THE DEATH OF SOMERS
Now, came news of the tragedy of the campaign. It was decided to use the ketch Intrepid as a fireship to destroy the enemy's shipping. Captain Somers volunteered to take command of her, and Lieutenant Wadsworth volunteered to go with him. Ten men went with them—six volunteers from the Constitution and four volunteers from the Nautilus. Two small boats were taken, so that the party could escape from the floating mine after they had lighted the fuses. The Intrepid started upon her perilous duty on September 4th. Lieutenant Joseph Israel of the Constitution arrived at the moment of getting under way and asked permission to go along. Somers consented.
The night was dark, and the other American ships soon lost sight of the ketch. She was discovered, however, by the Tripolitans as she was entering the harbor, and their batteries opened fire.
Suddenly, the night was lit by terrifying flashes. A series of explosions shook land and water. A shower of sparks arose. The powder on board the Intrepid had prematurely exploded, and left nothing on the face of the harbor but scorched fragments. All of her officers and men were killed. Their mangled bodies floated ashore and were found by the people of Tripoli.
What caused the explosion remains a mystery. Commodore Preble thought that the Intrepid had been attacked and boarded by a Tripolitan gun-boat, and that Captain Somers, rather than be taken captive, himself exploded the powder; or else that the fire from the batteries caused so much damage that Somers saw that escape was impossible and chose death to surrender. This reasoning was partly based on the fact that Somers and his men had boasted that they would die rather than be captured. The squadron was greatly affected by this tragedy. Decatur had special reason to grieve, because Somers had been his schoolmate, and had given Decatur, before sailing, tokens to remember him by if he did not return.
I learned with amazement that Commodore Preble had been recalled. Although he had conducted a fight that had won for the American navy lasting glory, the navy department had thought it best to call him home and to put Commodore Samuel Barron, who was his senior, in his place. Commodore Preble was notified of this with much praise and apology. No wonder was it that his going was lamented. His fifty-three officers joined in a letter of regret. English officers praised his work. The Pope said that "the American commander, with a small force and in a short space of time, had done more for the cause of Christianity than the most powerful nations of Christendom had done for ages."
The Commodore had labored under great handicaps. Congress had not supported his requests for ships and supplies, and those that came were long delayed. The food sent him was poor. He was forced to depend largely on foreign seamen.
Commodore Preble was deeply regretful at not being able to carry the campaign against Tripoli through to final victory, and also mortified that, with success in sight, he should be recalled. He went home an almost heartbroken man, although his record must stand out as one of the most brilliant in our naval history.
If the bold Preble had continued in command of the squadron, there is little doubt that when he saw what Eaton was doing at Derne he would have begun an attack on Tripoli that would have brought Joseph Bashaw to his knees.
The one good reason advanced as to why General Eaton's expedition should have ended at Derne was that if it approached Tripoli, the Americans held prisoners there might have been killed by Joseph Bashaw when his city was attacked. He threatened that, in an extremity, he would slay the prisoners. Several of the officers who were in captivity held this fear. Yet Commodore Rodgers wrote afterwards to the Secretary of the Navy: