WE BLOW UP THE _PHILADELPHIA_
A DUEL
Reuben, Samuel and other members of our crew attended a theatrical
performance in Malta during a period in which our ship was detained in
that harbor by a gale.
There were British ships in port and the contacts of their crews with
men from our ships was seldom friendly. The little affair of the
Revolution had not yet been forgotten, and, besides, the British habit
of impressing us did not contribute towards a harmonious spirit. This
island was one of England's fortresses in those waters and, of course,
Englishmen abounded.
We saw in the theatre several of our midshipmen, looking very spruce
in their dress uniforms, with brass buttons shining and with flashing
dirks hanging by light chains from their hips. Among them was Joseph
Bainbridge, the younger brother of Captain William Bainbridge. He was
a slender, bright-eyed, manly young fellow, the most popular middie
aboard the _Constitution_.
The group were standing in the lobby as we entered. We saw a crowd of
young British officers looking them over with an air that came near to
being insulting. Our middies were returning their gaze boldly and with
even more insolence.
One of the British officers, a tall, handsome fellow looking very fine
in his scarlet coat with silk braid, collided with Bainbridge in the
lobby.
"I beg your pardon," we heard young Bainbridge say. The lads had been
warned by the captain to avoid quarrels and Bainbridge, we could see,
was trying to obey the command.
"That fellow pushed Joe on purpose," said Reuben, clenching his huge
fist. "I've heard of that pusher--he's Captain Tyler, the Governor's
secretary, a bad man in a duel. He has a dozen deaths to his credit,
and is itching to add an American life to his score!"
When the performance was over--the singer Carlotta had entertained
us well--we went out behind the middies, as a sort of rear-guard. We
weren't looking for trouble, but if those lads got into a tussle, we
felt that they might need aid from some plain sailors.
Captain Tyrone Tyler was standing where Bainbridge and his comrades had
to pass. He gave young Bainbridge a dig with his elbow, whereupon our
middy turned and spoke to him sharply. Tyler then jammed his elbow into
the middy's face, and with his other hand tried to seize our lad by the
collar.
"Rough work--stand by!" said Reuben to us. We pushed forward.
Bainbridge, however, had eluded Tyler's grasp.
His hand went out towards his tormentor, but it had a card in it.
"You are a bully and a coward," he said as cool as ice, "and I welcome
the duty of putting a stop to your insults to American officers."
Tyler took the card from him. The comrades of both men closed in.
"It'll be a duel," said Reuben, in great disgust, "and our lad will go
up against that killer! Why didn't he decide to let us settle it with
our fists?"
As the two parties separated, Reuben glanced towards another part of
the lobby. "What ho," he exclaimed, "there's Lieutenant Decatur looking
on! He'd have taken part in the affair, you can bet your boots!"
Stephen Decatur, first lieutenant of the _Constitution_, followed the
midshipman out of the theatre. We saw him approach Bainbridge and draw
him away from the other middies, who were as flustered as hens.
We learned later that the meeting was to be on the beach the next day
at nine o'clock. You may be sure that every man Jack of us was on the
lookout to see if Lieutenant Decatur intended to permit Bainbridge to
go ashore. When we saw them go off together in the cutter there was
little work done among the crew. It looked to us as if the midshipman
was on his way to sure death, and we decided that Decatur was going to
seek a way out of the quarrel for the lad.
Reuben shook his head. "That would be against the honor of the United
States' navy. Decatur may give him a lesson or two in duelling, but
he'll see the thing through. They're leaving the ship a full hour and
a half before the time set--I'll wager there'll be pistol practice
somewhere."
About half-past nine a boat put out from the shore. There were two
officers in it and both sat upright and chatted to each other. Could it
be that----?
An hour later, young Bainbridge told us what had happened. Decatur, as
the second of Bainbridge, had chosen pistols at four paces. Tyler's
second objected. "This looks like murder, sir!" he said to Decatur.
The lieutenant replied: "No sir, this looks like death; your friend is
a professed duellist; mine is inexperienced."
Decatur gave the warning: "Take aim!" and then "Fire!" Both, through
agitation, missed. Again they faced each other. The pistols were
discharged simultaneously. Tyler fell. A surgeon hurried towards him,
while Bainbridge turned to Decatur. "I don't think his bullet touched
me!" he said.
"I thank God for that!" said the lieutenant. "I fear it is not so well
with your adversary, but he invited it. Let's be off!" They passed poor
Tyler, lying mortally wounded, and lifted their hats as they went.
