The West Indies Squadron, or the West Indies Station, was a United States Navy squadron that operated in the West Indies in the early nineteenth century. It was formed due to the need to suppress piracy in the Caribbean Sea, the Antilles and the Gulf of Mexico region of the Atlantic Ocean. This unit later engaged in the Second Seminole War until being combined with the Home Squadron in 1842. From 1822 to 1826 the squadron was based out of Saint Thomas Island until the Pensacola Naval Yard was constructed.
Formation United States Navy ships had for years operated against piracy and the slave trade in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico but it was not until 1822 that a permanent squadron was formed. American warships were assigned to anti-piracy operations in the West Indies as early as 1817 but after a September 1821 attack by pirates, in which three American merchant ships were captured, the United States Congress authorized Commodore James Biddle to dispatch a fleet to the Caribbean. This force consisted of two frigates, USS Macedonian, and USS Congress, two corvettes, USS Cyane and USS John Adams, two sloops-of-war, USS Hornet and USS Peacock, two brigs, USS Spark and USS Enterprise, and the schooners USS Grampus, USS Alligator, USS Shark and USS Porpoise. The Revenue-Marine operated two cutters, USRC Alabama and USRC Louisiana, along with two gunboats, No. 158 and No. 168. A total of over 1,500 sailors and marine personnel served in the squadron. Before only single-ship operations had been undertaken. Over the course of a few decades these vessels continually engaged Spanish, Venezuelan, Cuban and Puerto Rican pirates. Many of the actions ended with the sinking or capturing of pirate vessels though often the outlaws escaped to shore.
Anti-piracy operations
Legal and political background Caribbean pirates of the era were Latin Americans who (usually) doubled as privateers. Revolution against Spain was widespread and both the Spanish and the rebel governments issued letters of marque. The privateers often captured American merchantmen and attacked their crews. Since the United States was not at war with Spain or any of the rebel Latin American governments, the letters of marque did not apply to U.S. vessels and the Americans branded all persons attacking U.S. flagged vessels as pirates.
In 1819 President James Monroe sent Commodore Perry to Venezuela with the frigate USS Constellation, the corvette USS John Adams, and USS Nonsuch. The commodore's orders were to demand restitution for attacks on United States' merchant ships by Venezuelan privateers, and to receive an assurance that the privateers would be restrained from capturing American vessels. Perry was initially successful in completing his mission, and a treaty was signed on 11 August 1819. However, on his cruise back to the United States he died of yellow fever at Trinidad, which led to failure of the agreement.
The informal squadron 1817–1822 The first American vessels to serve against West Indies piracy were part of an unofficial squadron which became the founding warships of the prolonged operation. The schooners USS Enterprise, USS Nonsuch, and USS Lynx with the gunboats No. 158 and No. 168 were among the vessels deployed between 1817 and 1822. All of these ships operated independently and there was no one commander of the squadron until its official establishment.
On 22 December 1817, USS John Adams forced the pirate Luis Aury to evacuate his base at Amelia Island, Florida. Later, John Adams was flagship of Commodore Biddle's squadron. By 1820, conflict with the pirates and privateers started to increase: United States warships engaged in several naval actions that year, and a total of 27 American merchant ships were captured. Between 1818 and 1821 the USS Enterprise captured 13 pirate and slave ships while serving with the New Orleans Squadron – later in the West Indies. On 24 October 1819, while under command of Lieutenant J.R. Madison, USS Lynx captured two pirate schooners and two boats in the Gulf of Mexico, and on 9 November she captured another pirate boat in Galveston Bay. Lynx disappeared in January 1820 while sailing to Jamaica, she likely sank due to a storm; none of her crew were ever seen or heard from again.
In October 1821, while sailing off Cape San Antonio, Cuba, USS Enterprise came to the assistance of three merchant vessels that had been seized by four pirate vessels. Boats were launched and attacked the brigands; in the end, over 40 pirates were killed or captured and two of their vessels taken. A month later, the Enterprise attacked a pirate base near Cape San Antonio and cleared the area of criminals. In September 1821, brigands captured three American merchant vessels off Matanzas, Cuba. The pirates tortured the crew of one vessel and set her on fire; survivors were able to escape to shore in a boat. The pirates killed three men on the second American vessel and everyone on the third vessel; the pirates also burned both vessels. This incident was one of the main reasons why an anti-piracy operation was launched.
USS Hornet captured a privateer schooner named Moscow on 29 October 1821 and on 21 December she captured a pirate ship apparently without a fight; the pirates escaped to shore. On 16 December 1821, the , Lieutenant James Ramage commanding, was sailing off Cape San Antonio and found five enemy vessels, including the merchant brig Bolina. Forty sailors were lowered into five boats and Ramage's command. Though some of the pirates fled to shore, many resisted, and the five American boats destroyed the five pirate ships by burning them, and freed Bolina. Three pirates were captured and several killed according to reports.
