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to be seated the boat's crew standing some distance in the rear. They were asked by the Bey how many guns were in the frigate? Were any of the guns of brass? How much powder was there? Was there any money in the ship? and other questions. A glass of sherbet was then given to each of the three officers.

The Tripolitans took possession of the Philadelphia about 5 o'clock - a little after sunset. They rushed from the gunboats into the frigate, and began in most Arabic style to plunder the captives. Bags and bundles were not only taken, but many of the men and officers were stripped to a state of half nudity.

. In the course of the evening, Captain Bainbridge, his officers and part of his crew were taken on shore. Whilst on their passage the work of plunder went on, the officers faring little better than the men. Captain Bainbridge was robbed of his gloves, watch, money, and epaulets. His cravat was torn from his neck, and the barbarians attempted to take from him a miniature of his wife, to whom he had recently been married. This effort Bainbridge resisted so vigorously that the attempt failed.

It was nearly ten o'clock at night when the captives reached Tripoli. They were taken in a body before the Bashaw in his castle. The regent received them in an audience chamber, seated in his chair of state, and surrounded by his ministers. Captain Bainbridge was then presented to the Bey officially, as his prisoner; the sovereign directed all the officers to be seated. Mohammed D'Ghies, the Bashaw's Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke French, and through him. the Bey held a lengthy conversation in that language. Many inquiries were made concerning the Philadelphia, and the force of the Americans in the Mediterranean. Captain Bainbridge was kindly consoled for his captivity by the Bey reminding him it was but the fortune of war. The officers were then conducted to another room where supper was served; after which they were led back to the audience chamber, and paid their parting compliments to the Bashaw. The Bey now gratified himself with a look at the Philadelphia's officers as they stood grouped together, and the satisfaction the regent felt at seeing them was very plainly discernible in his cheerful and animated

countenance.

The captives here learned that Sidi Mohammed D'Ghies had special charge of them. They were then conducted to the house that had recently been the American consulate: a spacious building, but sparsely furnished.

It was now one o'clock of the morning of the 1st of November, 1803. At that late and inconvenient hour a friend was at hand, bringing with him the soothing tones of consolation and sympathy- Mr. Nissen, the Danish consul. This gentleman was introduced by Minister D'Ghies as his personal friend, and "one in whose honor, humanity, and good faith, entire reliance might be placed." Such he fully proved to be down to the latest moment of their captivity. All that could be at that inopportune hour was done by the benevolent Dane! The officers, twenty-two in number, with twenty-one others, were left at the house of the late American consulate; the balance of the crew, 264 men and boys, were incarcerated in the Bashaw's castle; in all, 207 officers, men, and boys.

The very next morning after their capture, the Tripolitans energetically set about sailing the Philadelphia. Being near their own port, and having so many gunboats and galleys at hand, with nothing to molest them, the Bashaw was informed there were hopes of saving the frigate.

On the 2d of November it blew strongly from the northwest, and the water was forced up on the coast, whilst the wind striking the Philadelphia on her port-quarter, slewed her stern around, and the frigate partially floated, continuing to thump as the sea left her; anchors were carried out from her, and all the available force of Tripoli was employed, and on the 5th of November the Philadelphia floated into deep water. She was taken the same day within two miles of the city, and was there on account of the weather obliged to anchor; the pumps keeping her afloat while the leaks were being stopped. Scuttling had been poorly performed, and her hull must have been but little damaged, as the Tripolitans in their attacks upon her had fired mainly at her rigging. So well indeed did she escape, the records make no mention of even the wounding of a single American.

The Tripolitans eventually carried the frigate into port, raised all her guns and anchors, and succeeded in getting nearly everything that had been thrown overboard. The frigate was subsequently partially repaired, her guns remounted, and then brought to an anchorage about a quarter of a mile from the Bashaw's castle, and in full view of Captain Bainbridge and his fellow-prisoners.

The capture of these officers gave strong encouragement to the Bashaw to continue the war that he might secure a handsome ransom for them.

The United States contended against the uncivilised usage of ransom, but after the war had continued until June, 1805, the prisoners, with some few exceptions in the crew who embraced Mohammedanism to secure their freedom, after over nineteen months' imprisonment, with some hardships, but which were generally of a mild character, were ransomed for $60,000, and peace was restored.

After his release a court-martial was requested by Captain Bainbridge, to inquire into the circumstances of the loss of the Philadelphia. It was ordered by the Secretary of the Navy, and after examination into the case, the court exonerated the Philadelphia's commander of all blame in the matter.

