Shortly before he reached there, the U.S. frigate Philadelphia,
commanded by Captain Bainbridge, had gone upon a reef just outside the
harbor of Tripoli and had been surrounded and captured, with all her
crew, by the Tripolitan gunboats. The Tripolitans got her off the rocks,
towed her into the harbor, and anchored her close under the guns of
their forts. They also strengthened her batteries, and prepared her for
a cruise, which could not but have been disastrous to our shipping. It
was evident that she must be destroyed before she got out of the harbor,
and Stephen Decatur volunteered to lead a party into the harbor on this
desperate mission. Commodore Preble hesitated to accept Decatur's offer,
for he knew how greatly against success the odds were, but finally, in
January, 1804, he told him to go ahead.
A small vessel known as a ketch had recently been captured from the
Tripolitans, and Decatur selected this in which to make the venture. He
took seventy men from his own vessel, and, on the night of February 15,
sailed boldly into the harbor of Tripoli. Let us pause for a minute to
consider the odds against him. First there was the Philadelphia with her
forty guns double-shotted and ready to fire; half a gunshot away was the
Bashaw's castle, the mole and crown batteries, while within range were
ten other batteries, mounting, all told, a hundred and fifteen guns.
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