The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Some people like suspense novels, some people like action adventure stories, and some people are real history buffs. This book will satisfy all three crowds. To find accurate history written in such an engaging, page-turning manner is a rare delight.

The United States became a nation at a time when the Barbary States (Tripoli, Tunis and Algiers) were enjoying a piracy trade they had been running for three centuries. This robbery took place by forcefully taking a ship on the high seas, then keeping the goods and enslaving the crew and passengers. The pirates would hold prisoners for ransom--typically for a year, while they negotiated a price--then release them when paid. No country would stand up to these pirates. In fact, other nations paid tribute to them to avert even worse problems.

This cowardly state of affairs would have continued for centuries more, had not William Eaton headed up a mission to end the reign of one of the bashaws (a bashaw is a sort of king).

This particular bashaw (Yussef) killed his oldest brother, who had been the rightful heir to the throne. Then, he took the middle brother's family hostage and sent him into exile--leaving Yussef the one occupying the throne. The middle brother, Hamet, wanted to regain his throne from his sadistic and unscrupulous younger brother. This is where William Eaton came in.

To understand the central story, you have to understand Eaton. Zacks helps us do this, by showing Eaton engaging in the failures that brought him to the point where his adventure with Hamet began. Eaton had a sound military mind, but he was lousy at politics. He was constantly shooting himself in the proverbial foot, and his enemies took pains to make him suffer.

Eaton's adventure with Hamet is the central story of this book. How that adventure begins, stumbles, picks up, and goes through a multitude of setbacks and political machinations is fascinating. How it ends is disheartening, because that ending shows the triumph of petty politics over common sense.

This book allows the reader to see into historical events and the people behind them. For example:

We see the pompous Tobias Lear--a long-time personal friend of George Washington who damaged that relationship by stealing rent money he was allegedly collecting for Washington--truly bungle negotiations in a way that makes you think of Jimmy Carter. He was that bad.

We see the incompetent Captain William Bainbridge surrender the USS Philadelphia, when there was no reason to do so. This act of stupidity wasn't his first surrender. But, this one got his whole crew enslaved (and some killed) and tortured for over a year. Officers, of course, were pampered by their hosts (only the enlisted men were barbarized). Amazingly, the Navy gave him command of yet another ship. I guess three's a charm?

We see Thomas Jefferson get an object lesson in why a gunboat navy doesn't work and why a navy needs massive ships. Jefferson was a complex character and a skillful political manipulator. Zacks shows the man at his scheming best, while also reminding us of Jefferson's many significant contributions. A balanced portrayal like this rarely occurs in accounts of major historical figures.

Today, we think of the US Marines as an elite force--the few and the proud. They are often the first into battle. But at the start of Eaton's adventure, they were not highly thought of. Their pay was less than that of a regular sailor, and their main job was to serve as a sort of police force for the ship they were assigned to.

But Eaton took a force of Marines into battle and made history. Eaton's Marines did what Marines have done ever since--the impossible.

Throughout this book, you can't help but share Eaton's sense of frustration as he faces one obstacle after another. Because the dialogue and narration are so alive, you experience his joys, his anger, his pride, and his worry. Zacks does an excellent job of bringing those emotions forth. But Zack stays true to history and doesn't let our view of Eaton be one-sided. He also shows, throughout the book, how Eaton's various weaknesses work against him. One weakness is his inability to stay out of debt. Another is his inability to garner mutual respect with those in authority over him.

But the weakness that does him in is his inability to let go. Eaton's mission ends, his obsession with Lear's incompetent bungling and Jefferson's complicity in undermining Eaton's mission gnaw at him. He lets his unhappiness drive him to drink. And in 1811, he finally drinks himself into his grave at the age of 47. Five years later, Tobias Lear--Eaton's most hated enemy--takes his own life.

Eaton's mission was the first covert operation conducted overseas by the United States. He did not accomplish what he set out to do, because of undermining from other people--most notably Lear and Jefferson. But in the year following Eaton's death, Stephen Decatur, Jr., commanded a Naval force that proceed to kick a-- and gravely weaken the pirate nations.

Decatur's actions stopped the Barbary Pirates from attacking US ships. But, those actions also emboldened other victim nations to fight back.

In 1829, two French brigates ran aground in the harbor in Algiers. The Dey (ruler) of Algiers had 109 officers and crew members beheaded. That action resulted in a massive French force descending upon Algiers. The French forced a surrender in three weeks, and took complete control of the country. France did not grant independence to Algiers until 1962, which is why French is a common language in Algiers even today.

