Several Maltese vessels had been taken by Algerine cruisers, and their crews enslaved.
When Nelson came out in 1803, he found pending these cases, and also the question of compelling, or inducing, the Dey to receive back the British consul, whom he had expelled with insult.

In the absence of a British representative, the negotiations were intrusted wholly to the admiral.
Nelson's feelings were strongly excited.

He was tenacious of everything he conceived to touch his country's honor, and long service in the Mediterranean had made him familiar with the outrages on its defenceless coasts practised by these barbarians, under the pretence of war with the weaker states.

Even in the remote and impoverished north of Sardinia, the shepherds near the beaches watched their flocks with arms beside them, day and night, to repel the attacks of marauders from the sea.

Not only were trading-vessels seized, but descents were made upon the shore, and the inhabitants swept off into slavery.