No word of reproach has ever been recorded against Captain Bainbridge for the loss of the Philadelphia. He was brought into prominent notice by the disaster, and sympathy for him in the public mind made him a favorite among his countrymen; and to have been one of the Philadelphia's crew has always been considered a strong claim upon the gratitude of the nation.

In one of his secret communications, while yet a prisoner, Captain Bainbridge suggested to Commodore Preble the idea of the destruction of the Philadelphia. This was as early as Dec. 5th, 1803. Commodore Preble mentioned the subject to the gallant Stephen Decatur, then a Lieutenant-commandant. This proposition was peculiarly suited to the daring spirit of the youthful officer. The ketch Mastico, lately captured from the Tripolitans, was deemed suited for

the expedition, taken into this service and appropriately named the Intrepid. Before Decatur was ready to start from Syracuse, Lieutenant-commandant Stewart of the brig Siren, second in command on the Mediterranean, arrived, and offered to cut the Philadelphia out with his ship. Commodore Preble, however, was pledged to Decatur, who, in the first instance, desired to run in with the schooner Enterprise and bring out the frigate; but he rejected both of these offers, and substituted a plan of his own.

On the afternoon of the 3d of Feb., 1804, according to orders, Midshipmen Izard, Morris, Laws, Davis, and Rowe, reported themselves on board the schooner Enterprise to her commander for duty. All hands in the schooner were now called, and being made acquainted with the project, Decatur asked for volunteers. Every man and boy offered to go. Sixty-two of the most active men were selected.

The Intrepid, in company with the brig Siren, Lieutenant-commandant Charles Stewart commanding, sailed from Syracuse on the 3d of Feb., 1804. Stewart, by seniority, was really the commander of the expedition, but to Decatur belonged the most important part to play. The whole force of the Americans, all told, was eighty-two souls.

After two unsuccessful attempts to enter the port of Tripoli, one failing from the weather, and the other because of too late an arrival near the harbor, finally on the evening of the 15th, about twilight, both vessels were off the city of Tripoli. Discovering that the Intrepid would probably get into the harbor too soon, Lieutenant Decatur put out buckets and other drags astern to lessen the speed of the ship, that he might avoid the suspicious movement of shortening sail. The wind now gradually fell until the Intrepid slowly moved along at the rate of two knots an hour. The drags were then removed.

It was about 10 o'clock when the Intrepid made the eastern entrance of the bay-the passage between the rocks and the shoals. The wind was almost due east, and as the Intrepid headed for the frigate it blew almost on her beam, and set her sails with a beautiful swell of the canvas. A young moon hung over the placid waters and shed its soft light upon the adventurous craft that was with gallant intention slowly creeping into an enemy's fortress-guarded port. All was tranquil about and around them, and for an hour, the wind failing all the time, they were slowly drawing along, until at last the advance of the Intrepid was hardly discernible. As the ketch stole slowly in, the Philadelphia came in sight-a scene to warm the heart of every American seaman. There she lay, not quite a mile inside the passage, and just abreast of the town; her foremast yet unraised and her rigging not yet rove. Nearer the city lay two corsairs, a galley or two, and several gunboats, while frowning batteries loomed up almost on every side.

The watchword of the gallant spirits of this expedition was "Philadelphia." Fire-arms were only to be used in the last extremity.

The plan of operation was, first, the spar-deck was to be carried, then the gun deck. Lieut. Decatur, Midshipmen Izard and Rowe, with fifteen men, were then to hold the upper deck. Lieut. Lawrence, Midshipmen Laws and McDonough, and ten men, were to repair to the berth-deck and forward store-rooms; Lieut. Bainbridge and Midshipman

Davis, with ten men, were to enter the steerage and ward-rooms; Midshipman Morris, with eight men, was to see to the store-rooms and cock-pit; Midshipman Anderson, with the Siren's cutter, was to gather up all the boats alongside the frigate, to prevent any Tripolitans from swimming ashore, with directions, however, as soon as the first order was performed, to board the Philadelphia; Midshipman Izard also had command of the launch, to use in case she was needed.

Upon the deck of the Intrepid, open to view, were but ten or twelve of her crew; among them stood Decatur, near the pilot. The rest of her people were lying upon her deck, hidden by her bulwarks' weather-boarding and the usual articles found on a ship.

