In the autumn of 1803 the 36-gun American frigate Philadelphia chased a corsair too close to shore, struck an uncharted reef off Tripoli, and was captured with her whole crew — 307 men, including Captain William Bainbridge — dragged into the Bashaw’s dungeons. The captured frigate, refloated and moored under the guns of the castle, was now the most powerful warship in Barbary hands. Commodore Edward Preble decided she had to be destroyed. He gave the job to 25-year-old Lieutenant Stephen Decatur Jr., who volunteered, and to a small captured Tripolitan ketch renamed Intrepid with seventy-odd volunteers...
Time Surfing - read it here.
No comments:
Post a Comment