"Italian (i. e. Sardinian and Neapolitan) Navies’ Operations" Topic

…against Barbaresque Pirates at the Beginning of the XIX
Century: International Police or Prelude to Colonialism?

"The perturbed state of Europe and Italy during the Napoleonic period favoured a strong recrudescence of the activities of Barbaresque pirates. Just to give an idea of the persisting problem, it could be mentioned that according to an official report, the Sicilian authorities between September 1804 and January 1807 paid the Bey of Tunis the ransom for 60 of their subjects (including boys of 7 and 8 years), but 606 Sicilians remained enslaved under that Regency and a total of 710 including the Regencies of Algiers and Tripoli.

At the beginning of this period, in 1798 the main attack in Italy was against Carloforte, in the small island of San Pietro, off the South West coast of Sardinia. A Tunisian flotilla disembarked some 1.000 marauders, who surprised the small military garrison and took as slaves about 830
inhabitants. Particularly in 1815 almost every coastal region of Italy suffered attacks, which continued in the following years. In 1815 the main attack was against the same area of Sardinia attacked in 1798. The island of Saint Antioco was attacked in October by a Tunisian flotilla, hoisting the Union Jack to deceive the military garrison, which resisted for seven hours. The pirates took prisoners 150 inhabitants…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Too bad he doesn't give better detail of the opposing forces.

Several Neapolitan frigates took part in the 1811 Battle of Lissa.

B

There were Venetian frigates at the Battle of Lissa.

You are righ.

Amicalement
Armand

makes me think of that scene in 'The Victors' when the sikh was walking down the streets of that Sicilian town and all the old ladies ran inside yelling 'Djelli's! Djellis!'

Venetian frigates indeed. My bad – wrong side of the peninsula!

B

… Prelude to Colonialism

"Our coast is under constant attack, but let's not fight back lest our descendants consider it colonialism, their vision skewed by the events of their time."