Now that we’re thinking of attacking pirate enclaves on the Somali coast and maybe starting up a modern version of the Barbary Wars, it seems a good time to check out the New York Times‘ helpful Week in Review piece from this weekend, “Lessons From the Barbary Pirate Wars.”
We’re talking about the Barbary Wars, about 200 years ago, when pirates from the Barbary Coast (today’s Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya) hijacked European ships with impunity and ransomed back the crews.
Yes, we are, and while we’re talking about this let’s also speak about William Bainbridge—who, along with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, was caught up in all those 19th Century pirate troubles.
William Bainbridge, an officer who was sent to pay tribute to the dey of Algiers in 1800, was later captured during the war along with his ship, and went on to become a hero of the War of 1812. Last week, in an irony probably lost on the Somalis, it was a destroyer named after him that the United States Navy sent rushing to help the skipper in the lifeboat.
What else is named after this American pirate punisher? That’s right.
Image via the U.S. Congress.
info about the ship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bainbri…)
nice URL parsing SLOG …
the right-parenthesis is required for the URL
No pirates dared attack a US flagged ship when W ruled the waves.
W “ruled the waves?” Jesus, man, W could have gotten lost in a bathtub. Probably did, for all I know.
@3 – Well genius, that may be because U.S. flagged ships only make up 5% ofinternational waterway traffic.
March 18, 2006 – USS Cape St. George and USS Gonzalez receive fire from pirate vessels. They engaged and destroyed the pirate vessel. Not that I think it matters one iota to these semi-literate peasant pirates who the US president it. Their poor and they have guns and they want money and more guns.
5 and yet the pirates found this US flagged ship, on Obama’s watch…
It all comes down to attacking the places the pirates come from.
Actually, W is/was responsible for letting pirates get so out of hand.
8
just like Clinton let terrorist get out of hand
How is it ironic to be fighting pirates in a ship named after a famous pirate fighter?
Would it be ironic to go fishing in a boat named Hemingway? Is it ironic to fight the so-called “war on terror” in a ship made from steel from the WTC towers? No. That’s not irony. Irony is a different thing. It would be ironic to fight pirates in a ship named “There are no more pirates” but not a ship named Bainbridge.
Especially since the US Navy rescued Bainbridge and his ship from the pirates. Sort of like naming our ships “We will rescue our guys from the pirates and kick their ass in the process.” No irony intended; we mean it.
9
No, actually you have to look back to Reagan for that one. Nice try though.
@10, so true. And it important to recognize Bainbridge displayed a distinctive Bush-like characteristic of bravado, sailing his ship into Algiers thinking they would cower in fear, only to have his ship taken and his crew jailed. Many of the latter were never recovered, and of course the whole episode forced a much bigger and more expensive operation to follow in order to correct the mistake. What’s ironic is our former leaders seemed not to have learned any of those lesson from an earlier era.
@12
Bainbridge himself sailed his ship into enemy waters. With himself aboard. George W Bush has never done any such thing in his life. He orders other people’s kids to do things like that, and then swaggers around after they do the dirty work, and blames privates and corporals if anything goes wrong.
Bainbridge might not have been super-duper bright, but he was okay.
Fun fact: The Barbary Coast was called that because hundreds of years ago the pirates who dwelt there were referred to as “barbarians” (among others). People who didn’t know the word thought it was Barbarians, as in a proper name for the people. Thus they referred to the area as Barbary, thus the Barbary Coast.
Also, @3: Dude, seriously, the pirates have been doing this shit for awhile now. They were doing it when Bush was in office, they’re doing it again now. They haven’t stopped. Either you’re a troll or an idiot, but either way please get off my Internet.