Quasi-War

Tarifa is a small town in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia, on the southernmost coast of Spain. The town is located on the Costa de la Luz and... across the Straits of Gibraltar facing Morocco. The municipality includes Punta de Tarifa, the southernmost point in continental Europe. There are five smaller villages which depend economically on Tarifa. They are Tahivilla, Facinas, Bolonia and Zahara de los Atunes. During the Roman period, Tarifa was known as Julia Transducta . Tarifa name was given after the attack of Tarif bib Malik in 710, a slave of Musa bin Nusayr, Pliny the Elder's Mellaria town probably is also Tarifa. The city was also known as the place where citizens of Zelis resettled. The village of Bolonia near Tarifa was also populated in Roman times . Roman ruins still exist near the village today. After the Islamic conquest of southern Spain, the city was fortified starting from the 10th century. Later Tarifa was held by the taifa of Algeciras and by that of Seville , and subsequently by the Almoravids.
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The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and... south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles southeastward, then 500 miles south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland. Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands, called the West Indies, generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea. The region consists of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea on the north, the Lesser Antilles on the south and east , the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands . Geopolitically, the West Indies are usually regarded as a subregion of North America and are organized into 30 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies.
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The Battle of Puerto Plata Harbor was small battle in 1800 between a French privateer, a Spanish fort and the United States Navy during the... undeclared Quasi War between France and the United States. In early May 1800, Captain Silas Talbot organized a naval expedition to Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo. His object was to harass French shipping around the colony of their Spanish ally. After capturing the small French sloop Sally, the USS Constitution arrived at Puerto Plata. A French corvette was seen at anchor in the harbor. Unwilling to take fire from Spanish defenses, the USS Constitution sailed around to a beach, out of the Spanish forts range. There she off loaded a landing force of about 100 marines and sailors. The landing party then marched on the Sandwich while the prize sloop Sally was sent in to attack by way of sea. No doubt shocked at the approaching American force, the French hardly put up a fight and the Sandwich was captured. Then the Americans turned their attention on Fortaleza San Felipe, which had been taking pot shots at the Americans since they came into range.
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The Action of 1 January 1800 was a naval battle of the Quasi-War that took place off the coast of present-day Haiti, near the island of Gonâve... in the Bight of Léogâne. The battle was fought between an American convoy consisting of four merchant vessels escorted by the United States naval schooner USS Experiment, and a squadron of armed barges manned by piratical Haitians known as picaroons. A French-aligned Haitian general, André Rigaud, had instructed his forces to attack all foreign shipping within their range of operations. Accordingly, once Experiment and her convoy of merchant ships neared Gonâve, the picaroons attacked them, capturing two of the American merchant ships before withdrawing. Experiment managed to save the other two ships in her convoy, and escorted them to a friendly port. Although the picaroons took heavy losses during this engagement, they remained strong enough to continue wreaking havoc among American shipping in the region. Only after Rigaud was forced out of power by the forces of Toussaint L'Ouverture did the picaroon attacks cease.
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The USS Enterprise vs Flambeau was a single ship action fought in October 1800 during the Quasi-War. During the action the USS Enterprise... defeated the French privateer brig Flambeau off the leeward side of the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea. Although the Enterprise was outgunned by the Flambeau she was still able to take her as a prize after a short battle. The battle helped bring to fame the Enterprise's commanding officer, Lieutenant John Shaw, who added the capture of Flambeau to his already long list of French prizes. During the Quasi-War American merchant ships often became the target of French privateers who seized them in large quantities. In an effort to stem these depredations against American shipping several United States Navy warships were dispatched to hunt down French privateers. One such vessel was the USS Enterprise, American naval schooner under the command of Lieutenant John Shaw. Enterprise had been sent out to the Caribbean Sea in March 1800 with orders to cruise against French shipping in the region.
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