274. The Gallant Exploits of Decatur and his Brave Men.—Although we had only a small navy, President Jefferson thought it best to put a stop to this blackmail business, and settle with the pirates in a different way. So he sent some war vessels to punish them, and they did it quite thoroughly.
During one of these encounters the United States frigate Philadelphia, one of our best, under the command of Captain Bainbridge, chased a pirate craft into the harbor of Tripoli, but unluckily ran on a reef. She stuck fast, helpless either to fight or to sail. She was captured, with all her crew, by the enemy.
But a few months afterwards, Stephen Decatur, a gallant lieutenant of only twenty-five, sailed from Sicily in a small vessel, the Intrepid, which had just been captured from the Moors. He boldly entered the harbor of Tripoli one evening about dusk, and sailed quietly along close to the Philadelphia. Then pirates did not suspect harm, as the Intrepid appeared to be a Moorish vessel. With its crew of seventy men concealed under the bulwarks, the little vessel was instantly made fast to the ill-fated frigate.
"Follow me, lads!" cried Decatur.
The men from the Intrepid sprang to their feet and climbed on board the Philadelphia. The surprise was complete. In ten minutes Decatur and his bold sailors had killed or driven overboard every pirate, then set the ship afire, leaped back upon the Intrepid, and escaped from the harbor amid a storm of shot from the batteries. Not one of our men was lost in the whole affair.
This heroic adventure, which made young Decatur a captain, became common talk in Europe. England's greatest naval hero, Lord Nelson, said, "It was the most bold and daring act of the ages." There is no single naval exploit to be compared with it for boldness, except Cushing's destruction of the ironclad Albemarle in the war for the Union.
275. Outrageous Conduct of the British toward American Sailors.—During the years soon after 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte was at war with almost all Europe, and especially with England.
The British navy was very large and in constant need of sailors. To get them, English men-of-war used to stop American merchant ships wherever they met them on the high seas. They would fire a cannon shot across the bows of the American vessel to compel it to heave to. British officers would then come on board, marshal the crew in line, and pick out sailors whom they claimed to be deserters from British ships.
Very likely the ones thus singled out could prove that they were Americans by birth or adoption. No matter for that! They were needed, and, as the men-of-war had the power to take them by force, go they must. In time this dastardly business became even worse. The British sometimes stationed their war vessels off the entrance of our largest harbors, ready to search our merchantmen as they sailed out.
Now all this bid fair to destroy our commerce. None of our ships were safe. Importing, exporting, our vast fisheries, important manufactures—many kinds of business—were on the verge of ruin.