Lieutenant William Howard Allen, who had had command of the _Argus_, after her captain was killed in the fight with the _Pelican_, was at this time in command of the _Alligator_. On November 8, 1822, he went after a force of pirates three hundred strong that, with three schooners, had five merchantmen in their possession, only forty-five miles east of Matanzas, Cuba. He found them in shoal water and ordered away the boats, himself taking the lead. The pirates, far outnumbering Allen’s force, made something of a resistance. Allen was struck twice and mortally wounded, but his men kept on and routed the pirates, capturing one of their schooners and freeing the merchantmen. Fourteen of the pirates were killed and an unknown number wounded. In 1823 Captain David Porter, of _Essex_ fame, took command of the force operating against the pirates. Farragut came with him, but not in command of a vessel. He added five twenty-oar barges to his fleet, and eight small schooners of three guns each, together with a small steam ferryboat from New York called the _Sea-gull_. Captain Porter desired first of all to get the help of the local governments, and sailed to Porto Rico; and on March 3, 1823, sent the _Greyhound_, under Captain John Porter, in with a letter to the governor. Later the _Fox_, Captain W. H. Cocke, was sent in for an answer. As the _Fox_ entered the port a fort opened fire on her and Cocke was killed. The port authorities explained the matter, on inquiry, by saying that the governor had gone away, leaving orders to fire on any suspicious craft entering the harbor, and the _Fox_ looked suspicious in their eyes; but it was believed that the firing was intended to sink the _Fox_ in revenge for the capture of the piratical _Palmira_. [Illustration: A Ship-of-War’s Launch. _From the “Kedge Anchor.”_] At Cape Cruz a pirate resort was discovered that fully sustains the most ghastly stories of the sensational novel writers. It was captured by crews of the _Greyhound_ and _Beagle_, under Captains Lawrence Kearny and J. S. Newton, after a desperate resistance. The pirate commander had a wife, who fought by his side with a fierceness equal to his own, and it was with great difficulty that she was overcome. When the fight was over an exploration showed that a number of caves had been used by the pirates. Bales of merchandise in some, and quantities of human bones in others, told a horrible story.