The French also took control of Tunis in 1881, granting them independence in 1956. Tripoli did not come out of this unscathed. We are all familiar with this portion of The Marine Hymn: "From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli." Read this book to find out why US Marines still sing those words today. Or, read it simply for the pleasure of reading a good book.

Long before our current war with Islamic extremists our young nation engaged in the War with the Barbary Pirates. It had almost become a footnote for history for many until the likes of journalists like Christopher Hitchens brought its events back into the spotlight.

Now Richard Zack's "The Pirate Coast" brings the events of the war of Barbary Pirates into sharper focus.

During the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson our fledgling nation faced a thorny problem. The United States and other European nations were forced to pay tribute to the nations of the North African coast to do business in the Mediterranean or would be subject to attack by the Barbary pirates. The other nations of Europe went along with this practice but the US was against it not only on principle but because of its sheer cost (at one point we paid the Barbary pirates tribute which exceeded the entire US military budget).

At the time the practice of the Barbary pirates was to commandeer foreign ships and sell their crew into slavery.

Eaton was sent by Jefferson in 1805 on a clandestine mission to aid in a revolution going on in Tripoli. Now comes the intesteting character of Eaton. Eaton was by accounts a stubborn individual who seemed to get himself in trouble in every endevour he found himself in but Eaton was a super patriot who saw this mission as a chance to redeem himself. However the revolution in Tripoli sputtered. Jefferson was more than willing to aid a people in a revolution but wanted no part in overthrowing a government now that the revolution had been foiled.

Eaton was promised a large amount of funding but at the last moment after Jefferson hearing the revolution in the area has failed Eaton is sent off virtually alone. However Eaton once given the green light for the mission could not be stopped.

He was virtually alone an army unto himself. Little did anyone expect that is just what he was.
Sent out on impossible mission with insufficient provisions and just a few men anyone else would have given up but to borrow a name from popular culture Eaton was the "Jack Baurer" of his day and became an exemplar for the covert ops agent.

Once in Alexandria he employed mercenaries and Bedouins for an improbably march across the deserts of Libya. Eaton has to deal with the luke warm alliance and friendship of the Bedouins who often press Eaton into bargaining and renegotiations of their terms.

Amazingly Eaton and his group of misfits arrive in Tripoli and defeat the forces there playing a crucial role in the defeat of the Barbary Pirates. How crucial of this assault from land was to the outcome war is a matter of opinion but it does not take away from Captain Eaton's achievement.

However once back in America Eaton could not let go of the fact that Jefferson had let him down and did not kept the promises he made and was not shy in telling him so. For this reason perhaps Jefferson never gave Eaton the credit he was due. In the end Eaton dies an early death - drunken, in debt and unacknowledged.

A great yarn and thought provoking read that has implications for the war in which we are now presently engaged.
Highly Recommended.

"The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805," by Richard Zacks, is an enthralling work of history. It's full of bold and colorful characters, fascinating places, and perilous situations. Zacks takes us back to the early 19th century. The nation of Tripoli (modern-day Libya), which terrorizes the Mediterranean, declares war on the United States and eventually captures a U.S. naval vessel and its crew. Zacks tells the story of the military and political effort to free the captives. It's an epic tale that involves both land warfare in North Africa and naval warfare in the Mediterranean, as well as political intrigue in the city of Washington and diplomatic maneuvering in Malta and Tripoli. Although Jefferson gets mentioned in the book's subtitle, the real hero of the book is William Eaton, who leads "America's first covert military op overseas." He's a truly larger-than-life character.

Zacks draws on a rich variety of sources from which to tell the story of Eaton's remarkable mission, and he incorporates substantial quotes from these sources in the narrative. By doing this he allows the voices of Eaton and his contemporaries to be heard. Interestingly, Zacks also points out to the reader the places where there are gaps in the historical record. In the book's acknowledgements section, Zacks describes in detail how he got access to the documents he used in writing the book. The book also includes a "Cast of Characters" guide, extensive endnotes, a thorough bibliography, and an index.

Zacks' prose is witty, lively, and engaging. As he tells the story he includes many fascinating details--the use of lime juice for secret writing, the copious amounts of alcohol consumed by the builders of the U.S.S. _Philadelphia_, the fury of a North African sandstorm, etc. Especially fascinating is his description of how Eaton created a multiethnic, multinational task force of both Christian and Muslim troops as part of his daring mission. Zacks creates vivid portraits not just of Eaton, but of many other remarkable individuals. This work of richly documented history is both tragic and thrilling. For an interesting companion text, I recommend "Inside Delta Force," by Eric L. Haney.