Battle off Cape Palos

{{Campaignbox Second Barbary War}} The '''Battle off Cape Palos''' was the last battle of the [[Second Barbary War]]. The battle began when an [[United States|American]] squadron under [[Stephen Decatur]] attacked and captured an [[Barbary Pirates|Algerian]] [[brig]]. ==Background== After capturing the Algerian [[flagship]] ''Meshuda'' and sending her to [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]] under the escort of [[USS Macedonian (1810)|USS ''Macedonian'']], Stephen Decatur and his squadron continued on their way towards [[Algiers]]. On June 19, 1815 the ''Estedio'', a 22 gun Algerian brig, was sighted. == Battle == Decatur began pursuit of the Algerians and chased them into shoal waters near the coast of [[Spain]] off [[Cape Palos]]. Fearing that his larger vessels might get beached he sent the smaller vessels in his squadron the [[HMS Epervier (1812)|USS ''Epervier'']], [[USS Spark (1813)|USS ''Spark'']], [[USS Torch (1814)|USS ''Torch'']], and [[USS Spitfire (1814)|USS ''Spitfire'']] to deal with the brig. Here the vessels fought a short engagement lasting a half an hour before the Algerians began to abandon their vessel and surrender. As the ''Estedio'' crewmembers began to flee towards the cape in the ship's open boats, the American vessels began firing upon the boats and sunk one. The remaining 80 crew on the ''Estedio'' surrendered. Besides the eighty captured the ''Estedio'' lost at least 23 men killed. ==Aftermath== After the battle the ''Estedio'' was taken to Cartagena and interned, being returned to Algiers at the end of the war. Decatur's squadron regrouped and continued on its way to Algiers to force the dey to terms. ==Sources== {{reflist}} {{Citation style|date=September 2009}} http://books.google.com/books?id=-FtRftnUcAoC&pg=PA140&dq=estedio&sig=lxDxUnEn34FN1pIcYKVh83n6v58#PPA140,M1
http://books.google.com/books?id=sRWhmVTnndoC&pg=PA104&dq=estedio&sig=DHvwg7twUzcdWezWSp7fUQAnt_g#PPA104,M1 {{coord missing|Spain}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Off Cape Palos}}