Hello Jesse,
You have a very interesting sword and would add that you should keep all correspondence with the original owners, any records they have proving provenance, etc. Stephen Decatur was a true American hero whose exploits at Tripoli captured the attention of the whole world (it was the start of the fall of the Barbary Corsairs and even Lord Horatio Nelson made comments on Decatur's bravery).
The thread you had a link to was a Scottish baskethilt with a Spanish-type blade. The problem with trying to identify a sword sans hilt can be very confusing. Spanish and Portuguese swords of the 17th-18th c. had the classic saying, but that motto was often inscribed on imported German-made blades for the Spanish market. Spanish swords were often diamond-shaped/six-sided, but again, Solingen often reproduced this pattern for export. Your blade seems to my inept eyes to be a true Spanish type, based on decoration/inscription, but still might be Germanic in origin. In any case, it is extremely rare to see that motto on anything other than Spanish types (bilbos, cuphilts), such as the Scottish sword in that thread. Being that yours comes from Morocco or similar port and bares the Spanish blade, I surmise that the hilt was a bilbo or cuphilt. I have in my collection a very similar bladed bilbo (the inscription barely legible and from an earlier sword), the hilt of classic 'colonial Spanish' form, with primitive braised pas d'ane, kidney-shaped guard from another sword, wood hilt with crude wire wrap, all 18th c.
As a pirate enthusiast, I can't tell you how much this sword means to fellow collectors, but provenance is everything! Keep your receipts and correspondence! The hilt found on the piece does appear to be the typical early to mid-19th c. dress style hilt.
Mark
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