Background
Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Royal Navy no longer needed the Barbary states as a source of supplies for Gibraltar and their fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. There was considerable political pressure exerted to end the practice of enslaving Christians by the Barbary states.
In early 1816, Exmouth undertook a diplomatic mission, backed by a small squadron of ships of the line to Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers to convince the Deys to stop the practice and free the Christian slaves. The Deys of Tunis and Tripoli agreed without any resistance, but the Dey of Algiers was more recalcitrant and the negotiations were stormy. Exmouth believed that he had managed to negotiate a treaty to stop the slavery of Christians and returned to England. However, due to confused orders, Algerian troops massacred 200 Corsican, Sicilian and Sardinian fishermen who were under British protection just after the treaty was signed. This caused outrage in Britain and Europe and Exmouth's negotiations were seen as a failure.
As a result, Exmouth was ordered to sea again to complete the job and punish the Algerians. He gathered a squadron of five ships of the line, one 50-gun ship and four frigates. HMS Queen Charlotte—100 guns—was his flagship and Admiral David Milne was his second in command aboard HMS Impregnable, 98 guns. This squadron was considered by many to be an insufficient force, but Exmouth had already surveyed the defences of Algiers unobtrusively, he was very familiar with the town and was aware of a weakness in the field of fire of the defensive batteries. More large ships would merely have interfered with each other without being able to bring much more fire to bear. In addition to the main fleet, there were some transports to carry the rescued slaves and some sloops for general duties.
On arrival in Gibraltar, a squadron of five Dutch frigates and a corvette—led by Vice-Admiral Theodorus Frederik van Capellen—offered to join the expedition. Exmouth decided to assign them to cover the main force from Algerian flanking batteries, as there was insufficient space in the mole for the Dutch frigates
Read more about this topic: Bombardment Of Algiers (1816)
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