The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines… - Richard Zacks Audiobook

Written by Richard Zacks
Read by Raymond Todd
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: June 27, 2005
Duration: 13:20:54

A real-life thriller—the true story of the unheralded American who brought the Barbary Pirates to their knees

After Tripoli declared war on the United States in 1801, Barbary pirates captured three hundred US sailors and marines. President Jefferson sent out navy squadrons, but he also authorized a secret mission to overthrow the government of Tripoli. He chose an unlikely diplomat, William Eaton, to lead the mission. But before Eaton departed, Jefferson grew wary of the affair and withdrew his support.

Astoundingly, Eaton persevered, gathering a ragtag army and leading them on a brutal march across five hundred miles of desert. After surviving sandstorms, treachery, and near death, Eaton achieved a remarkable victory on “the shores of Tripoli,” gaining freedom for the American hostages and new respect for the young United States. But as Eaton dared to reveal that the president had deserted him, Jefferson set out to crush him. Richard Zacks brings this important story of America’s first overseas covert operation to life.

Publishers Weekly – “Zack focuses here more broadly on a piracy hot spot. Resolved to stop the enslavement of American merchant sailors by North African nations, Jefferson deployed most of the infant U.S. Navy to the Mediterranean and sent a column of troops overland from Egypt to place the pasha of Tripoli’s brother Hamet on the throne in 1801. The leader of that motley array of mercenaries, Muslim tribesmen, Hamet’s retainers and a handful of U.S. Marines was the colorful and combative William Eaton, who led them more than 500 miles across the desert to “the shores of Tripoli.” By the time he arrived, peace negotiations were underway, in the hands of one Tobias Deane, who was neither honest nor competent. Eaton had to abandon Hamet and was in turn virtually abandoned by the Jefferson administration, leaving him with a mountain of debt and a drinking problem that eventually killed him at 47. There has been a dearth of good material on the Barbary War and particularly on Eaton’s trek; Zacks has researched thoroughly, writes entertainingly and shows a knack for sea stories and characterization. This is the book that Captain Eaton has long deserved.”