# The Biographical Dictionary of America/Bainbridge, William

​BAINBRIDGE, William, naval officer, was born at Princeton, N. J., May 7, 1774, the fourth son of Absalom Bainbridge, who was fifth in descent from Sir Arthur Bainbridge of Durham county, England, whose son settled in New Jersey. William was of an adventurous disposition, and shipped at the age of fifteen before the mast. When only eighteen he was appointed first mate of a vessel. On the first voyage a mutiny arose among the crew, who seized the captain and would have thrown him overboard had not young Bainbridge and the second mate fought and conquered the mutineers. He was made commander in the following year, and in 1796, while off the island of St. Johns, on the ship Hope, a British schooner of eight guns and thirty men attacked him. The enemy did not show her colors until the first fire had been returned. The Hope was equipped with only four guns and eleven men, but the enemy was compelled to strike her flag. In 1798 he was appointed lieutenant and commander of the Retaliation, and ordered to cruise in the West Indies with the brig Norfolk and the frigate Montezuma to protect American commerce against French cruisers. In November, 1798, they sighted two French frigates, one of which, the Insurgent, began to fire upon the Retaliation, which, taken by surprise, struck her colors. He craftily saved the other ships from capture by representing them to be of very heavy armament. Lieutenant Bainbridge was taken by his captors to Guadaloupe, the governor of which place returned to him his vessel; he effected the release of a large number of Americans held as prisoners and subjected to cruel treatment, and with them he sailed to the United States, where he was promoted to the rank of master, 1798, and given command of the brig-of-war Norfolk, of eighteen guns. He reported to the government the ill-treatment received by American prisoners at Guadaloupe, and this resulted in the retaliation act that led to war with France. In command of the Norfolk, Bainbridge was ordered to the West Indies. He returned in August, 1799, and sailed again in September for Cape François, leaving in October, on the 8th of which month he captured the French lugger Republican. In May, 1800, Captain Bainbridge took command of the frigate George Washington to carry tribute to Algiers, when he was compelled by the Dey to convey an ambassador to Constantinople with presents to the sultan, together with upwards of two hundred Turkish passengers. When Bainbridge remonstrated, the Dey replied, "You pay me tribute by which you become my slaves, I have, therefore, a right to order you as I may think proper." Bainbridge, in his report, said: "I hope I may never again be sent to Algiers with tribute unless I am authorized to deliver it from the mouth of our cannon." ​In May, 1801, Bainbridge was given command of the frigate Essex, of the squadron commanded by Commodore Richard Dale, sent out by the United States to cruise against the Barbary states. He sailed to Gibraltar, appearing off the cities of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, and during the winter and spring of 1802 cruised in different parts of the Mediterranean. In July, 1802, he returned to New York, and afterwards superintended the building of the brig Syren and the schooner Vixen. In May, 1803, he was given command of the frigate Philadelphia, of forty-four guns, and cruised in the Mediterranean under Commodore Preble. In August of the same year, he captured the Moorish cruiser Meshboha, of twenty-two guns and one hundred and twenty men. In November, 1803, while at Tripoh, Bainbridge ran his vessel, the Philadelphia, upon rocks in the harbor, and before he could wear her off, he was attacked by the Tripolitans, obliged to surrender, and with his officers and crew, confined in prison for nineteen months. The Philadelphia was burned by Lieutenant Decatur on Feb. 15, 1804, at the suggestion of Bainbridge through Commodore Preble. After peace was made Bainbridge returned to the United States.
At the outbreak of the war of 1812 he was made commander of the frigate Constitution, and of a small squadron consisting of the frigate Essex, Capt. David Porter, and the sloop-of-war Hornet, Capt. James Lawrence. On Dec. 29, 1812, he captured the frigate Java, being severely wounded in the engagement. He received for this exploit formal expressions of appreciation from the states of Massachusetts and New York, and from both houses of Congress. Congress appropriated fifty thousand dollars to be divided among the crew as prize money, a gold medal for the commodore and a silver one for each officer. Commodore Bainbridge was placed in charge of the Charlestown navy yard, where in August he laid the keel of the line of battle ship Independence , of seventy-four guns. While Bainbridge remained in Boston the Chesapeake sailed out and encountered the British frigate Shannon, by which she was captured, with all the naval signals. A new signal code, was prepared by Commodore Bainbridge and the United States navy have since continued to use his system. When the British fleet appeared before Boston in 1813 and blockaded the harbor, a conflict of opinion arose between the people of Massachusetts and the national government as to the defence of the sea coast and the ownership of the forts and vessels of war in the territory. The Federal government was defended by Bainbridge, who insisted that the citizens of Boston had no interests separate from those of the nation, and that he should maintain the national honor and protect its property, let the consequences be what they might. His firmness led to the strengthening of the navy, the sloops of war Frolic and Wasp were built under his direction, and he did much to improve the condition of the navy yard. In 1815 he took command of the Mediterranean squadron, consisting of twenty vessels. Peace was declared with Algiers soon after, and for six years he remained in command, and settled numerous disputes with the Barbary states. In 1815 he established in the Boston navy yard the first naval school. In 1817 he was one of a committee to select sites for navy yards. In 1819 he presided over the first board of examiners, before whom appeared young officers for promotion. He commanded the new line of battle ship Columbus, November, 1819, and sailed in her to assume direction of the Mediterranean squadron. In 1821 he was in command of the Philadelphia navy yard, and fitted out the ship-of-the-line, North Carolina. In 1823 he was in command at the Charlestown navy yard, and the same year was made naval commissioner. He acted as Decatur's second in his fatal duel with Barron, and afterwards resigned as naval commissioner and served at various navy yards until his death, which occurred in Philadelphia, July 28, 1833.