President Thomas Jefferson to Congress.
Washington, D. C., February 20th, 1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.
I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter of September 18, from Commodore Preble, giving a detailed account of the transactions of the vessels under his command, from July the 9th to the 10th of September, last past.
The energy and judgment displayed by this excellent officer, through the whole course of the service lately confided to him, and the zeal and bravery of his officers and men in the several enterprizes executed by them, cannot fail to give high satisfaction to Congress and their country, of whom they have deserved well.
Th: Jefferson.
Commodore Preble to the Secretary of the Navy.
United States ship Constitution, Malta Harbour, September 18th, 1804.
To the Honourable Secretary of the United States Navy,
Washington, D. C.
Sir: I had the honour to write you from Messina, under date of the 5th of July; I then expected to have sailed the day following, but was detained, by bad weather, until the 9th, when I left it, with two small bomb vessels under convoy, and arrived at Syracuse, where we were necessarily detained four days. On the 14th I sailed, the schooners Nautilus and Enterprize in company, with six gun boats and two bomb vessels, generously loaned us by His Sicilian Majesty. The bomb vessels are about thirty tons, carry a thirteen-inch brass sea mortar, and forty men. Gun boats, twenty-five tons, carry a long iron twenty-four pounder in the bow, with a complement of thirty-five men. They are officered and manned from the squadron, excepting twelve Neapolitan bombardiers, gunners, and sailors, attached to each boat, who were shipped by permission of their Government. This step I found necessary, as every vessel in the squadron was considerably short of complement. The gun boats are constructed for the defence of harbours; they are flat bottomed and heavy, and do not sail or row even tolerably well. They were never intended to go to sea, and, I find, cannot be navigated with safety, unless assisted by tow ropes from larger and better sailing vessels, nor even then, in very bad weather; however, as they were the best I could obtain, I have thought it for the good of our service to employ them, particularly as the weather in July and August is generally pleasant, and, without them, my force too small to make any impression on Tripoli.
On the 16th of July we arrived at Malta, where we were detained by contrary gales until the 21st, when we left it, and arrived in sight of Tripoli the 25th, and were joined by the Syren, Argus, Vixen and Scourge. Our squadron now consisted of the Constitution, three brigs, three schooners, two bombs, and six gun-boats, our whole number of men one thousand and sixty. I proceeded to make the necessary arrangements for an attack on Tripoli, a city well walled, protected by batteries judiciously constructed, mounting one hundred and fifteen pieces of heavy cannon, and defended by twenty-five thousand Arabs and Turks; the harbour protected by nineteen gun-boats, two galleys, two schooners of eight guns each, and a brig mounting ten guns, ranged in order of battle, forming a strong line of defence, at secure moorings, inside a long range of rocks and shoals, extending more than two miles to the eastward of the town, which form the harbour, protects them from the northern gales, and renders it impossible for a vessel of the Constitution's draught of water to approach near enough to destroy them, as they are sheltered by the rocks, and can retire under that shelter to the shore, unless they choose to expose themselves in the different channels and openings of the reefs, for the purpose of annoying their enemies. Each of their gunboats mounts a heavy eighteen or twenty-six pounder in the bow, and two brass howitzers on their quarters, and carry from thirty-six to fifty men. The galleys have each one hundred men, schooners and brigs about the same number. The weather was not favourable for anchoring until the 28th, when, with the wind E. S. E., the squadron stood in for the coast, and at 3 p.m. anchored, per signal, Tripoli bearing S. two and a half miles distant. At this moment the wind shifted suddenly from E. S. E. to N. N. W., and from thence to N. N. E. At 5 o'clock it blew strong, with a heavy sea, setting directly on shore. I made the signal to prepare to weigh. At 6, the wind and sea having considerably increased the signal was made for the squadron to weigh and gain an offing. The wind continued veering to the eastward, which favoured our gaining sea-room without being obliged to carry so great a press of sail as to lose any of our gunboats, although they were in great danger. The gale continued varying from N. E. to E. S. E. without increasing much, until the 31st, when it blew away our reefed foresail, and close-reefed main-topsail; fortunately, the sea did not rise in proportion to the strength of the gale, or we must have lost all our boats. August 1st the gale subsided, and we stood towards the coast: every preparation was made for an attack on the town and harbour. August 3d, pleasant weather, wind East; stood in with the squadron towards Tripoli. At noon we were between two or three miles from the batteries, which were all manned, and observing several of their gunboats and galleys had advanced, in two divisions, without the rocks, I determined to take advantage of their temerity. At half-past 12 I wore off shore, and made the signal to come within hail, when I communicated to each of the commanders my intention of attacking the enemy's shipping and batteries. The gun and mortar boats were immediately manned and prepared to cast off, the gunboats in two divisions of three each; the first division commanded by Captain Somers, in No. 1; Lieutenant Decatur in No. 2, and Lieutenant Blake in No. 3; the second division commanded by Captain Decatur, in No. 4, Lieutenant Bainbridge in No. 5, and Lieutenant Trippe in No. 6. The two bombards were commanded by Lieutenant-Commandant Dent, and Mr. Robinson, First Lieutenant of this ship. At half-past 1 o'clock, having made the necessary arrangements for the attack, wore ship and stood towards the batteries. At 2 signal made to cast off the boats; at a quarter-past 2 signal for bombs and gunboats to advance and attack the enemy. At half-past 2 general signal for battle. At three-quarters-past 2 the bombs commenced the action, by throwing shells into the town. In an