Pirate Coast: Book Review
Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805
Thursday, November 14, 2007
After commemorating the U.S. Marine Corps birthday on 10 November, and enjoying the honor of recognizing the sacrifices of our veterans on Veterans Day on the 11th, I couldn't help but to reflect on a book that I recently read titled "The Pirate Coast" by Richard Zacks.
The Pirate Coast is a very interesting historical account of how a handful of Marines along with General William Eaton embarked on America's first overseas covert op. They trekked across the brutal and unforgiving Sahara desert in an endeavor to free American soldiers that were captured and enslaved by Barbary pirates (Moslems). It's an interesting chronicle of how Moslems enslaved Christians, Americans & Europeans dating as far back as the 1700's.
In the opening chapter, Zacks detailed how Barbary pirates swept up more than 1,000 Italian villagers and sold them into slavery. The highest price was for a 12-year-old girl.
The Barbary pirate's campaigns to capture and enslave non-Moslems were executed with a perverse and unbridled zeal. That is until a few and proud American soldiers sailed into the fray.
Even back then, we were the only nation with the cajones to stand up to these despicable pirates. It was during a time when many nations were intimidated into paying "tribute' to Moslem nations in order not to be enslaved/ or unlawfully seized from the waters.
It was during these troubling times when a US Navy vessel (USS Philadelphia) ran aground in the harbor of Tripoli (now Libya) and was captured along with 307 American sailors. The Bey, or Pasha, or Bashaw (the Arabs don't pronounce the letter "P" so "Pasha" became "Bashaw") of Tripoli, Yusef Karamanli, was a ruthless thug that murdered his brother, de-throned his father, and exiled his older brother, Hamet, while keeping Hamet's wife & children hostage in the castle. This was an incentive for Hamet not to return and stake claim to his rightful throne, or risk untold harm to his family. Yusef has the notoriety of the first foreign ruler ever to declare war on the U.S.A.
Many interesting tidbits of historical information can be gleaned from the pages of Richard Zacks' book, such as the inspiration for the opening line to the Marines Hymn, to an open look into the wrangling of America's third President, Thomas Jefferson.
You can find the lyrics to the Marines' Hymn here: From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli
Enjoy.
Published by Tony Jingo
An American Patriot with an independent view on today's topics. Jingo (noun) One who vociferously supports one's country View profile
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14 Comments
Post a Comment"Shores or Tripoli!" uuuurah!
Thanks Tony, must check this out!
This book sounds riveting. Thanks for the review.
Just coming back to say I read this, my mother read this and even a friend of her read it. We definitely got a lot of use out of this book and it looks a bit.. used now, lol. But it was very interesting to read, truly. Thanks for the heads up!
You make the book sound fascinating. I'm going to see if my library has a copy.
This looks of interest to me for sure!
sounds like a very interesting book, wonderful review.
Interesting review.
This looks like a book of interest to me. I really enjoy the stories about secret ops and less well known heroes and those in the trenches. I don't know if you are into espionage fare, but wondered if you like Nelson Demille. His miltary backgrounds sets him apart from many of the sanitized writers.
I don't know how I missed this article when browsing your CP page before. This looks like a fascinating book containing many elements I would enjoy! Great review!