Decatur and Somers

by Molly Elliot Seawell

“You shall have the sword and pistol, and the smart money too.”

The wind still held, and, the Siren getting up her anchor, Decatur took Jack Creamer with him and returned on board the ketch, and all sail was made for Syracuse.

On the morning of the 19th of February, just fifteen days after they had left Syracuse, the Intrepid and the Siren stood into the harbor. Stewart, from motives of delicacy, kept his fast-sailing brig astern of the ketch. The Nautilus lay farther out than the Constitution, and Somers, taking his morning walk on the quarter-deck, saw the ketch and the brig approaching, and the next moment the lookout sang out, “Sail, ho!”

Instinctively Somers knew that it was Decatur and Stewart. The morning was one of those clear, brilliant days when the earth and sea seem like paradise. In the bright blue air he could see the white canvas of the brig, now cleaned and fresh, and the low hull of the ketch with her lateen sails. Soon they were near enough to be hailed, and, with a joy and thankfulness not to be described, Somers saw Decatur standing on the bow of the ketch, waving his cap—a signal meaning success, that had been agreed on between them.

The next instant they were seen from the Constitution, and as soon as it was certain that they were observed an ensign was run up to every masthead on the Intrepid. This was enough—it meant complete success. At once the commodore gave orders for a salute to be fired, and the guns of the Constitution roared out their welcome. This was taken up by the Nautilus, and by the Sicilian forts on shore—for Sicily, too, had her grudge against Tripoli. In the midst of the thundering salutes, and in a cloud of blue smoke, the brig and the ketch came to anchor. Somers had ordered his boat lowered, and had made for the Constitution, in order to be the first to meet Decatur. His boat and the Intrepid’s, which carried Decatur and Lawrence, came to the ladder at the same moment. Decatur sprang out and caught Somers in his arms, and they hugged each other very much as they had done in their midshipman days, when both were larking together in “Old Wagoner’s” steerage. Somers then went over the side, in order that he might witness Decatur’s triumphal entry. The commodore and all the Constitution’s officers were waiting at the gangway to salute Decatur. Somers greeted the commodore and the other officers hurriedly and walked aside, as Decatur stepped upon the quarter-deck, followed by his first lieutenant. Decatur wore a perfectly new naval uniform, with a handsome sword. His fine black eyes were sparkling, and he had a happy air of success. He bowed low to the commodore. “Old Pepper” grasped Decatur’s hand warmly, and, taking off his cap, cried:

“If every plank in the Philadelphia is destroyed, you shall have my best efforts to make you a post-captain for it!”

“Every plank is destroyed, sir; every gun is burst and at the bottom of the harbor; and the ship, after burning to the water’s edge, exploded, and you could not have told the place where she lay,” answered Decatur, in a quiet voice.

At this a mighty hurrah went up from the officers and men on the Constitution.

“Not a man was lost——” continued Decatur, but at that another storm of cheering cut him short. Somers, the quietest and most self-contained man on the squadron, was cheering wildly, and literally dancing in his excitement. The commodore hurried Decatur into the cabin to get the particulars. Lawrence told the glorious story on the quarter-deck; while Danny Dixon, who was coxswain, got permission to leave the Intrepid’s boat, and to a listening crowd of blue-jackets on the fok’sl he narrated the noble adventures of the Intrepid.

When Decatur returned to the deck to get into his boat he found the rigging full of men, and as he left the ship, taking Somers with him, that they might have their usual long and intimate talk, the yards were manned, and three rousing American cheers shook the Constitution’s deck in honor of the Intrepid’s young commander.