islamic religious doctrine. It could even be seen as an obligation, if one was so inclined to interpret religious doctrine that way.

But as in most things, money was at the heart of the Barbary State’s behavior. However, the Barbary State leaders knew that if the struggle was considered to be of a religious nature by their people, it would be accepted. So all of the Barbary State’s aggression appeared to be in the framework as well as name of religion.

Along the way a very interesting phenomena developed; the monetary success of the Musselmen’s slavery, plunder, ransom and tributes brought a cliché to light—necessity makes strange bedfellows. Because the Musselmen society had grown to depend on the slavery, plunder, ransom and tributes they gained from their piratical behavior, that type of behavior had to continue. But the Musselmen were not sailors and had little to no knowledge of the ways of the sea.

But in order to maintain and expand their slavery, plunder, ransom and tributes they needed knowledge of the sea. The captured infidel marine officers and sometimes the common sailors had such knowledge.

The captures had to convert to the Musselman religion before they could contribute. Conversion and replacing these people became a never-ending task as some converts were killed in combat, some died of sickness, some died of old age. The reasons went on and on.

The need for replacement was so critical that the strong beliefs the captures held in Christianity did not keep the Musselmen from attempting conversion. A conversion from Christianity to Musselman was said to be a saving grace and good for the infidel. The conversion had nothing to do with maritime needs, even though conversion of only certain infidels with certain talents was ever attempted.

The Musselmen would offer many incentives to the convert. Such as, if a captured Christian converted to the Musselman’s religion they may continue to be enslaved but would not be required to perform the strenuous work of a typical slave. They could also be compensated for their work at regular wages. Additionally, the converts were openly accepted amongst the people.

To ensure the incentives for conversion were enticing, treatment of the converts that remained in slavery was very lenient. Some were allowed to start their own business and all made a little money. They were even allowed to buy and consume illegal alcohol if desired.

Due to this acceptance and other reasons—there were conversions. It became routine for ship’s masters, navigators, topmen, boatswains, pretty much officers of any type, shipwrights, master carpenters, gunners and many other skilled tradesmen of the marine profession to be asked or pressured to convert. Some did.

As a result of these conversions, the Musselmen maintained the knowledge, skills and abilities of the marine industry. Not only did they maintain a status quo, they actually expanded their plunder, ransom and tributes. They could navigate the vast Mediterranean Sea in even larger numbers. They could handle a sailing craft with ease. They continued to build and repair any type of marine vessel. And of course, due to the converts, they learned how to shoot and repair the big ship’s guns.

At that time, if you were unfortunate enough to have been captured and put into slavery, there was really no hope of rescue in sight. So it was difficult to harshly judge those Christians that made the conversion to Islam. But due to the overwhelming and constant need for replacements as well as a mindset to expand their piratical behavior, the number of captures that made good converts became less and less. The converts started becoming men of low scruples and weak character.

Due to the poor character and low scruples of the converts along with other reasons, the Musselmen began offering the opportunity to convert to only a select few. With the passage of time, it became extremely difficult to convert. Even with a significant need, conversion started becoming very rare. The only way to increase conversion was to increase the slavery and plunder. As the conversions became more and more selective, the highly skilled benefited. For only the former and highly skilled sailors were offered conversion. Those that were successful invariably ended up in command of Musselman vessels. It was not unusual for these converts to reach a very high stature within the Musselman navy. Much higher than anything that could be reached in a Christian navy, regardless the country.

Due to the drastic deterioration of conversions, slavery and plunder increased. The lack of character and scruples actually played a significant role. That lack within the converts allowed them to engage in practically any type of behavior. They had no qualms with capturing other Christian vessels or raiding a distant shore of a Christian country to capture more slaves.

These particular converts, or renegades as they came to be called, knew that if they were ever caught they would be immediately condemned as a traitor and hanged. So they were generally fierce and extremely unkind to the infidel slaves they captured or commanded. They tended to be even harsher than the Musselmen commanders. It became much easier to harshly judge them.

1

It came to pass that in 1789, with a brand new president, a decisively split political consensus on the part of the new Congress, attempts were made to resolve the issues existing with the Barbary States. However, with so much political controversy on how best to negotiate with the Musselmen countries, it wasn’t until a year later, nearing the time England and France entered into the Napoleonic Wars, that an American Congressional resolution was finally reached—pay the tribute. In the meantime, the Barbary States, with a concentration on Algiers, continued to harass the American merchant vessels with a seeming and never-ending gusto.

The political structure of the United States of America had been established. George Washington was the newly elected President of the United States of America. John Adams was his Vice-President and Thomas Jefferson was his Secretary of State.

Of these three, it was the Secretary of State who shouldered the responsibility to report to the Congress on the state of American commerce. Kind of a mini State of the Union on foreign commerce.

Jefferson understood that negotiations with the Barbary States and the status of United States commerce in the Mediterranean were intimately connected. Currently there was no carrying trade in the Mediterranean due to the Barbary States piratical activity. After all, the bulk of Mediterranean commerce passed within sight of a North African state.

Possessing no proof, he drew up short of outright accusing England of influencing and indeed supporting the Barbary States’ hostilities against America. But he continued to adamantly condemn Barbary State hostility as the reason for the lack of Mediterranean commerce.

A hostility he classified to be extortion through piracy whether directed against the United States of America or any other country. Jefferson even more adamantly opposed succumbing to extortion and paying a so-called tribute for peace.

In the past, the Washington administration had initially, albeit reluctantly and without Jefferson’s concurrence, made several attempts to pay the tributes demanded by the Barbary States. But the Musselmen would go back on their word so often, it quickly became obvious to the administration that the paying of tribute was not a long-term solution. In some cases, it was not even a short-term solution. So Washington was very surprised when Congress felt that resolution to the situation was to pay the tribute.

Even in the light of the various heads of the Barbary States, for whatever reason they could conjure up, disavowing any tribute paid by the USA and continuing hostilities with never a lull in activity, let alone a truce, Congress maintained that paying tribute was