instant the enemy's shipping and batteries opened a tremendous fire, which was promptly returned by the whole squadron within grape-shot distance; at the same time the second division, of three gunboats, led by the gallant Captain Decatur, was advancing, with sails and oars, to board the eastern division of the enemy, consisting of nine boats. Our boats gave the enemy showers of grape and musket balls as they advanced; they, however, soon closed, when the pistol, sabre, pike and tomahawk were made good use of by our brave tars. Captain Somers, being in a dull sailer, made the best use of his sweeps, but was not able to fetch far enough to windward to engage the same division of the enemy's boats which Captain Decatur fell in with; he, however, gallantly bore down with his single boat on five of the enemy's western division, and engaged within pistol shot, defeated and drove them within the rocks, in a shattered condition, and with the loss of a great number of men. Lieutenant Decatur, in No. 2, was closely engaged with one of the enemy's largest boats of the eastern division, which struck to him, after having lost a large proportion of men, and, at the instant that brave officer was boarding her to take possession, he was treacherously shot through the head by the captain of the boat that had surrendered, which base conduct enabled the poltroon (with the assistance he received from the other boats) to escape. The third boat of Captain Somers' division kept to windward, firing at the boats and shipping in the harbour; had she gone down to his assistance, it is probable several of the enemy's boats would have been captured in that quarter. Captain Decatur, in No. 4, after having, with distinguished bravery, boarded and carried one of the enemy of superior force, took his prize in tow, and gallantly bore down to engage a second, which, after a severe and bloody conflict, he also took possession of. These two prizes had thirty-three officers and men killed, and twenty-seven made prisoners, nineteen of which were badly wounded. Lieutenant Trippe, of the Vixen, in No. 6, ran alongside of one of the enemy's large boats, which he boarded with only Midshipman John Henley and nine men, his boat falling off before any more could get on board; thus was he left, compelled to conquer or perish, with the odds of thirty-six to eleven. The Turks could not withstand the ardour of this brave officer and his assistants; in a few minutes the decks were cleared, and her colours hauled down. On board of this boat fourteen of the enemy were killed, and twenty-two made prisoners, seven of which were badly wounded. The rest of their boats retreated within the rocks. Lieutenant Trippe received eleven sabre wounds, some of which are very severe; he speaks in the highest terms of Mr. Henley, and those who followed him. Lieutenant Bainbridge, in No. 5, had his latteen yard shot away early in the action, which prevented his getting alongside the enemy's boats, but he galled them by a steady and well directed fire, within musket shot; indeed he pursued the enemy until his boat grounded under the batteries; she was, fortunately, soon got off. The bomb vessels kept their stations, although covered with the spray of the sea occasioned by the enemy's shot. They were well conducted by Lieutenants Dent and Robinson, who kept up a constant fire from the mortars, and threw a great number of shells into the town. Five of the enemy's gunboats, and two galleys, composing the centre division, and stationed within the rocks, as a reserve, joined by the boats that had been driven in, and supplied by fresh men from the shore to replace those they had lost, twice attempted to row out, to endeavour to surround our gunboats and their prizes: I as often made the signal to cover them, which was promptly attended to by the brigs and schooners, all of which were gallantly conducted, and annoyed the enemy exceedingly, but the fire from this ship kept their flotilla completely in check. Our grape shot made great havoc among their men, not only on board their shipping, but on shore. We were several times within two cables length of the rocks, and within three of their batteries, every one of which, in succession, were silenced, so long as we could bring our broadside to bear upon them; but the moment we passed a battery, it was re-animated, and a constant, heavy fire kept up from all that we could not point our guns at. We suffered most when wearing or tacking; it was then I most sensibly felt the want of another frigate. At half-past four, the wind inclining to the northward, I made the signal for the bombs and gunboats to retire from action, and, immediately after, the signal to tow off the gunboats and prizes, which was handsomely executed by the brigs, schooners, and boats of the squadron, covered by a heavy fire from the Constitution. At three-quarters past 4, p.m., the light vessels, gunboats, and prizes being out of reach of the enemy's shot, I hauled off to take the bomb vessels in tow. We were two hours under the fire of the enemy's batteries, and the only damage received in the ship is a twenty-four pound shot nearly through the centre of the mainmast, thirty feet from the deck; main royal yard and sail shot away; one of our quarter-deck guns damaged by a thirty-two pound shot, which, at the same time, shattered a mariner's arm; two lower shrouds and two backstays were shot away, and our sails and running rigging considerably cut. We must impute our getting off thus well to our keeping so near that they overshot us, and to the annoyance our grape shot gave them; they are, however, but wretched gunners. Gunboat No. 5 had her main yard shot away, and the rigging and sails of the brigs and schooners were considerably cut. Lieutenant Decatur was the only officer killed, but in him the service has lost a valuable officer. He was a young man who gave strong promise of being an ornament to his profession. His conduct in the action was highly honourable, and he died nobly. The enemy must have suffered very much in killed and wounded, both among the shipping and on shore. Three of their gunboats were sunk in the harbour, several of them had their decks nearly cleared of men by our shot, and a number of shells burst in the town and batteries, which must have done great execution. The officers, seamen, and marines, of the squadron behaved in the most gallant manner. The Neapolitans, in emulating the ardour of our seamen, answered my highest expectations.