122 KEMIXISCEXCES OF A SPORTSMAN. 



in English, with a strong Irish brogue, through a speaking 

 trumpet, ordering us to send a boat alongside the frigate 

 with the ship's papers. This was soon done ; and the 

 captain desired the mate to avoid, if possible, going on 

 board, and to inform the Irish renegado that the ship 

 was a king's packet with important despatches from our 

 ambassador at Constantinople ; and that if he insisted on 

 his going on board, the vessel would be subject to quaran- 

 tine. On the boat reaching the frigate the mate de- 

 livered the above message to the Irishman, and handed 

 him the ship's papers ; he soon returned, giving the 

 papers back to the mate, saying all was right, and wish- 

 ing us a good voyage. He inquired if we had recently 

 seen any Tunisian, Sicilian, or Sardinian vessels. The 

 mate replied in the negative, which was untrue, as we 

 had observed two or three the evening before. The 

 Deys of Tunis and Algiers were at war, which prompted 

 the inquiry, and the Algerines were constantly at war 

 with the Sicilians and Sardinians, sometimes at night 

 landing on the coasts of these islands to surprise a vil- 

 lage, and carry off men, women, and children as slaves, 

 leaving only the old and infirm, whom they sometimes 

 murdered after having pillaged the village. But the day 

 of retribution for all these outrages was approaching.* 



* In 1830 a considerable expedition sailed from Toulon for the 

 capture of Algiers. The pretence of the rupture between the French 

 and Algerines was the Dey striking the French consul with his fan. 

 The army consisted of 37,500 men, with 180 pieces of artillery, and a 

 fleet of ten sail of the line, twenty-three frigates, and numerous trans- 

 ports. The army was commanded by General Bourmont, who had a 

 son killed in one of the actions ; but Algiers, after a short siege, was 

 obliged to surrender unconditionally. The Dey was sent to Constantin- 

 ople, and thus ended tlie power of these pii-ates, who had been so long 

 the scourge of the Mediterranean Sea, and the country became a French 

 colony. 



