New Britain herald., 1918-04-04
CAMBRIDGE HERO
 OF MANY BATTLES
And Destroyer, Named for Him,
 Is Chasing Submarines

l Washington, April A huge liner 1 slips silently out of an Atlantic port, l carrying American troops. munitions
 and supplies to the battle front. AS
 she reaches the danger zone, out of
 the mist appear the sinister grey hounds of war, the American destroy
 CTS, and a screen Is formed about the 1 liner that carries her safely to her 1 destination.
 l And as the cables bring back the l word of her safe arrival 8 sigh of re- l lief goes up from hundreds; of thou- 1 sands of mothers and fathers. A sigh of relief! American bravery l and skill again have beaten the Ger | man submarine But the relentless l hand of the censor has not told those hundreds of thousands of American parents of the heroic deeds aboard l those destroyers that made possible 1 the successful conclusion of the liners l voyage.
 1 Some day, perhaps after the war is 1 ended, the heroic deeds of American l naval officers and men will be made public, and then, it is not hard to fore l cast, will be heralded again names l that another war made famous. l AS the 18th century gave way to 1 the 18th, William Bainbridge linked ] those two eras with deeds Of valor ! that are immortal. When the censor's ] hand is raised, the name Bainbridge l may again ring throughout the land, l for somewhere on the high seas Is a l little American destroyer named Baiu- l bridge.
 William Bainbridge was born 1t l Princeton, N. J., in 1774, the son of
 8 wealthy physician and descendant l of an English nobleman. When l9 years old, Bainbridge commanded a 1 ship in the Dutch trade. In defending l his ship from 8 British schooner of
 eight guns in 1796, he forced the 1 schooner to strike her colors after l short fight.
 1 As war did not exist between the l two countries, Bainbridge could not ! take the schooner as a prize, but l shouted to the captain: "Go about your business now, and 1 report to your masters that if they want my ship they must send greater ] force and more skillful commander l to take her.
 l Tn 179S Bainbridge was commits l stoned enant-commandant of the 1 schooner Retalia ton, and was cap- l tured in battle with a superior French ] force. Bainbridge was taken on board the French Volontaire, whose captain
 refused to accept his sword, and was ! 1 castle to watch pursuit of the Amer ican ships Montezuma and Norfolk by ! the Insurgente, 36 guns. As the 1nsurgente was about to open l fire the ca ptain of the Volontaire turned to Bainbridge and asked: l Pray, sir what is the force of those vessels?'
 Bainbridge replied without hesita- 1 ton:
 "The ship carries twenty eight 12- pounders and the brig twenty g. pounders.'
 ] Captain St. Laurant, of the Volon- taire, who was commander of the fleet, ] signalled the Insurgente to withdraw, l fearing the loss of his ship. When, 1 later, Captain St. IIaurant found that their armament had been exaggerated to twice what they carried, he eX- claimed:
 l Did you not say, sir, that the ship l carried twenty eight 12-pounders and the brig twenty 9-pounders?' ! Very quietly and earnestly Bain- l bridge replied:
 "Yes, sir, and if l thought at that l moment that l could have saved the l ships by telling.you that they carried l 24-pounders, I should have done so.'
 Three Months in Prison. ! For ms IGIneTuN, odlHDTiOSG " dS | imprisoned for three months, and
 when finally ordered to take command of the Retaliation and return home, he l took with him report to Congress ! that caused the "Retaliation Act to ] be passed.
 In 1900 Bainbridge was commits stoned captain and sailed for Algiers in command of the frigate George ] Washington on a mission of diplo-
 macy carrying tribute to the Dey of l Algiers. Through his ingenuity, the first treaty was signed between the
 United States and Turkey, and he was ] the first to carry the American flag ! to that country.
 Tn 1903, Captain Bainbridge was T. given command of the frigate Phila- l delphia, A guns, and cruised in the i Mediterranean in search of Tripolitan l corsairs In chasing a ship in the l harbor of Tripol, the Philadelphia ! went aground and was captured by the Tripolitans, after six hours fight by the ombined enemy fleet. After 1 being detained two weeks, Bainbrldge 1 was asked to give an order on Com ] modore Prebe for the release of Fri l politan prisoners in order to avoid re- ] taliatory measures. He refused, and,
 with his officers, was confined in a
 prison where his crew was already at
 work.
 On February 16, 1894, when the
 Philadelphia was burned by L1euten-
 ant Decatur and a large number of the 1 enemy were killed, Bainbridge and his 1 officers were imprisoned in the tower ! of the castle where without light or
 pure air they were held for 19 III onths