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The Action of 9 November 1822 was a naval battle fought between the United States Navy schooner and a squadron of three piratical schooners off the coast of Cuba during the US Navy's West Indies Anti-Piracy Operation. Fifteen leagues from Matanzas, Cuba, a large band of pirates captured several vessels and held them for ransom. Upon hearing of the pirate attacks, the ''Alligator'' under Lieutenant William Howard Allen rushed to the scene to rescue the vessels and seize the pirates. Upon arriving at the bay where the pirates were said to be, USS ''Alligator'' dispatched boats to engage the enemy vessels, as the water was too shallow for the US warship to engage them herself. With Allen personally commanding one of the boats, the Americans assaulted the piratical schooner ''Revenge''. Although the Navy was able to force the pirates into abandoning ''Revenge'', the buccaneers managed to fight their way out of the bay and inflict heavy casualties, including Allen. With their commander mortally wounded, the boats ceased pursuit of the pirates but managed to recover the vessels that had been held in the bay. ==Background== In early November 1822, the schooner USS ''Alligator'', under the command of Lieutenant William Allen, put in to Matanzas, Cuba, intending to patrol the area as part of the United States Navy's West Indian Anti-Piracy Campaign. Upon arriving at the port, Allen discovered two Americans attempting to raise $7,000 in order to pay a ransom to a band of pirates that had captured their vessels. If the ransom was not delivered, the pirates threatened to destroy the ships and rough up their crews. Learning from these men that the pirates were holed up some 15 leagues away, Allen took the civilians aboard and decided to make an attempt at recovering their ship from the buccaneers. The band of pirates was relatively large, consisting of around 125 men and three armed schooners. One schooner, ''Revenge'', was an 80-ton vessel armed with five cannon and 35 men; a second, 90-ton schooner had six guns and 30 men; a third vessel displaced 60-tons, was armed with three cannon and manned by 60 men. In addition to their armed vessels, the pirates also had in their possession five American prizes. These were the ship rigged vessel ''William Henry'' from New York, the brigs ''Iris'' and ''Sarah Morril'' from Boston, and a pair of merchant schooners with one hailing from Rochester and the other Salem. Allen's force of 100 was outnumbered by the pirates and also outgunned, with ''Alligator'' mounting only 12 six pounders compared to the pirates' 14 cannons. Despite being outnumbered, ''Alligator'' and her crew were experienced veterans, having taken the Portuguese brig ''Marianna Flora'' the year before in a bloody action. Allen himself was also an experienced commander who had taken command of USS ''Argus'' during her engagement with HMS ''Pelican'' in the War of 1812. Though ''Alligator'' draft was too deep to chase pirate craft inshore, if need be, she could send her cutter, gig, and launch out with boarding parties to engage the pirates. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Action of 9 November 1822」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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