Page 34 - August 2018

The Brig Schooner "Betsy" and the Barbary Pirates

Reid Gardiner, Editor

The basic story presented here had been published in Boston on July 7, 1796, for Naples. Betsy was seen off
many Masonic magazines. I found it in the Freemason’s of Spain on August 19. The Betsy was captured on the
Monthly Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 1, November 1844. Mediterranean sea off Malaga by a Tripolitania xebec
My curiosity was piqued, so I decided to look into the (or zebec) naval warship and taken to Tripoli. The
story a bit more. I hope you fi nd it equally fascinating. captain and crew were stripped nearly naked, and, being
the fi rst Americans ever there, were driven through
Often researching related information you fi nd the streets chained, and pelted with off ensive missiles
things that can lead you astray, the following are treated with all manner of indignities. The captain was
worth noting: The person of Chapin Sampson (Jr. or confi ned in a dungeon a number of days, and when
II), is the son of Chapin Sampson (Sr. or I), also a taken out, was compelled to assist in unloading the
Sea Captain. The ship the Betsy cargo of his vessel other members
was taken by Barbary Pirates of the crew were sent to labor
shortly after the ship Betsey was as slaves. While thus employed,
taken. We can verify that Chapin Hassan Bey, recognized him as a
Sampson, Sr., was a Mason and Masonic brother. At the risk of his
member of Lodge of Saint Andrew own life, he planned and assisted
located in Boston, MA; however; in his in his quest to return home.
we have not been able to verify The commandeering of the Betsy
the Lodge membership of Chapin and others led to the Barbary
Sampson, Jr., although there are War. 2
many references to him being a
Mason. The Masonic membership Hassan Bey, a native of Tripoli,
of Hassan Bey has not been verifi ed. Nonetheless, the and reportedly a Brother had become a Mason in
essential elements of the story are verifi able. France. Hassan (Husseyn Dey) became provincial
ruler, or Dey of Algiers 1818. Hassan Bashaw Dey
After independence, more than one-fi fth of U.S. trade was the last of the Ottoman rulers of the Regency of
then was with Mediterranean countries. American Algiers. He held the position of Bashaw (or pasha, title
shipping began to fall prey to the pirates around 1784. placed after the name of high offi cials) and beylerbey
The United States found itself having to make many he was both ruled both civil government and led the
treaties, including ones in North Africa. In 1787, the militia (the Dey appointed beys or military governors
Continental Congress ratifi ed a treaty with Morocco to collect taxes and enforce laws). He signed the
calling for the payment of tribute by the United "Barbary Treaties" of 1786-1816, the Treaty of peace
States in exchange for an end to attacks on merchant and amity was signed on September 5, 1795. 3
ships. There was an outcry and lobbying from ship
owners and merchants because ship seizures in the By 1796 Algerian corsairs alone had captured 119
Mediterranean were increasing insurance rates and American sailors and their merchant ships. They were
delaying goods. In 1794 Congress passed the Naval fed near-starvation rations, beaten regularly, and put
Act, which reestablished the U.S. Navy and authorized to work breaking rocks on chain gangs, or scraping
the construction of six naval frigates to provide for the barnacles off ship hulls. Some of them had been
defense of American shipping interests. imprisoned for 10 or more years. In 1796, the tribute
to Tripoli was $56,000. But the Sultans wanted more
Brother Chapin Sampson, Jr., the Captain of the and more payment of tribute. 4
Betsy was born on 14 August 1764 in Duxbury,
Massachusetts. He married Sarah Smith on 13 July The capture of the Betsy of Boston was mentioned
1788 in Boston. Sarah and Chapin had nine children. in a letter dated 6 Oct 1796 from David Humphreys,
Captain Sampson, became a Mason in St. George's US Minister to Portugal to the US Secretary of State. 5
Lodge of Harmony in Liverpool on 15 August 1793. 1 David Humphreys was an American Revolutionary
War colonel and aide-De-camp to George Washington,
The Brig Schooner "Betsy" a merchant ship was American minister to Portugal and then to Spain, an
owned by William H. Boardman, from Boston. The entrepreneur who brought Merino sheep to America
239-ton ship commanded by Chapin Sampson, left and member of the Connecticut state legislature.
Page 34 Montana Freemason August 2018