The Battle of Cape Palos was the last battle of the

Second Barbary War The Second Barbary War, also known as the U.S.–Algerian War and the Algerine War, was a brief military conflict between the United States and the North African state of Algiers in 1815. Piracy had been rampant along the North African "Barb ...

. The battle began when an American squadron under Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. attacked and captured an Algerian

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

Background

After capturing the Algerian

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

''Meshuda'' and sending her to Cartagena under the escort of USS ''Macedonian'', Stephen Decatur and his squadron continued on their way towards

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. On June 19, 1815, they sighted the 22-gun Algerian

''Estedio''.

Battle

Decatur began pursuit of ''Estedio'' and chased her into shoal waters near the coast of Spain off Cape Palos. Fearing that his larger vessels might get beached, he sent the smaller vessels in his squadron, the USS ''Epervier'', USS ''Spark'', USS ''Torch'', and USS ''Spitfire'' to deal with the brig. Here the vessels fought half an hour before the Algerians began to abandon their vessel and surrender. As ''Estedio''s crew members began to flee towards the cape in her boats, the American vessels fired on them, sinking them. The surviving 80 crewmen of ''Estedio'' surrendered. Besides the 80 captured, ''Estedio'' lost at least 23 men killed.

Aftermath

After the battle, a prize crew took ''Estedio'' to Cartagena, where Spanish authorities interned her. They returned her to Algiers at the end of the war, but then on July 18, 1815 the Algerians declared war on Spain so the Spanish government seized both her and the frigate Mashouda, which Decatur had also captured, at Cartagena.''

Lloyd's List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and i ...

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№4997.
/ref> Decatur's squadron regrouped and continued on its way to Algiers to force Dey

Omar Agha Omar Agha was the Dey of the Deylik of Algiers from April 1815 to September 1817, after the assassination of his predecessor Mohamed Khaznadji on 7 April 1815, who had been in office for only 17 days. Early life He was born on the island of Myt ...

to terms.

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Palos 1815 Conflicts in 1815 1815 in Africa 1815 in the Ottoman Empire 1815 in Spain June 1815 Military history of Cartagena, Spain Cape Palos Naval battles involving the Regency of Algiers Second Barbary War