Reuben James, ever since I met him, had talked Decatur, Decatur,
Decatur. He idolized him. During our country's affair with France he
had served on a frigate on which Decatur was a midshipman, and the
exploits of the young officer had so appealed to Reuben that he would
have followed the youth into the mouth of death.
And indeed, what Reuben told me about Decatur made me also a fervent
worshipper.
My own state was proud to claim Decatur as a son, for he was born in
Sinnepuxent, Maryland. He was of the blood of Lafayette. His father
and grandfather had been naval officers before him; and the former had
served with honor on our side in the war of the Revolution.
This, however, was not his first experience in these waters. He had
been an officer in Captain Dale's squadron, serving on the _Essex_
under Captain Bainbridge. Bainbridge and he had been linked in an
affair that made him eager now to help his imprisoned friend. The
commander of a Spanish gunboat insulted Captain Bainbridge at long
distance while the _Essex_ lay in the harbor of Barcelona. Later
Decatur was also insulted. Decatur visited the gunboat.
"Where is your captain?" he demanded of the officer on duty.
"He has gone ashore," was the reply.
"Tell him that Lieutenant Decatur, of the frigate _Essex_, pronounces
him a cowardly scoundrel, and that when they meet on shore he will cut
his ears off!"
The matter came to the attention of the commandant of the port, who
requested Captain Bainbridge to curb his fiery officer. The captain
replied that if the gunboat commander did not know how to be courteous
to American officers he must take the consequences. The commandant
thereupon ordered the gunboat captain to apologize to Decatur. The
matter reached the ears of the King of Spain.
"Treat all officers of the United States with courtesy," he ordered,
"and especially those attached to the United States frigate _Essex_."
DECATUR'S BRILLIANT EXPLOIT
Seventy volunteers were required to help Lieutenant Decatur blow up
the _Philadelphia_. Seventy volunteers--that meant that I had a chance
to go. Fortunately, I was one of the first to hear the orders read,
and thus had an opportunity to apply before others. Captain Eaton was
on board the _Siren_, returning from sitting at the court of inquiry,
when Lieutenant Stewart, commander of the _Siren_, read to him orders
he had just received from Commodore Preble. I, as orderly to Captain
Eaton, was present at the reading. Plain and direct was the message,
but thrilling enough without flourishes.
I stepped forward.
"Pardon me, Sir," I said, "but I want to be one of the seventy
volunteers. I speak also for Reuben James. Reuben has served under
Lieutenant Decatur at other times, and he'd be heartbroken to be left
behind."
I realized as I waited for a reply that I had done a bold thing. I was
not supposed to be hearing the letter read, much less acting upon it.
However, Lieutenant Stewart was not strict about discipline and he took
no offence at my act.
"Your name goes down!" he said, "also Reuben James, though he'll be
given a chance to speak for himself. You show the right spirit, young
man, but don't feel lofty about it, for I expect any other man of our
navy would have said the same thing if he were standing in your place."
Properly humbled, I went off to tell Reuben James that he had me to
thank for gaining him an adventure.
Lieutenant Stewart's prediction came true. The crews of the squadron
actually fought with each other for a chance to go. Decatur's name to
them spelt romance. His exploits had been on every man's lips.
The crew of the ketch _Intrepid_ having been chosen, off we started. It
was sundown when we drifted into the harbor of Tripoli. We approached
the city knowing that a sudden fear of attack had swept over Tripoli;
that the forts were manned; the guns loaded, and a sharp watch kept.
We learned later that the Moslem guards congratulated themselves when
they saw the ketch entering the harbor, thinking that it was manned by
good Mohammedans who had had the shrewdness to escape blockading ships.
The gates of the city were shut. The Captain of the Port would not
inspect the ship until morning. The call of the muezzin sounded over
the still waters of the bay. Night fell on the city.
On board the _Intrepid_ all of the crew, except six men disguised
as Moors, were concealed below deck or behind bulwarks. Our ketch
drifted towards the _Philadelphia_. A sentinel on the frigate hailed
us, but the answer came back from our Maltese pilot in the sentry's
own language to the effect that the ketch had lost her anchors
during a recent gale and wished to make fast to the anchors of the
_Philadelphia_ until new ones could be purchased the next morning. As
if taking permission for granted, Lieutenant Decatur directed Blake,
a sailor who spoke Maltese, and Reuben and myself to set out from
the ketch in a small boat for the purpose of fastening a line to a
ring-bolt on the frigate's bow. When this was done, the sailors on
the ketch were to haul on the line, to bring our boat nearer to the
frigate. The men hidden behind the bulwarks caught the rope as it
came through the hands of their disguised comrades, and helped in the
hauling.
