In the year in which the Treaty of Amiens was concluded, 1802, the Portuguese sent to the Strait of Gibraltar a strong squadron, which in April was constituted by one ship of the line, two frigates and two brigantines.

[2] On 8 May, the frigate Nossa Senhora do Bom Despacho, better known as the Cisne, of 36 guns and 300 men of garrison, of which the commander was capitão de mar e guerra Luís Seguin Deshon, was cruising in the Mediterranean.

[1] Suddenly the xebec-frigate, supposedly English but in reality Algerian, approached directly the Portuguese frigate, anchored, and fired one or two artillery volleys,[2] at the same time that its garrison launched itself into boarding, making a terrible tumult.

[1] The remaining officers, soldiers and sailors were taken prisoner (or enslaved)[3][4][5][6] and taken to Algiers along with the ship,[1] while the cannons and the frigate were incorporated into the Algerian Navy.

[6] In addition to the limitations of the garrison of the Cisne, the fact that the frigate of Algiers was armed with 44 guns, and was the best and largest ship that the Dey had, with its commander being Raïs Hamidou, the most famous and well known Algerian privateer, cannot serve as an excuse for what happened.