Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-08-17
CHE Story Teller.
A BATTLE WITH TRI-
POLITAN PIRATES
Captain SOmers' Heroism-A True
Story of the Early Days of the
American Navy.

and associates. From the moment o!
his entrance upon duty as a midship'
man on the United States" better
known as "Old WAGNER" in 1898
with his friend and companion, Som
ers, until the day Of his death, he is In.
vested with a halo Of romance which
stretches the imagination in its effor,
to conceive without question it is al
history.
And there Is no portion Of this won.
derful story so filled with pathos and
dramatic fire as that Of the assaults
made upon the Corsairs in Tripolitar
waters.
In 1903 the Mediterranean pirates
annoyed and harried the American
merchantmen until forbearance ceas-
ed to be a virtue. The emperors OF
Morocco, Algiers and Tropoli became
especially troublesome and finally the
government of the United States, un-
der cover of a quasi war with France,
sent Commodore Preble to the Medi-
terranean to protect American COM
merce and punish the pirates. The
frigate Philadelphia, under Captain
Bainbridge, sailed directly to Tripoli
When nearing his destination, Balm
bridge gave chase to buccaneer,
which fed for safety to the harbor.
The Philadelphia, in close pursuit, ran
upon a reef of rocks near the shore
and was captured by the Tripolitans.
The officers were treated with some
respect, but the crew were enslaved.
In the following February, Captain
Decatur sailed to Tripoli in Moorish
ship, called the Intrepid. At nightfall
Decatur steered into the harbor, slip
ped alongside Of the Philadelphia,
sprang on deck with his daring band,
and killed or drove overheard every
Moor on the vessel. In moment the
frigate was fired, but Decatur and his
crew escaped to the Intrepid without
the loss Of a man.
This brilliant feat, however, did not
terminate the war upon the pirates,
nor did 1t release Captain cambridge
and his men from slavery, although 1t
unquestionably hastened the end.
It is related by NJ. Elliot Seawell, in
a volume entitled Decatur and Som
ers," just issued from the press of D.
Appleton & Co., New York, that even
a more daring scheme succeeded that
Of Decatur's, and that after a series OF
heroic ventures which had raised the
American name to the highest point
Of honor, came another-the last, the
most glorious and the most melan-
choly Of them all. For some time af-
ter the recapture Of the Philadelphia
Commodore Preble, with his fleet,
among which was the Constitution, IA
nous in song and story as "Old Iron
Sides" rested in the Mediterranean,
awaiting an opportunity 70 force the
release Of Bainbridge and compel re-
capitulation, but no favorable oppoi.
tunity presented itself until the ad-
vancing season warned the American
squadron that it must soon leave Trip
oil for the winter. Then came the one
great and decisive blow, inflicted by
two officers and ten men, in which IL
heroic American sailors yielded up
their lives freely and without mo-
ment's hesitation.
True, the Bashaw then was anxious
to negotiate, but Commodore Preble
was not the man to treat with pirates
and brigands as long as 400 American
captives were imprisoned in Tripolitan
dungeons. He was the more anxious
to strike this great blow because he
had discovered that the Tripolitans
were almost out Of gunpowder, which,
at that time of general European war
fare, was of much value and not al
ways easy to get. The Americans,
though, were well supplied, and this
put the thought into Somers' mind of
attempting a desperate assault upon
the shipping and forts by means Of a
fire-ship, or internal" He 1rst
broached the plan to Decatur the
night after the last attack on Tripoli.
The two young captains were sitting
in the cabin Of the Nautilus, Decatur
having come in answer to few sisnif-
icant words from Somers. When the
two were seated at the table, Somers
unfolded his plan.
1t was a desperate one and, as So
mers lucidly explained it, Decatur felt
strange sinking of the heart. Som
ers, on the contrary, seemed to feel
restrained enthusiasm, as If he had
just attained a great opportunity. for
which he had long hoped and wished.
After two hours conversation, and
it being not yet o'clock, Somers ask
ed Decatur to go with him to the ilag-
ship, where the plans might be laid he
fore the Commodore.
AS soon as Commodore Preble heard
that two of his young companions
wished TO see him, he at once desired
that they should be shown into the Ca
bin. When Somers and Decatur en-
tered, they both noticed the somber
and care-worn look on the comm D.
dore's face. He had done much and
the force under him had performed
prodigies of valor; but he had not sue
ceeded in liberating his old friend and
shipmate, Bainbridge, and his gallant
company.
When they were seated around the
cabin table Somers produced some
charts and memoranda and began to
unfold his idea. 1t was, on the first
dark night, to take the ketch Intre-
pid-the same which Decatur had
immortalized-put on her hundred
barrels of gunpowder and a hundred
shells, tow her into the harbor through
the western passage as near as she
could be carried to the shipping, hop
ing that she would drift into the midst
of the Tripolitan fleet and then, setting
her afire, Somers and his men would
take their slender chances of escape.
Commodore Preble heard 1t all