The helmsman was ordered to steer for the frigate's bows, that being the point at which the Intrepid would be less exposed to the guns of the Philadelphia. Near midnight the Americans reached a point about a hundred yards from the frigate, when a hail from the Philadelphia threatened the ketch that she would be fired into if she did not immediately come to anchor. The pilot informed the Tripolitans that the Intrepid belonged to Malta, and on a trading voyage, had almost been wrecked, had lost her anchors in the recent storm, and her captain desired to ride by the ship during the night. Decatur ordered the pilot to tell the Tripolitans the cargo he had aboard, in order to amuse them. This conversation lasted some time, during which the Intrepid, by degrees, drew nearer and nearer the frigate. There was every prospect that in a minute or two the ketch would strike the Philadelphia at the point desired, when the wind suddenly changed, and the Americans dropped back. As the ketch's head fell off, the frigate answered to the change in the wind, and the Americans lay about forty yards off from her, entirely becalmed, or, if moving at all, slowly drifting astern, under almost every one of her port guns.

Although several of the Tripolitans were looking over the bulwarks of the frigate, and the moon yet shone, they were so completely deceived that in this dilemma of the Americans they actually manned a boat and sent it with a line to assist her. In the meantime a boat from the Intrepid had put out for the frigate, and made a line fast to her fore-chain. As the Intrepid's boat returned, they met the Tripolitans', took from them the line they brought, and passed it into the Intrepid. These lines were handed to the crew who lay on the Intrepid's deck, and they began carefully to draw the ketch side by side to the Philadelphia. As the ketch neared the frigate, the Tripolitans observed her anchors. Roughly ordering the Americans to keep away, the Tripolitans at the same instant prepared to cut her fasts. A moment more and the cry "Amerikanos!" sounded in the frigate. A heavy pull by her crew brought the Intrepid alongside of the ship, and in an instant she was secured. Not even in this exciting moment did the ketch's crew, who had been ordered to keep quiet, precipitate operations by showing themselves.

Decatur stood ready to spring. As soon as he dared, he leaped for the chain-plate of the frigate, and whilst hanging to her sides gave the order to board. Midshipmen Laws and Morris were beside their leader. The officers and men who were to engage in the assault followed. Decatur and Midshipman Morris sprang for the rail above

them, while Laws rushed for a port- his pistols caught between the sides of the port and the gun, denying him the honor of stepping first upon the Philadelphia. Decatur's foot slipped, and Midshipman Morris stood first upon the quarter-deck of the frigate; Decatur was soon beside him. A short delay occurred before these officers were seconded, but the Turks took no advantage of it. In a brief while, over the rails and through the ports, on all sides, the heads and bodies of men were visible clambering into the ship.

The surprise was complete. Most of the enemy on deck crowded forward, and rushed to the starboard side, as the Americans swarmed in from the port. A small number were aft, but as soon as they were assaulted they dashed into the water, and indeed so frequent were these plunges the Americans were well assured their enemies were lessening their effectiveness by a hasty retreat. The upper deck was cleared in a minute or two. More of a struggle occurred on the gundeck, but resistance throughout the entire affair was feeble. Lieut. Decatur in less than ten minutes stood upon the quarter-deck in unmolested possession of the frigate.

The orders of Decatur were imperative to burn the ship, yet so perfectly and easily had the work been done, a cursory regret may have arisen that he did not have permission to use his discretion about attempting to bring her out.

In accordance with previous instructions the respective parties repaired to the different portions of the ship assigned them. Each set acted as though it was really independent of the other. With such rapidity did they perform their parts, those who had the combustibles had scarcely time to get as far down as the cock-pit and after-store rooms, before the fires had been started over them. officer entrusted with firing the store-rooms, after he had finished his work, discovered the after-hatches filled with smoke from the fire in the steerage and ward-rooms, and he was compelled to make his exit by the forward ladder.

The

So quickly was the work accomplished that when Capt. Stewart, in the Siren, anchored about three miles from the rocks, saw the rocket ascend which told him that Decatur had possession of the frigate, he had not time to return from below with another to answer him before he found, though gone but a moment, the flames glaring through the ports of the Philadelphia.

The Americans were in the frigate but twenty or twenty-five minutes, and then were actually driven from her by the flames.

The last section up was that one which had to fire the store-rooms. When they reached the deck of the frigate most of the Americans were in the Intrepid. Ascertaining that all was right, Decatur gave the command to cast off. Here at the very end of the enterprise success was threatened with a partial defeat. The flames had already begun to flare from the ports of the frigate, and as the head-line of the ketch had been cast away, she fell astern, while her boom fouled and her jigger went flapping against the quarter-galley of the Philadelphia. At this instant the fire poured from a port, immediately beneath which lay the ammunition of the Intrepid, covered with a tarpaulin merely, while, added to their gathering misfortunes, the

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