shore. The weight of metal they threw was too light to enable them to reduce the batteries. Authority was therefore obtained from Congress to supply the want, and in the spring of 1803 two fine brigs, named the Argus and the Siren, and two schooners, the Nautilus and the Vixen, were built and, with the Constitution and the Philadelphia, despatched to join the Enterprise in the Mediterranean. Commodore Preble commanded the squadron, and by November first every ship had reached Gibraltar. Among the earliest to arrive was the Philadelphia. Without waiting for the rest to come, she started for Tripoli, but on the way overhauled a Moorish cruiser, with a Boston brig in her company, and took them both. At first the master of the cruiser asserted that he made the capture on his own responsibility; but, when threatened with execution as a pirate, he brought out an order from the Governor of Tangiers to seize American ships wherever found. Returning to Gibraltar with his prizes, Bainbridge left them there and once more departed for Tripoli. Soon after his departure Preble arrived, and, learning that Morocco had joined in the war, united the vessels he had come to relieve with such of his squadron as were at Gibraltar, ran across to Tangiers, brought the Emperor to terms, and forced him to exchange prisoners and renew the old treaty of 1786. From Tangiers Preble now bent his course toward Syracuse. When off the island of Sardinia he spoke an English frigate, and heard, with deep regret, that the Philadelphia had, three weeks before, been captured by the Turks. It seems that one morning in October, while cruising on his station, Bainbridge descried a large xebec in shore and standing for Tripoli. Sail was made to cut her off, but, as the Philadelphia sped along, firing and sounding at intervals, the water suddenly shoaled, and, a moment later, the frigate struck a hidden reef, shot up on it, and stood fast. That moment her fate was sealed. She was alone. No aid was near. The town was plainly in sight, not a league away, and down the harbor were coming nine Turkish gun-boats, attracted by the firing. Everything known to seamen was done to get her off. All anchors save one were cut from her bows. The guns were run aft, and finally thrown into the sea; still she did not move. In 1804. THE PHILADELPHIA BURNED. 203 desperation the main-mast was then cut away, the water-casks started, the water pumped out, and every article of weight hove overboard. Even then she would not move, and, unable to do more, the magazine was drowned, the pumps choked, the ship scuttled, and the flag hauled down. Then the Turks came over the side by scores, plundered, robbed, half stripped the crew and carried them, late at night, before the Pasha. With infinite pains the Philadelphia was next dragged from the reef and anchored off the castle walls. Then followed an exploit still regarded, and justly, as among the most splendid achievements in the history of our navy. Bainbridge, in a letter to Preble, suggested that the frigate be destroyed. The Commodore approved, and, on a January night, 1804, in the dark of the moon, Stephen Decatur, with a picked crew, entered the harbor, boarded and captured the frigate, and gave her to the flames. Both at home and abroad the effect of this exploit was great. At Syracuse the victors were received with warm congratulations and salutes. Every crew caught their spirit and waited eagerly for the day when Preble would lead his whole fleet against Tripoli. At home the cheering influence of the victory was badly needed. News of the wreck of the Philadelphia was sent to Congress late in March, together with a request for more ships and more money. In the House the message went to the Committee on Ways and Means. Without a moment's delay, the chairman repaired to the Secretary of the Treasury and asked what was the greatest sum that could possibly be spared. He was answered, Not a penny above one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But seven hundred and fifty thousand was the very least that could be got along with. As the Treasury could not spare so much, it was clear that new taxes must be levied, and these new taxes were provided for in the bill which, the next day, was reported to the House by the committee. Under the title of a bill further to protect the commerce and seamen of the United States against the Barbary Powers, it provided that after June thirtieth, 1804, all goods imported into the United States and paying an ad valorem duty should, in addition to that duty, pay two and a half per cent., or, if they came in vessels not owned in the United States, twelve and a half per cent. more; that the money so collected should be called the Mediterranean Fund; that a distinct account should be kept of it; that it should be applied to no other purpose than waging war against the Barbary Powers; and should stop three months after peace was declared. Another section gave the President authority to build two ships of sixteen guns each, and borrow or hire as many gun-boats in the Mediterranean as he saw fit. Every one agreed that the money must be raised. A few objected to the manner of raising, but they were quickly silenced, left the room, and when the yeas and nays were taken not one voice answered Nay. Thus provided with money and authority, the President ordered four more frigates to be put in commission and sent, as soon as they were ready, to Africa. For the command he chose Commodore James Barron, and instructed him to carry out, as Navy Agent, William Eaton, one of the most remarkable of that interesting class of adventurers to whom our country owes so much. Eaton was born in the town of