Algeria
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Rais Hamidou
Casbah of Algiers, Algeria
Archival Overview
Legendary Algerian naval commander and Grand Admiral of Algiers who commanded the Mediterranean flagship Mashuda and defended North African waters against European fleets.
Biographical Record
Hamidou ben Ali, known throughout the Mediterranean as Raïs Hamidou, rose from a humble Casbah tailor's apprentice to become the most famed naval commander of the Regency of Algiers. At age twenty-five, he was given command of his first vessel, capturing numerous armed European privateers.
Appointed Grand Admiral of the Algerian fleet by the Dey, he commanded the 44-gun flagship frigate Mashuda, patrolling from Gibraltar to the Sicilian channel and asserting Algerian maritime supremacy. In June 1815, during the Second Barbary War, he engaged Commodore Stephen Decatur's US squadron off Cabo de Gata, refusing to surrender and commanding his cannon until severed by a cannonball.
Key Life Milestones
Commission as Grand Admiral of Algiers
Promoted to supreme commander of the naval forces of the Regency of Algiers.
Commission as Grand Admiral of Algiers
Promoted to supreme commander of the naval forces of the Regency of Algiers.
Commission as Grand Admiral of Algiers
Promoted to supreme commander of the naval forces of the Regency of Algiers.
Final Stand at Cabo de Gata
Fought heroically aboard the Mashuda against superior naval forces, requesting his body be committed to the deep.
Final Stand at Cabo de Gata
Fought heroically aboard the Mashuda against superior naval forces, requesting his body be committed to the deep.
Final Stand at Cabo de Gata
Fought heroically aboard the Mashuda against superior naval forces, requesting his body be committed to the deep.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialAlgiers Bay Memorial, Algeria