Part 8 (1/2)

America had large trading interests with those islands. Many of our merchant vessels brought from there large cargoes of fruits, coffee, and spices. The _General Greene_ was ordered to protect these cargoes from the French cruisers, and bring them safely into port.

For several months Captain Perry's vessel convoyed s.h.i.+ps between Cuba and the United States. In July, some of the sailors on board were sick with yellow fever. So Captain Perry brought the vessel back to Newport.

Oliver went at once to see his mother. The tall lad in his bright uniform was a hero to all the children in the neighborhood.

His brothers and sister considered it an honor to wait upon him. They would go out in the early morning and pick berries for his breakfast, so that he might have them with the dew upon them.

While on s.h.i.+pboard he had learned to play a little on the flute. The children loved to sit about him, and listen to his music.

By the autumn of 1799, the crew of the _General Greene_ were well again, and Captain Perry sailed back to Havana.

It was during the following winter months of cruising with his father, that Oliver was taught his lessons of naval honor. He also applied the lessons in navigation which he had learned from Mr. Frazer.

He read and studied very carefully, and could not have had a better teacher than his father.

While the _General Greene_ was cruising among the West Indies, Captain Truxton had won another victory with his _Constellation_. This time he captured a French frigate which carried sixteen guns more than the _Constellation_.

The French, dismayed at these victories of the Americans, began to be more civil. They even seemed anxious for peace.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CONSTELLATION.]

War had been carried on for about a year, though it had never been formally declared.

In May, 1800, the _General Greene_ came back to Newport, and remained in harbor until the terms of peace were concluded.

The trouble with France being settled, it was decided by the government to dispose of nearly all the naval vessels. As a result, many of the captains and mids.h.i.+pmen were dismissed, Captain Perry being one of the number.

Fortunately for the country, young Oliver was retained as mids.h.i.+pman.

V.--THE WAR WITH THE BARBARY STATES.

On the northern coast of Africa, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, are four countries known as the Barbary States. These are Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli, and Morocco.

For more than four hundred years, these countries had been making a business of sea-robbery. Their pirate vessels had seized and plundered the s.h.i.+ps of other nations, and the captured officers and men were sold into slavery.

Instead of resisting these robbers, most of the nations had found it easier to pay vast sums of money to the Barbary rulers to obtain protection for their commerce.

The Americans had begun in this way, and had made presents of money and goods to Algiers and Tunis.

Then the ruler of Tripoli, called the Bashaw, informed our government that he would wait six months for a handsome present from us. If it did not come then, he would declare war against the United States.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMMODORE CHARLES MORRIS.]

This did not frighten the Americans at all. Their only reply was to send a fleet of four s.h.i.+ps to the Mediterranean. The intention was to force the Bashaw to make a treaty which should insure safety for our s.h.i.+ps.

This squadron did not do much but blockade the ports of Tripoli.

A year later, in 1802, a larger squadron was fitted out to bring the Bashaw to terms. Commodore Morris was the commander. On one of the vessels, the _Adams_, was Oliver Perry as mids.h.i.+pman.

Soon after the arrival of his s.h.i.+p in the Mediterranean, Oliver celebrated his seventeenth birthday.