A privateer captain from a distinguished naval family, she provided invaluable intelligence and logistical support for the U.S. Born into a French Huguenot family exiled in Switzerland, Irene d'Arneau claimed descent from Abraham Duquesne, the famed French naval commander of Louis XIV's age. Her family had left France for their faith, but never left the sea. From Smyrna's trading houses to Marseille's hidden docks, Irene soon earned her place in the Mediterranean's secret networks. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars threw the Mediterranean into chaos, and Irene rose quickly in the turmoil. Legend says that when Napoleon escaped Egypt for France, a Maltese-flagged xebec helped his small fleet evade British patrol ships. Irene left no name in French military reports, only forged passes, leaked routes, and a night of failed British searches. To the British, she was a smuggler. To the French, an exile. To the Barbary Pirates, a thorn they could not remove. After the First Barbary War began, William Eaton brought Irene into the ...