WAR BREAKS OUT WITH TRIPOLI
A fire broke out in the palace and destroyed fifty thousand stands of arms. The Bey called upon Captain Eaton to request the United States to forward him ten thousand stands of arms. "I have divided my loss," he said, "among my friends; this quota falls to you to furnish; tell your government to send them without delay."
Captain Eaton refused to forward the demand. "You will never receive a single musket from the United States!" he declared.
Meanwhile, Captain Eaton's neighbor consul, Mr. Cathcart, was having similar troubles at the court of Tripoli. We learned from correspondence that in April, 1800, Tripoli's greedy Bashaw had bidden Cathcart, the American consul, to tell the President of the United States that while "he was pleased with his proffers of friendship, had they been accompanied by a present of a frigate or brig-of-war, he would be still more inclined to believe them genuine."
In May the Bashaw asked: "Why do not the United States send me a present? I am an independent prince as well as the Bey of Tunis, and I can hurt the commerce of any nation as much as the ruler of Tunis."
The President paid no heed to these threats. Thereupon, on May 18, 1801, the Bashaw cut down the flagstaff of the American consulate at Tripoli. Consul Cathcart quitted the city, and a state of war was declared.
Matters came to a head with us in Tunis in March, 1803. Commodore Morris had been detained in port by the Bey because the American squadron had seized a Tunisian vessel bound for Tripoli, with which country the United States was at war. Consul Eaton had protested with more than usual vigor against this outrage. The Bey ordered him to quit the court at once.
"It is well," replied Captain Eaton, "I am glad to quit a court where I have known such violence and indignity!"
On the 10th of March, we left Tunis on board of one of the ships of the American squadron. Doctor George Davis, of New York, was left in charge of American affairs. On the 30th of the same month, Captain Eaton sailed from Gibraltar in the merchant ship Perseverance, bound for Boston, at which port he arrived May 5th. He then went to Washington to urge that a land campaign be waged against the ruling Bashaw of Tripoli, of which project more will appear in this story. He was appointed navy agent for the United States and instructed to aid in the campaign of our squadron against the Bashaw of Tripoli.
I hoped while in Tunis to obtain a leave of absence that I might join a caravan that would pass by Tokra, the treasure city of my dreams. But no opportunity came. I remained with the fleet while Captain Eaton was at home and rejoined him when he returned. He brought with him a plan of campaign that, in operation, was to bring me well within reach of the treasure spot.
I HOPED THAT I MIGHT JOIN A CARAVAN THAT WOULD
PASS BY TOKRA—THE TREASURE CITY OF MY DREAMS.
CHAPTER XI THE LOSS OF THE PHILADELPHIA
"But sailors were born for all weathers,
Great guns let it blow, high or low,
Our duty keeps us to our tethers,
And where the gales drive we must go."
Hard luck, indeed! The frigate Philadelphia stranded on a reef in the harbor of Tripoli, and Captain Bainbridge and his men were left captives in the hands of the Bashaw. Yet the ill wind for them was a kind wind for me, since it brought me a chance to serve under Stephen Decatur in what men say is one of the most brilliant exploits in our navy's annals.
Fortunately, before this disaster befell, Captain Bainbridge had been given an opportunity to show the Mediterranean squadron his mettle, for Commodore Preble had assigned the Philadelphia, under Bainbridge, to blockade duty on the Barbary Coast.
When I fell in again with Samuel Childs and Reuben James after my sojourn in Tunis, the first yarn spun to me in the night watch was that of how the Philadelphia had been captured. Reuben James was boatswain aboard of her when she was seized. He dived overboard and swam to safety when he saw that the jig was up, and rejoined the fleet to tell again and again the story of Bainbridge's gallantry in the face of misfortune.
Reuben's story ran like this: The Philadelphia, while cruising in the vicinity of Cape Gata, had come upon and hailed a cruiser and a brig. When the commander of the cruiser, at Captain Bainbridge's repeated demands, sent a boat aboard with his ship's papers, the captain learned that the cruiser belonged to the Emperor of Morocco; that her name was the Meshboha; that her commander was Ibrahim Lubarez; that she carried twenty-two guns and one hundred men.
The captain then sent an armed party to search the brig. He found imprisoned in her hold Captain Richard Bowen, and seven men. The brig was the Celia of Boston. Captain Bainbridge released her crew, and imprisoned the officers and men of the Meshboha aboard his frigate.
Asked by what authority he had captured an American vessel, Ibrahim Lubarez replied that he understood that Morocco intended to declare war on the United States and that when he seized the vessel he thought that a state of war existed. The captain suspected that the Emperor of Morocco had given orders that American ships be seized. "You have committed an act of piracy," he told the Moor, "and for it you will swing at our yardarm!"
"Mercy! Mercy!" wailed Ibrahim. Unbuttoning five waistcoats, he brought forth from a pocket of the fifth a secret document signed by the Governor of Tangiers.
Captain Bainbridge reported the matter to Captain Preble, and the latter at once proceeded to Tangiers with four frigates. There the Emperor abjectly disclaimed all knowledge of the affair, renewed his treaty, deprived the Governor of Tangiers of his office, and punished the commander of the Meshboha.
The American squadron was given a salute of twenty-one guns; a present of ten bullocks with sheep and fowl was made to Captain Preble, and the Emperor's court reviewed the American ships and engaged with them in an exchange of salutes.
But, Reuben testified, when the American officers discussed the Emperor's declaration of innocence, they spoke of it as if it were a huge joke.
On the morning of October 31st, 1803, Reuben, who was the lookout on the Philadelphia, espied a corsair sneaking out of a port. Captain Bainbridge at once swung his vessel round in pursuit. The wind was strong, enabling the frigate to gain on the pirate craft.
The ship was one of a corsair fleet under command of the Bashaw's captains, Zurrig, Dghees, Trez, Romani, and El Mograbi. Zurrig had sailed away from the other vessels on purpose to decoy the American ship on to a line of partly-submerged rocks that lay in the waters of the bay, parallel to the shore. The captain of the corsair knew every yard of the coast, and by hugging the shore, he soon drew the pursuing frigate into shallow water. The Philadelphia had drawn close enough to the fleeing vessel to attack with the bow guns, and in the excitement of seeing if the shots struck home, the officers and crew forgot that their vessel was in danger of running upon a reef the corsair knew well how to avoid.