An idea of the response of the Papal States, and other countries, to Barbary piracy, can be seen from reports in the London Gazette over the period (available online).
Glossary
Civita Vecchia - a free port and main port of the Papal
States at this time. On the west coast of Italy.
Ancona - another Papal port, on the east coast. Expanded from
1730s onwards.
Corsica - part of Republic of Genoa, but effectively
independent from 1755 to 1769 when annexed by the French. The Papal states had
the Corsican Regiment of two battalions, but dispersed throughout the country
and mainly used for policing.
Leghorne (Livorno now) - a thriving international port on the
east coast above Civita Vecchia, part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Tartane - a small ship with a single mast on which was a
large lateen sail. Used for both fishing and trading in the Mediterranean.
Fellucca - a felucca was a sailing boat with one or two lateen
sails, used in the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea. Usually with a crew of
two or three and up to ten passengers.
Galiot/ half galley - a ship with both oars and sails. Those
used by the Barbary pirates usually had two masts and sixteen pairs of oars,
with between two and ten small cannon and between 50 and 150 men.
A Spanish Galiot fighting Barbary pirates in 1738 (Wkipedia)
Xebec – a fast type of sailing ship with a distinctive hull
and long over hanging bowsprit. Favoured by pirates because of their speed,
those used by the Barbary pirates could carry up to 400 men and 40 guns.
1749
When a set of alter and plate were sent for the chapel of
the King of Portugal from Rome via Civita Vecchia it was accompanied by a
Maltese ship of war. As detailed in my previous post, there were very close
links, militarily and in other ways, between the Order of Malta and the Papacy.
Meanwhile the Kingdom of Naples, which seems to have borne the brunt of much of
the fighting against Barbary pirates and slavers, was fitting out two frigates,
four half galleys and some converted merchantmen to cruise against them.
1750
In January storms wrecked 5 of a squadron of 11 Algiers xebecs
on the Neapolitan coast. In April, the Pope’s galleys at Civita Vecchia were ordered
to put to sea to cruise against Barbary corsairs which had appeared off the
coast, supplemented with 200 soldiers. By May, the Genoese also had a galliot,
two felluccas and four galleys at sea to protect against Barbary corsairs in
addition to the Neapolitan fleet.
It wasn’t just the Mediterranean powers who were at risk. In
May, the Dey of Algiers sent a letter to the commander of the English
Mediterranean fleet apologising for the rough treatment of a captured English
captain (actually almost strangling) and saying the person responsible had been
dismissed and assuring him that it would never happen again, presumably a
reflection of the size and power of the English fleet at the time rather than
any particular sense of contrition.
By June, the numbers of Barbary corsairs infesting the Papal
coast raised worries that they might actually attack sites on land, leading to
reinforcements of 100 foot and 100 horse being sent to the coast. Naples was
still doing most of the heavy lifting, with both Royal ships and ships
outfitted by merchants patrolling the coast
1751
In June the Grand Master of Malta, at the request of the
Pope, sent two frigates to patrol the Roman coast against Barbary corsairs, “who
greatly infest those seas”, in conjunction with the Pope’s galleys. In August a
Portuguese squadron of two frigates of 30 guns each and two armed vessels was
despatched to protect the Portuguese coast. By October the Neapolitans were
already outfitting ships for the next year, and the Pope’s galleys were dispatched
to Corsica to rendezvous with some Genoese armed vessels to cruise against
Barbary corsairs off the coast. A French vessel reported that in Tunis four
large galliots and two tartanes were fitting out to cruise in Spanish waters
next month.
Ships of the Order of Malta fighting Algerian pirates in 1719
1752
In May an engagement was reported between some Neapolitan
vessels and five Algerine off Messina, in which one Neapolitan vessel was severely
damaged and two Algerine sunk and the other three severely damaged. At the same
time 200 soldiers were sent from Rome to Civita Vecchia to board galleys sent
to attack Barbary corsairs.
1753
Two frigates and four armed xebecs were sent from Naples to
patrol the coast. In May, two Portuguese frigates were sent out against Barbary
corsairs that had appeared there, whilst in June a squadron of Spanish ships
was sent out to find and destroy Barbary pirates there. Also in June, a
Venetian vessel captured a vessel from Tripoli off Sicily and released 30
Christian slaves.
1754
An engagement was reported in the Catalonian sea between
seven Algerine Xebecs and a Spanish force of two frigates and four xebecs, in which
two Algerines were sunk, two captured and the rest escaped.
By this time Pope Benedict XIV clearly considered that his
naval forces needed beefing up, with the purchase of two 30 gun frigates from
England, the St Peter (formerly Lowestoft) and St Paul. The two frigates were
based in Civita Vecchia, though one had been fitted out in Genoa and the other
in Leghorne. They were sent out against Barbary pirates off the coast.
