Hamidou ben Ali , known as Raïs Hamidou (), or Amidon in American literature, born around 1770 in Algiers, and died on June 17, 1815, near Cape Gata off the coast of southern Spain, was an Algerian corsair. He captured up to 200 ships during his career. Hamidou ensured the prosperity of the Deylik of Algiers, and gave it its last glory before the French invasion. His biography is relatively well known because the French archivist Albert Devoulx has found important documents, including a precious register of prizes opened by the authorities of the Deylik in 1765. Songs and legends have also taken hold of this charismatic character. Origins He was the son of a man named Ali. According to some sources his father was an artisan tailor in Algiers. According to documents discovered by the archivist Albert Devoulx, Hamidou "belonged to a class of Arabs settled in the cities for a more or less long time, which the Europeans called Moors". Despite this, after the battle off Cape Gata, his captured officers and crew said that he was Kabyle during an interview with their American captors. He is also described as a “native Algerian” by European sources. At age 10 he started working aboard a pirate ship commanded by Raïs Memmou as a cabin boy. There he learned many different things, and he gained much experience from it. Career as Rais There are no documents on the activity of Raïs Hamidou during the first years of his functions as a pirate captain in Algiers, but we can assume that he was under the tutelage of an older privateer, and that he was doing his apprenticeship. After passing the exam set by the Taifa of the Raïs (a council of the pirate captains of Algiers), he was allowed to become a raïs himself. His first success came shortly after his appointment, when he successfully guided his ship from seemingly certain defeat at the hands of a much larger Spanish foe. After Oran was recaptured in 1792, the then Bey of Oran, Mohammed el-Kebir appointed Hamidou as the chief of the Oranese navy, which was used both as a privateer fleet, and a defence one. During that time the navy around Oran consisted of three Xebecs, and several Feluccas. The Dey Sidi Hassan also granted him another three-masted Xebec. In 1795 or 1796 after returning from a raid in Italy he