Woodstock, Connecticut, where his father supported a large family by farming all summer and teaching school all winter. That love of adventure which made him so famous in after-life was early displayed, and at sixteen he ran away from home, joined the Continental army, and rose in time to be sergeant. The war over and the army disbanded, he turned his thoughts toward an education, and in 1784 began to study Latin and Greek. He next grew religious, and in 1785 joined the church and entered Dartmouth College, with a view to becoming a minister. But two years passed before he could take his place in the Freshman class, and long before that time all notion of the ministry had vanished. In 1790 he graduated, an active, restless, adventure-loving youth, and began his career. First he taught school at Windsor, in Vermont; then he dabbled in politics, and was made clerk of the House of Delegates. He next obtained, through the influence of Stephen Roe Bradley, whom he had helped elect to the Senate of the United States, a commission as captain in the army, and for a while he fought Shawnees in Ohio and Seminoles in Georgia, till an unjust 1804. WILLIAM EATON. 205 court-martial cut short his army career, and the Government, in return, made him Consul to Tunis, and sent him, with tribute, to Algiers. He was still in Africa when the Barbary war opened and Commodore Dale appeared before Tripoli with his fleet. The scheme which now started to Eaton's mind was such as any man might conceive, but such as he alone would persistently attempt to carry out. Some years before, the reigning Pasha of Tripoli had usurped the throne and had driven his elder brother, Hamet, into exile. This elder brother Eaton now proposed should be restored to the throne, as a signal punishment to Jussuf. Seeking him in Tunis, Eaton found him ready to enter into the scheme, and agreed that he should attack Tripoli on land while the fleet bombarded it from the sea. Nothing seemed easier. All Tripoli, he believed, was ready for revolt. The suffering entailed by the blockade, the tyranny of the Pasha, and the appearance of the American fleet had brought the Turks to the verge of insurrection. Unhappily, opposition came from a quarter whence Eaton had expected hearty assistance. Jussuf Caramalli grew timid and began to listen to overtures from Hamet. The officers of the fleet would not hear of the scheme. To manage Hamet was not difficult, and, after thoroughly frightening him, he was sent off to Malta. To manage the captains of the frigates was impossible, and, after wasting two years and twenty thousand dollars, Eaton went back to the United States to explain his accounts and seek aid at Washington. So successful was he that Jefferson appointed him Navy Agent of the United States for the Barbary Powers, and thought seriously of sending him out with a thousand stand of arms, some artillery, and forty thousand dollars. But when word came that Hamet had gone to Derne, had gathered an Arab mob about him, and had been driven by his brother to take refuge in Upper Egypt. Jefferson changed his mind, and when Eaton sailed with Barron he had neither money, guns, nor much authority. His mission was to join Hamet, raise an army, and rescue the American prisoners at Tripoli. On reaching Malta in September, Barron learned that during the summer Preble had been all activity; had collected his ships, had borrowed eight gun-boats from the King of Naples, and had five times bom barded Tripoli. Never in naval warfare had there been fighting more terrible. The boarding, the hand-to-hand conflicts, the desperate personal combats between commanders armed with pike and sword, were long the glory of what was fondly called "our infant navy." For a generation engravings of Decatur struggling with the Turk, of Lieutenant Trippe thrusting his pike through the body of the Tripolitan commander, adorned the windows of the print-shops. The fifth battle took place on the third of September, and was followed on the night of the fourth by an accident as terrible as it is mysterious. The ketch Intrepid, the same in which Decatur made his attack on the Philadelphia, had been turned into a floating mine and given in charge of Captain Somers and a picked crew. He was to take her into the harbor of Tripoli, set fire to it, and leave it to explode among the gun-boats and galleys of the enemy. About eight in the evening the Intrepid got under way, and, accompanied by the Vixen, the Argus, the Nautilus, the Siren, and two fast rowing boats to bring off the men, stood in toward the entrance of the harbor. At the entrance the other vessels left her to await the return of the crew, and, passing in, she slowly disappeared forever in the low, dense haze that covered the sea. Then followed a few minutes of breathless anxiety on the part of the watchers; a few minutes of heavy firing from the enemy's batteries; a blaze of fire streaming toward the sky; an explosion that shook the cruisers riding in the offing; the sound of shells falling on the rocks, and the Intrepid was no more. Not a man of all that gallant band escaped to tell the tale. A week after this event Eaton reached Malta, and, as soon as Preble had transferred his command to Barron, was sent in the Argus to Egypt. In November he was at Alexandria. In December he entered Grand Cairo, where his energy, his stubbornness, his zeal swept all before him. He won over the Viceroy and persuaded him to suffer Hamet, who, with the Mamelukes, was waging war against him, to cross his lines and enter Egypt. He collected troops, camels, stores, and in March, 1805, began his journey across the Libyan Desert for Derne. With him went marines and cannoneers from the American |