Admiral Lord Exmouth's fleet preparing to leave Gibraltar for the battle of Algiers, August 1816

When, after twenty-two years of almost continuous global conflict, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars finally ended in 1815, Great Britain found herself at last able to give her attention to a problem which had plagued the Christian maritime nations for centuries, namely the so-called Barbary Corsairs. Based in several citadels along the North African seaboard, the reign of terror - through piracy and the enslavement of prisoners - that these Corsairs had inflicted upon all those seafaring countries trading in and around the Mediterranean had reached a level which, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, could no longer be tolerated by the civilised world. Accordingly, Lord Liverpool's government sent orders to Admiral Lord Exmouth, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, to take a squadron to stand off the city states concerned and demand that their activities as pirates should cease forthwith. Proceeding first to Tunis and Tripoli, both of which immediately acceded to his demands, Exmouth then sailed on to Algiers only to find that the Dey was not only totally unreceptive but supremely confident that the apparently impregnable fortifications of the city would protect him from any British interference. Without the fire-power to enforce his demands, Exmouth had no alternative but to withdraw and make for England where he requested permission for a full-scale assault by a powerful naval force, a recommendation quickly endorsed by the government. Unusually, Exmouth was given carte blanche to select what ships he needed and the fleet he assembled, led by the 100-gun flagship Queen Charlotte, sailed from Plymouth Sound on 28th July 1816.

When he arrived at Gibraltar on 9th August, Exmouth was met by a Dutch squadron of frigates under Vice-Admiral Van de Cappellen which requested permission to join the expedition. This was an offer Exmouth could hardly refuse and the combined Anglo-Dutch fleet, comprising about thirty ships but including many small specialised craft such as bomb vessels and rocket- or gunboats, sailed from Gibraltar on 14th August and hove-to off Algiers early on the 27th. The subsequent bombardment lasted for ten hours during which Exmouth's fleet was subjected to the fire of over 1,000 guns manned by 4,000 fanatical troops. Several allied ships were severely damaged but, by 10.00pm. that night, the city's fortifications lay in ruins and much of the city itself, including the arsenal, was ablaze. On the morning of 29th August, the Dey of Algiers surrendered and ordered the release of over 1,200 Christian slaves. Despite the allied casualties, the operation was a notable success and Exmouth returned home to a viscountcy and honours from almost every country in Christendom.