Early West Indies Squadron 1821–1822 In autumn of 1821, USS Spark, under Lieutenant John Elton, departed Boston and joined the list of vessels assigned to counter piracy. In January 1822, Elton captured a Dutch-flagged pirate sloop. Seven prisoners were taken to Charleston for trial. Spark then returned to the Caribbean and remained on station for the next three years, by which time the official West Indies Squadron was formed. When the United States Navy began campaigning against the pirates, the Royal Navy was quick to follow suit and created their own West Indies Squadron.
In March 1822, boat crews from the USS Enterprise captured two launches and four boats in a creek near Cape San Antonio, and on 6 March she seized eight more craft and over 150 pirates.
USS Grampus encountered the brig flying Spanish colors on 15 August 1822. Commanding Lieutenant Gregory suspected the ship to be a pirate so he approached to board but as the Grampus drew near, Palyrma opened fire and fought a brief 3½ minute battle. After the Americans boarded Palmyra, they found that pirates were from Puerto Rico and had a letter of marque. However, the letter was found to be fake, so the Americans detained the pirates and handed them over to the Spanish in Cuba. At this time the usual procedure for dealing with captured pirates was turning them over to Spain because the United States didn't have the authority to imprison them. Neither could the United States Navy pursue the pirates on Spanish soil. When, in April 1822, Commodore David Porter, in USS Macedonian, assumed command of the station, one of his first missions was to consult with Cuban Governor Captain General Don Nicholas Mahy of Cuba, and the governor of Puerto Rico. Both governors denied Porter's request to allow American shore parties to land; at the time the United States government did permit the West Indies Squadron to do so, but only in remote areas.
Commodore Porter then attacked and destroyed a pirate force at Funda Bay, Cuba, between 28 and 30 September 1822. Also on 28 September Peacock captured a boat filled with pirates about 60 miles from Havana. Later that afternoon Peacock met the merchant vessel Speedwell which was attacked by pirates two hours before. In response, Captain Stephen Cassin launched a boat expedition that captured four schooners, though again most of the pirates escaped.
On 2 November 1822, , along with USS Peacock and the Royal Navy schooner , captured five pirate vessels off Havana. On 8 November 1822, Lieutenant Allen of USS Alligator was killed in battle, while leading an attack against three enemy schooners that were holding five merchantmen hostage. In the action, two of the schooners were captured and at least 14 pirates were killed.
Newly re-enforced squadron 1822–1825 Due to fall-out over Lieutenant Allen's death, Secretary of the Navy Thompson authorized Commodore Porter to procure new vessels for the squadron. Porter acquired eight shallow-draft schooners, five large barges, a steam powered riverboat, and a storeship schooner. All commissioned in 1822, the schooners were each armed with three guns and became the USS Beagle, USS Ferret, USS Fox, USS Greyhound, USS Weasel, and the USS Wild Cat. The storeship was USS Decoy, and the steamer became USS Sea Gull.
The new squadron left the United States for Cuba on 15 February 1823. Commodore Biddle also received new orders of conduct: he was now permitted to land shore parties in populated areas, as long as he informed the locals first. Biddle was also ordered to cooperate with any other sovereign naval forces operating against pirates.
USS Fox was sent to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March 1823 to obtain a list of all legally commissioned privateers and a details of their instructions. When the American schooner entered San Juan Harbor on 3 March an artillery battery fired on the ship. A few shots hit the Fox which mortally wounded Lieutenant W.H. Cocke, her commander. Commodore Porter later accepted an apology for the incident from Puerto Rico's governor.
Two barges, USS Gallinipper and USS Mosquito, liberated an American merchant vessel on 8 April. The navy sailors killed two pirates and arrested another, though most got away. On 16 April Mosquito, Gallinipper, and USS Peacock, spotted a felucca off Cuba's Colorados islands. Peacock managed to capture the felucca; the pirate crew scuttled their three schooners and fled to shore.
Grampus rescued the crew of the American schooner Shiboleth after it had been taken by pirates in June 1823. The brigands boarded the merchantman silently, killed the guards, and then cornered the remainder of the crew within the ship. The pirates robbed the ship and set her on fire. Grampus arrived when the Shiboleth was still burning and took off her surviving crew. The same pirates attacked another merchant ship a few days later before being detected by the Spanish Army and jailed.
In June 1823, the USS Ferrets crew skirmished with the brigands. During one incident, Ferret found a few pirate craft in shallow water off Matanzas. First Ferret attacked using her broadside guns and sank two boats among those fleeing along the coast. Due to the low depth, a boat was used to attack the remaining craft but when the Americans came within range, the pirates opened fire and shot a hole through the boat, which returned to Ferret and sank. With their only boat sunk, the Americans were forced to continue their patrol and the brigands got to shore. Later that day, Ferret commandeered a small vessel with a shallow draft and returned to where their boat was sunk, hoping to engage the pirates again, but bad weather stopped the operation. The following morning the Americans encountered a British merchantman that gave them a boat. Ferret returned to the waters off Matanzas, but only found the two sunken boats that she had destroyed earlier.