The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-02-09


boysg' The English ship sent boat to the
Constitution, and satisfactory explanations
| followed
| The Constitution roceeded to Gibraltar
| says a writer in the New York Times, and
learned that cambridge, with the Philadel-
| phia had taken Barbary cruiser belonging
| to the Emperor of Nor Deco having impris-
oned on board the Captain and crew of
| Boston brig. Preble proceeded with the
| Constitution and three other ships to the
| Bay of Tangiers, ard Immediately called
upon the Emperor. with the happiest re-
suits. for treaty with Morocco was COM
pleted, and Preble was enabled to turn his
| attention to the situa ion at Tripoh.
| He proceeded to Malta. and thence TO Sy-
raouse in December, 1903. and sailed for
| Tripoli with the Enterprise, under Decatur.
He was driven back to Syracuse by storm.
| not. however, before he was able to make
| some important observations and form
| plan of operations. He determined. for one
thing, to destroy the Philadelphia, which
| had fallen into the hands of the en- envy.
For this duty Lieut.. Stephen Decatur was
chosen, and with a crew, for which every
man of the Enterprise volunteered. proceed
| ed in ketch to Tripoli. Young Decatur
distinguished himself by the almost thea
| trical success of the expedition, The Phila-
ceiphia was destroyed ,aLd only one man of
the seventy -four who went on the hazard
GUS trip was injured.
That was the situation at the beginning of
1904. The loss OF the Philadelphia had in
tensiied the serious relations bet ween this
country and the Barbary powers Even
the Emperor of Morocco, who had come
| around to Preble's position SO amicahl
was distrusted. for he was relative of the
Bashaw of Tripoli. and some of his latest
acts justified the lack of confidence in lis
assertions of friendship.
The force in the Mediterranean was now
strengthened by four additional frigates.
PREBLE REMAINED OFF TRIPOLI
perfecting arrangements for a warfare cal
culated TO bring the Bashaw to terms.
Once he went to Naples, where he gave an
order for two bomb vessels and six gun
boats, and he visited Messi1a, where lie
added to his munitions of war. In July
Preble retuLred to Tripoli, where the block
ade was still in force. The American ves-
sells had been strengthened by the recent
AGO QUESTIONS, which. however. were greatly
inferior to the Tripolitan gunboats, and of
followed. The American force was ham
pered by treacherous coast. and had only
2S heavy guns, against the Bashaw's ll5
guns. The enemy was we'll supplied with
materials for carrying Oh war, and his
numerical strength exceeded that of the
American force by "a, 900 men.
Preble's force. headed by the Constitu-
ton, ran into the harbor on July %, and
began the attack by throwing shells into
the town. In an instant the batteries were
ablaze The ships on both sides rained a
fire of grape. The combat developed into a
desperate personal fight, and it was fear
ful position in which the Americans found
themselves The Americans under Decatur
boarded one of the Turks boats and a
hal d-to-hand fight ensued. The Constitu-
t,on maintained heavy fire. temporarily
sileneing some of the batteries. When the
CONSTITUTION hauled off it was found that
fo,rteen Americans had been killed and
wounded
Another fight occurred on August Z. with
much more serious consequences for the
Americans The results of these combats
however. made the Bashaw more approach
able and he modified his demands. al
though he still insisted on ransom of
S50v for every man he had taken prisoner.
His suggestions were repulsed and it was
held out that treaty could be made only