The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-01

masts shot one hundred and fifty feet up into the air, and the vessel exploded with terrific concussion.
 On September 12 Captain Edward Preble arrived in the frigade Constitu- tion to take command of the squadron. Soon after this the Philadelphia, while on blockading duty alone off Tripoli, caught sight of one of the enemy's cor sairs, and following her along the dan gerous and uncharted shoals of the To- cality, ran hard and fast aground on a shoal only three miles from the city. Nine gunboats at once put out from the city and opened fire under the Phila- delphia's stem. Being unable to return the fire and having vainly tried every eXpedient to float his ship, Captain Bainbridge was obliged to surrender in order to save useless bloodshed. So three hundred and fifteen American prisoners were hurried to the town to be exhibited to the Pasha. Soon after, with the assistance of strong north erly wind and long hawsers led astern, the Philadelphia was floated off by her captors and anchored near the town in such a position that her powerful bat tery commanded the only deep chan mel, and, with the assistance of the forts, made the harbor almost impreg- nable.
 Not long after his confinement as prisoner, Captain Bainbridge managed to open communication with Commo- dore Preble who had arrived off Tripo- Ii with the Constitution and Enterprise. | In a letter written with lemon juice, which became visible on being held to | the fire, he suggested the destruction Of the Philadelphia He advised that a small schooner be filled with men led by determined officers who should ap- proach the Philadelphia at night, foul | her as if by accident, carry her by I boarding, and destroy her. The Tripo- Titan ketch Mastico, recently captured by the Enterprise, occurred to Preble as the very craft for such an adven- | ture, and she was accordingly fitted out | to look like a peaceful merchant, al- though her hold was filled fiwith arms 1 and combustibles.
 The command of the desperate expe- dition was given to that bold and ac- complished officer, Lieutenant Stephen | Decatur, and on the afternoon of Feb ruary 9, 1894, the Mastico, accompanied | by the sloop Siren, left Syracuse for | Tripoli the other vessels remaining at I Syracuse to lull the enemy into a sense of safety. At this time Tripoli was defended by various batteries, which mounted one hundred and fifteen | heavy guns, and were manned by twen- | ty-five thousand Mussulmans; by nine l teen gunboats, each mounting a twen- 1 ty-siX-pounder in the how and two brass howitzers in the quarters; by two galleys of one hundred men each, two schooners of eight guns apiece. one brig of ten guns. and the frigate Phila- | delphia, all moored so as to command the approaches to the harbor.
 | Up to the face of those terrible odds up-to apparently certain destruction steered the little Yankee ketch. through l the dark and stormy night of February 16, while the Siren lay to off the har- Dor to cover her possible retreat. On she went through the lines of the ene- my's vessels, and under the walls of his frowning Actresses until at ten o'clock at night she was within hailing distance of the Philadelphia, when De- catur ordered his helmsman to steer so as to foul her at the bow
 1 The true character of the Mastico was not discovered until she was fairly l alongside the Philadelphia, when the cry of "Americano Americano!" was sounded, and the Turks rushed to the defence of their prize. But they were | too late for successful resistance. The | Americans were now swarming over the bulwarks and through the port holes, cutlass and boarding pike in hand driving the demoralized Turks overheard or into the holds. The com bustibles on the ketch were now hastily transferred to the captured vessel and the spark applied. After a stay on board of only twenty-five minutes, De- catur saw that the frigate could not possibly be saved, and the little Masti- co moved away from her dangerous proximity.
 By this time the Philadelphia was a roaring mass of flame, which illumina- ted the harbor so well that the ketch
 was plainly visible and an easy mark for the enemy's guns. But the Mussul-
 mans were so excited that they could not aim well, and only one shot struck the little vessel as she steered out of
 the harbor and rejoined her consort
 Once off the harbor mouth, she lay to and watched the awful spectacle until
 the final explosion came and the last fragments of the frigate were scattered
 over the water.
 Lord Nelson, who was then in com
 mand of the English blockading fleet
 off Toulon, characterized this exploit
 of Decatur's as "the most bold and dar-
 ing act of the age"
 Some time after this the ketch, re-
 named the Intrepid, was fitted up as a
 floating mine and again sent into the
 harbor under the command of Master
 Commandant Richard Somers, with
 Midshipman Henry Wadsworth, an un-
 cle of Longfellow, the poet, as second
 in command. She fell in with the ene-
 my's gunboat at an inopportune mo-
 ment, and it may be that .Somers, tc
 avoid capture. blew her up with his
 own hands, destroying one of the Mus
 sulman gunboats and shattering two
 others at the same time. Truly sad
 fate for the gallant men and the brave
 little ketch.
 Preble now assembled large fleet
 and proceeded to the bombardment of
 Tripoli. For months the daily engage
 ment went on, almost every encounter l ,etr,p 1a, ,,1er 1k ,l~I,