ABSTRACT
He was appointed to command the USN West India Squadron in 1822 and was deployed to suppress pirates there. His ships included the USS Macedonian, 36, and USS Congress, 36. Biddle’s squadron captured numerous pirate vessels in the West Indies, but its ships were, in general, too large to pursue the pirates in their shallow-draft vessels. In 1830 while in command of the Mediterranean Squadron, he helped influence approval by the Senate of the first US treaty with Turkey. In 1846, as Commodore of the East India Squadron, he made the formal exchange of treaty ratifications establishing the first US legation in Canton, China; the agreement was the first US-China treaty. In 1846, in command of the USS Columbus, 74, and accompanied by the sloop-of-war USS Vincennes, 18, he made an unsuccessful attempt to open Japan to US trade. After taking brief temporary command of the Pacific Squadron in operations against Mexico, he returned to Norfolk in 1848 and died while on leave there.