1755
1755 saw an escalation with a formal declaration of war by
the Bey of Algiers against Tuscany, and many Algerian vessels off the Tuscan
coast, even taking a large Florentine ship in the mouth of the Arno. A squadron
off Leghorne consisting of two ships, three barques and two xebecs was reported
to taken two Neapolitan and two Genoese vessels. In response the Pope offered
to send his two frigates in support, as well as reinforcing the towers and
small forts along the Papal coast. Detachments of horse were sent to Civita
Vecchia, Fiumicino and other sites to prevent landings.
By late May the Pope’s two frigates had cruised in the
Channel of Piombino and the island of Giglio and driven away Barbary pirates
from the Roman coast, after which they returned to Civita Vecchio. Nonetheless,
the Pope ordered a new palisade to be constructed at Fiumicino to protect the
vessels there. A Neapolitan half galley, also in the Channel of Piombino,
reportedly captured a Tunisian corsair, with 60 “Moors” who were put in irons,
whilst forts on the Tuscan coast had been reinforced and a unit of 80
cuirassiers were patrolling the coast.
Attention now seems to have shifted to the Iberian
peninsula, with Portugal sending a man of war of 60 guns, three frigates and
two xebecs to protect shipping against the expected arrival of Algerine pirates,
and the Spanish navy, using xebecs, taking six Barbary corsairs with nearly 400
men on board, who are put into slavery.
In November the St Paul, under Chevalier Pollastron, took an
Algerian corsair of 10 guns and 200 men after a three hour fight, with 20
Algerians killed and 2 of his crew. The corsair was taken to Civita Vecchia,
although the captain of the ship and his father were later released after
paying a ransom. Following this the St Paul and St Peter were sent to Malta for
refitting and then ordered back to cruise the coast, the Papal galleys being
laid up for the winter.
Valetta harbour, Malta, in 1750
1756
The aggressive activities of Algiers of the previous year
continued, not only harassing the Christian European coast but also conquering
their fellow pirates in Tunis.
In February, Chevallier Caros of the St Peter was in Malta
where the ship was refitted, before joining the St Paul to cruise against
Barbary pirates. The St Peter was refitting again in May, in Leghorne, before returning
to Civita Vecchia where she and the St Paul were laid up for the summer and
replaced by galleys “as vessels more proper for the season”. At the same time,
a detachment of 50 soldiers from the Corsican Regiment in Rome were despatched
to Ancona to make the port “more commodius”.
Later in the year both frigates were again fitting out in
Civita Vecchia, to cruise against Barbary pirates instead of galleys which to
be laid up “on account of the season of the year”. The frigates were to proceed
immediately to Toulon to get “the anchors and other necessary stores” for the
winter season.
1757
In January the two frigates sailed to Corsica and Sardinia,
before patrolling the Roman coast, refitting at Civita Vecchia in March and
sortieing out in April following news that Algerian and Tunisian pirates had
been sighted off the coast.
At the end of May the frigates were laid up in Civita
Vecchia and replaced by patrols of galleys, which in June drove ashore a
Barbary galley with 160 “Moors”. These then took refuge in the woods of
Porcegliano, pursued by soldiers from the galleys and local soldiers, though
their eventual fate is not recorded in the London Gazette.
In October, a squadron of Maltese galleys left Civita
Vecchia for Malta, the Papal frigates were prepared for sea and the galleys
laid up for the season.
1758
Of course, there were other problems beyond the Barbary
pirates, though these were the worst. The Seven Years War was raging in
northern Europe at this time, and this too had an impact. For example, in May
1758 the English privateer Enterprize captured three tartanes of timber from
the Roman state destined for ship building in France. And to add to these
problems, in June a plague in the rest of Italy led to imposition of 40 days quarantine
on all ships coming in “Eccliastical ports”.
In November, the two frigates St Peter and St Paul, were
sent out again from Civita Vecchia to patrol against Barbary pirates.
1759
Again in January 1759, after careening and refitting at
Civita Vecchia, the two frigates were sent out on patrol, before being laid up
for the summer, and patrolling again in December, after taking on supplies in
Marseilles.
Afterward
And so ends the 1750s. At this point Franco-Roman relations
appear to be good, but tensions over the Jesuits were to change that, as can be
seen from a report in 1763.....
It was reported in the London Chronicle that two frigates
belonging to the Pope were berthed at Marseilles, apparently for sale, but in
fact taking on board valuables belonging to the Society of Jesuits. Creditors
of the Society objected and applied for the frigates to be detained, but on
learning this the Commander refused permission fo anyone to visit the ships, which
he oppose by force. At the time this was unresolved, but the frigates “were
watched very closely”.
