The US Navy’s role in the suppression of Barbary piracy in the
Mediterranean is deservedly well known but few today are aware that in the
1830s two American expeditions were launched against pirates in what is now
Indonesia. The scene was to be the then semi-independent Sultanate of Ache
(Atjeh in Dutch) in Sumatra and the interventions were to be the precursor to
an intense and bloody series of conflicts from 1873 to 1904 in which the
Netherlands’ colonial army struggled to bring the area under Dutch rule. (These
campaigns will be the subject of a later blog).
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| Salem in the 1830s - the base for Peabody's shipping empire |
European spheres of influence in South East Asia were still
fluid in the early 1830s. Britain had taken its first steps to control of
Malaya by creating the “Straits
Settlements” of Penang, Singapore and Malacca in the 1820s but lying
directly to its west was the gigantic island of Sumatra. Though part of the “East Indies” which were for the Dutch
as the most important part of their overseas empire, Dutch power in Sumatra was
still limited and would be for decades to come. The Ache sultanate in the island’s north was
to all practical purposes an independent entity and free to engage with trade
with all comers. Among these comers were American traders, who were building up
a great commercial and shipping empire in the Far East. One of the most
prominent of these was Joseph Peabody (1757 –1844) of Salem, Massachusetts.
Beginning his seagoing career on privateers during the American War of Independence
he was to establish himself as a major ship-owner, building as many as 83 ships
during his career and achieving great wealth in the process.
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| Pirate vessels of the East Indies |
Ache’s most valuable trading commodity was pepper – a
commodity high in value for a small volume – and it was pepper that brought Peabody’s
trading vessel Friendship to the Sumatra’s
North West coast, close to settlement of Kuala Batee, in February 1831. The
area was under the control of several local chieftains who appear to have had loose
but cordial contacts with the sultanate. The Friendship’s captain, Charles Endicott, landed with a small group
of sailors 7th February to bargain for pepper. While this party was
on shore a group of local thugs in small prahus
– outrigger sailing craft – boarded the Friendship,
killed the first officer and two of the crew members and captured the ship. Four
other men escaped from the Friendship
by swimming two miles down the coast and hiding in the forest.
With the support of a local leader called Pak Adam, Captain
Endicott managed to make contact with three other American trading vessels in the
area, the James Monroe, the Governor Endicott and the Palmer. All carried guns – a necessity
in this pirate-infested area – and the Friendship
was recovered only after the criminals leaped overboard and when fire had been
opened on the nearby village.
The Friendship’s
return to Salem with news of the outrage aroused widespread anger – the more so
since this was during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, not a man to accept insult
or injury meekly. The upshot was that orders were sent to Commodore John
Downes, captain of the American Frigate Potomac,
then cruising off Brazil. He was to proceed to Kuala Batee, assess the situation
and take any measures he deemed necessary to ensure future safety of American traders
in the area. This was the start of what became known as “The First Sumatran Expedition”.
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| The USS Potomac - she was to see service through the Civil War |
Like other “frigates” of
the US Navy in the early 19th century the Potomac, completed in 1831, was more heavily armed than any of European
vessel of the same designation. Her 32 carronades and 35 long guns (including two
bow and three stern-chasers) gave her fearsome firepower for her size. Her crew
of 480 – trained as were all crews of the era in the use of cutlass and small
arms – added the potential of a powerful landing force.
The Potomac
arrived off Kuala Batee in early February 1832, almost an exact year since the Friendship’s ordeal. Downes disguised his
ship as a Dutch merchant vessel, with her guns pulled back behind the decks and
all ports shut. Unsuspecting locals came on board and, when questioned about
the village’s defences, provided useful information. The attack that followed
commenced at dawn on 6th February 1832 with a bombardment to cover
landing of 282 American marines and seamen to the north of the settlement.
Several “forts” – small stockades – were damaged by naval gunfire and stormed and
by midday the Sumatran defenders had retreated inland, leaving the Americans to
burn buildings and boats in reprisal. American
losses amounted to two killed and some half-dozen wounded while somewhere
between 80 and 100 (estimates differ) Sumatrans were killed and many more
wounded. Honour had been satisfied. The
American force withdrew to the Potomac,
remained offshore for several days and thereafter set sail for the United
States, circumnavigating the globe in the process.
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| A Sumatran woman helping to defend her husband - perhaps against Corporal John L. Dubois |
News of the action reached the United States by other ships
prior to the Potomac’s return and a
portion of the population – who had not been there and knew of the incident only
by hearsay – were immediately outraged by reports of collateral casualties. Women and children had indeed died, but it was
not always obvious that they were non-combatants. The first report appeared on
7 July 1832, the New-York Observer, an
abolitionist, anti-slavery newspaper. It mentioned that “There were several women killed who had the hardihood to take up arms
when they saw their husbands fall at their feet; indeed it was impossible to
distinguish the sex, they dress so much alike”. It stated further in the article
that “John L. Dubois, ships corporal …. was
wounded by a Malay woman in attacking the forts. This woman was with an Indian,
probably her husband, who was attacked and killed by Dubois. As soon as she saw
her husband fall, she had the courage to revenge him by attacking Dubois with a
sabre; she cut him very badly between the upper joint of the thumb and where
the wrist meets; the blow would have taken off the hand had it not been
retarded by the barrel of the musket which was held at the time of a charge.”
By the time the Potomac
returned much righteous indignation has been directed at Commodore Downes and his
officers. One of them, a Jeremiah Reynolds, who had been on board the Potomac as Downes’ secretary, published
a book on the subject in 1835 from the perspective of those actually present
and noted that “vague rumours and partial
statements” in the media had created an
“unfavourable prejudice in the public mind”.
The controversy simmered for a few years more but was
overtaken by further events that were calculated to reduce sympathy for the Sumatrans.
This was in August 1838 when another American ship, the Eclipse, was boarded at a village called Muckie by 24 Sumatrans who
ostensibly wanted to trade. They were allowed on board on the condition of
handing over their weapons but once trust had been established these were –
unwisely – returned. The crew was then attacked and butchered, even those men
who jumped into the water to escape being run down and murdered.
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| Columbia and John Adams bombarding Muckie |
This was the end of the Second Sumatran Expedition by the US
Navy. A dose of bitter medicine had been administered and no further American trading
ships were attacked off Sumatra thereafter. For the Dutch however a long war
awaited them there in the future – but that’s a different story.
Recently published: Britannia’s Spartan
A new balance of power is emerging in
the Far East. Imperial China, weak and corrupt, is challenged by a rapidly
modernising Japan, while Russia threatens from the north. All need to control
Korea, a kingdom frozen in time and reluctant to emerge from centuries of
isolation.
Dawlish finds himself a critical
player in a complex political powder keg. He must take account of a weak Korean
king and his shrewd queen, of murderous palace intrigue, of a power-broker who
seems more American than Chinese and a Japanese naval captain whom he will come
to despise and admire in equal measure. And he will have no one to turn to for
guidance…
Click below for more details for both paperback and Kindle versions:
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