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Captain Stephens, who spoke Spanish, went as far as was safe in protesting against the seizure.

Rais Ibrahim, crying upon Allah to wipe out all Christians, replied that the ships of Barbary were no longer limited by the Mediterranean Sea. He declared that Algiers had made a peace with her ancient enemy Spain and was free now to send her vessels through the Strait into the Atlantic.

"Have you papers," he sneered, "showing that your country is paying tribute to the Dey of Algiers? If your government has not purchased immunity from attack by our corsairs, do not protest to me against your capture, but rather blame your rulers for neglecting to follow the wise example of the nations of Europe, who pay my lord the gold that he demands!"

A Moslem crew was placed aboard the Marie, and she was sailed as a prize into Algiers. There the prisoners found in captivity the crew of the American ship Dauphin, under Captain Richard O'Brien, who, with his mate, Andrew Montgomery, and five seamen, had been captured by an Algerine corsair near Lisbon.