Newark post. (Newark, Del.) 1910-1969, 1911-01-11
VIM. J. ROWAN.

del Mnen the British captured phila-
sma1l tn tle Decatur family fed to a
pa.l:. la,m house a few miles from
T. nh Mo, where Stephen Decatur
80 was porn on January 5th. Iz7o A.
SION as Lord Howe evacuated Ph;la'
,uelphia the Decaturs returned r. tha;r
:ioiile. / he lad received his educ,t;o,
~ the institution now known as The
University OF Pennsylvania. His mo-
LIZ tiei liitended him for the ministry. but
i r.. iiihd turned to sea-faring life
naily the mother yielded, and at the
ase VI y ne lett school to enter the
counting office OF his fathers shin
one year alter this he received he
COMMISSION as a midshipman. be;no
detailed to the fripate Tinted Statate
WHICH mad been built from the keel
" Willle he was in the Office, and
WHICH he a years later had the honor
~ commanding in an engagement with
q British ship. A brilliant deed OF his
~ the war with Tripoli brought him
INTO the limelight. On October AZ
1908 the trigate Philadelphia, CAPTAIN
cambridge, while cruising on the
blockade, sighted vessel huppino
the shore, and gave chase, with the
result that the frigate ran on a hid
den rect, and remained fastened there
III spite Of the efforts of the crew to
get her on. 1t was an easy task for
ene enemy to surround the helpless
irigate with their gunboats and COM
PEI her to surrender. A few DAYS af
ter the accident she was floated and
taken into the harbor as a valuable
addition to the enemys fleet, The fr;-
gate had been built by the enterpris
ing merchants of Philadelphia, who
named as her first captain Stephen De-
catur, ST., Lieutenant Stephen Deca-
,ur, IT., then "a years Oh age, appeared
before Commodore PrebIe and begged
PERMISSION to head party to recap
ture or destroy the frigate. There
was peculiar fitness in his claim to
lead the hazardous undertaking. At
ter due elaboration the Commodore
gave his permission. The ketch In
trepid with "a volunteers from the
ships OF the American squadron was
htted up as fire ship and set out on
the Journey accompanied by an escort.
Although sorely tried by gale OF six
days duration, Decatur and his sturdy
crew never for a moment thought of
abandoning the project On the night
OF February 10, 1904, the attempt was
made to destroy the frigate As the
ketch entered the mouth OF the har-
Dor, the lookouts, by means OF the
glasses, made out the frigate riding at
anchor about a mile within the harbor,
while only a few cables length away
were two corsairs and several gum
boats. Dragging obstacles at the
stern to retard her progress, the In
trepid under light wind moved slow
ly toward the frigate. While she was
still some distance off, the watches on
the Philadelphia hailed the ketch de-
handing her flag and business. The
pilot, native OF Malta, replied that
the keteh was trader IRON Malta,
that she had suffered severely in the
recent gale, having lost her anchors,
and desired to ride by the frigate dur
ing the night. While the ketch was
lessenng the stretch of water between
her and the Philadelphia the pilot
held the attention OF the pirates by
enumerating the various kinds of gar
ments and articles of food the ketch
was carrying. The pirates never sus-
pected anything wrong, until the ketch