Barbary Pirate.

This is coolbert:

"the Americans 'sent Decatur on a dark night, with a band of Christian dogs fierce and cruel as the tiger, who killed our brothers and burnt our ships before our eyes.'"

Here with Barbary pirate miscellany:

1. “Kiss the hand of the Dey”:

Two hundred years ago, foreign potentates, despots for the most part, were in the habit of forcing legates and representatives of foreign powers to make obeisance! Kissing the hand of the Dey for instance, being seen as the ultimate in abasement. Especially if done to the hated Christian infidels, often described as “dogs”!!

"The Pasha summoned the American representative to his court, made him kiss his hand"

[being called a “dog” by a Muslim is a strong insult, the dog being an unclean animal according to Islamic jurisprudence!]

2. Tomahawk:

American sailors in close-quarters combat with the Muslim pirates, employed tomahawks? Stephen Decatur and his raiding party, a special operations type force, put the tomahawk to good use during their direct action mission of 1804. Only one U.S. casualty, a minor wound at that, twenty of the pirates dead, the corsairs having their heads cleaved open by that uniquely American [?] weapon!

"Decatur's men wielded tomahawks and killed twenty pirates in as many minutes, chasing the rest over the side. Only one raider was wounded"

This is even more remarkable in that European sailors of the era were hesitant to fight it out with the Barbary pirates at close-quarters. So intimidating were thought to be the corsairs that NO ONE cared to grapple and close with the villains, much less engage them in hand-to-hand combat!!

"The corsairs were supposed to be invincible at hand-to-hand fighting"

coolbert.