Suspecting nothing, the Moslems on the _Philadelphia_ sent in turn a
small boat with a line to aid in mooring the _Intrepid_, but Blake met
them and took the line from their hands, saying, in broken Maltese:
"We will save the gentlemen the trouble."
So far so good. But now, as the ketch was being hauled in by the bow
line, the pull of the stern line swung her broadside towards the
Tripolitans, and the guards on the _Philadelphia_ saw the men who,
under the screen of the bulwarks, were hauling in the line.
"Americanos! Americanos!" we heard them shriek.
Swift action followed on the part of Decatur. The hidden sailors sprang
into the open and gave the line a pull that sent the ketch close to
the _Philadelphia_. An Arab cut the rope, but the Americans were now
near enough to throw grapnels.
"Boarders away!" Decatur shouted. We in the boat clambered up the sides
of the _Philadelphia_. The rest of the seventy climbed like cats over
the vessel's rail with Midshipman Morris in the lead and Decatur at
his heels. The _Philadelphia's_ deck was home ground to many of us,
and in a moment we had cleared the quarterdecks of the enemy. Then, in
a cutlass charge, we drove the panic-stricken crew before us. Some of
the infidels leaped overboard. Others sought refuge below, but died at
the hands of sailors who had climbed through the ports. In ten minutes'
time a rocket went up from the Americans to signal to the _Siren_ that
the _Philadelphia_ had been taken.
Combustibles had been rushed on board. Firing gangs were distributed
through the ship. So swift was the work and so fierce was the blaze
that Midshipman Morris and his gang, who were setting fire to the
cockpit, were almost cut off by flames started elsewhere. From the
portholes on both sides the flames leaped out, enveloping the upper
deck. I saw that Decatur was the last to leave the ship.
The ketch, when all of the boarding party had returned to it in safety,
had its period of danger too, for while it was still fastened at the
frigate's stern, flames poured from the cabin of the _Philadelphia_
into the cabin of the ketch where the ammunition was stored. The line
was instantly severed. The crew laboring desperately with the big
sweeps, eight to a side, pushed the _Intrepid_ clear of the burning
vessel and headed for the sea.
At last the flames reached the magazine of the vessel, which burst
with a tremendous roar. Great sheets of flames arose and sparks flew
like a storm of stars over the waters of the harbor. This was the end
of the good ship _Philadelphia_.
Every man on the _Intrepid_ returned without injury. Lord Nelson later
declared this exploit to be "the most bold and daring act of the age."
Decatur was made a captain. He received a letter from the Secretary of
the Navy, and noted with joy that it was addressed to "Stephen Decatur,
Esq., Captain in the Navy of the United States." His pride increased
when he read:
"The achievement of this brilliant enterprise reflects the highest
honor on all the officers and men concerned. You have acquitted
yourself in a manner which justifies the high confidence we have
reposed in your valor and your skill. The President has desired
me to convey to you his thanks for your gallant conduct on this
occasion, and he likewise requests that you will in his name thank
each individual of your gallant band for their honorable and
valorous support, rendered the more honorable from its having been
volunteered. As a testimonial of the President's high opinion of
your gallant conduct in this instance, he sends you the enclosed
commission."
Some people asked if the _Philadelphia_ could not have been saved,
though Commodore Preble's orders were to destroy her. We heard one of
the captive officers of the frigate say later:
"I know of nothing which could have rendered it impracticable to the
captors to have taken the _Philadelphia_ out of the harbor of Tripoli."
The pilot on board the ketch, _Catalona_, was of the same opinion.
Decatur himself told his wife that he believed that he could have
towed the ship out, even if he could not have sailed her.
But Commodore Preble, in setting down explicit orders to destroy her,
had written: "I was well informed that her situation was such as to
render it impossible to bring her out."
He wrote thus because Captain Bainbridge himself had written:
"By chartering a merchant vessel and sending her into the harbor
with men secreted, and steering directly on board the frigate, it
might be effected without any or a trifling loss. It would not be
possible to carry the frigate out, owing to the difficulty of the
channel."
The main object was to get the _Philadelphia_ out of the possession of
Tripoli. This Decatur did without risking the success of his enterprise.