Alex Morrison Quotes
The Halifax area has long played a major role in Canada's military operations, being the port of departure for convoys, naval task forces and army units over the past 100 years or so.
Morrison, Alex. The Chronicle Herald [Halifax].
The sloop Margaretta was escorting 2 small merchant vessels came into the port of Machias, Massachusetts to purchase some lumber and firewood. However the commanding officer of Margaretta did not like the terms of the negotiations and threatened the town. An aroused and angry group of patriots then boarded and attacked the two merchant ships. The commander of Margaretta then maneuvered out of the port having lost the two small ships. But the Patriots were angry with the commander of the sloop and being excellent seamen who knew the local waters, used one of the merchant ships and a small local vessel to chase down the Naval sloop. They then boarded and captured Margaretta and fatally wounded the commander, James Moore. While Lexington was the first land victory for the patriots, this was the first sea victory and the Margaretta was the first British warship that was captured by the Patriots.
The phrase “put them under contribution” was a practice of making a town pay for the costs of the British military effort in the area. To some, this was blackmail and extortion, pay cash or get destroyed. The Prime Minister thought that the American public sentiment at the time would not be intimidated to pay in a significant number of towns or cities.
Most Americans do not realize that our naval forces were disbanded after the Revolution and even the Constitution did not require a navy. We had some Federal revenue cutters to interdict smugglers but no warships and no permanent sailors or officers. The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. See {640850},86703,{640846} & {640848}
The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. American politicians were divided on whether to pay the ransom and an annual tribute or send a military force to try and extract the prisoners and bombard and “punish” the Barbary States for their piracy. While the Americans were debating the problem, Eaton thought that there was contempt for the weakness of America in much of North Africa and the Middle East, and the weakness caused more pirates to join and try and go after American vessels.
Established in 1994 by the Government of Canada as the Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre (more commonly the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, or simply the Pearson Centre) was an independent, not-for-profit organization with its office based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its mandate was to support Canada's contribution to international peace and security. Operations ceased and the Centre closed on November 28, 2013.
