THE PHILADELPHIA FIRED. 



537 



were challenged ; but the pilot replied that he had lost his 

 anchor and merely wished to fasten his vessel to the frigate till 

 morning. A boat was sent ashore by the Tripolitans to ask 

 permission, and then Decatur and his men leaped upon the 

 deck. They rushed upon the affrighted corsairs, fifty in num- 

 ber, and drove them into the sea. They set fire to the Phila- 

 delphia, and, by the light of the blaze, escaped without the loss 

 of a single man. One sailor was wounded by receiving upon 

 his arm a blow from a sabre with which the turbaned pirate 

 meant to decapitate Decatur. 



The Tripolitans were enraged at the loss of their prize, and 

 treated Bainbridge and his enslaved crew with greater severity 

 than ever. Three times did Preble enter the harbor of Tripoli 

 with his fleet and open his broadsides against the town, destroy- 

 ing some of the shipping, but making no material impression. 

 At last, a series of brilliant actions upon land under General 

 Eaton, whose army consisted of nine Americans, twenty Greeks, 

 and five hundred Egyptians, and the arrival of the frigate Con- 

 stitution in June, 1805, forced the Bashaw of Tripoli to come to 

 terms ; and he released his prisoners and abandoned forever the 

 levying of tribute upon American ships. Peace was at once 

 concluded. 



In 1812, the United States being at war with England, the 

 Dey of Algiers thought our Government would be unable to 

 cope with two enemies upon the ocean, and determined to re- 

 sume piracy on our vessels. He pretexted the unsatisfactory 

 quality of a cargo of military stores furnished by our Govern- 

 ment, and ordered the American agent to leave the capital. 

 Depredations were immediately recommenced : our vessels were 

 plundered and confiscated and their crews enslaved. The Pre- 

 sident suggested the importance of taking measures of preven- 

 tion, in his message to Congress in December, 1814, and, after 

 the- signing of the treaty of peace with England, despatched two 

 squadrons to the Mediterranean, under Decatur and Bainbridge, 



