A%^; 
 
■7 A - 
 
 \ 
 
 ^1 
 
 1 
 
 v*.^ 
 
 
 
 Jltl;ata, New ^ai;k 
 
 BERNARD ALBERT SINN 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 NAVAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 BERNARD A. SINN, '97 
 
 1919 
 
 
"^^ 
 
 -"*«»^ 
 
 
 Date Due 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 \^ 
 
 f 
 
 NOV 3 019< 
 
 IZ 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 J- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 • # 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ct 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^.» 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 >*• 
 1 
 
 
 
 ^^^_ .1^^^ 
 
 nMr«r ^wt^M 
 
 E353.1.B2°B26""""'""^'-"'™^ 
 S°i1'i1?.^,?,rS ...??.'.nbridge: 
 
 3 1924 032 759 247 
 

Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032759247 
 
Young Heroes of our Navy 
 
 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE 
 
YOUNG HEROES OF OUR NAVY. 
 
 Uniform Edition. Eacli, i2mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 The Hero of Erie (Commodore Perry). 
 
 By James Barnes, author of " Midshipman Farragut," 
 " Commodore Bainbridge," etc. With 10 full-page Illus- 
 trations. 
 In this graphic and spirited story Mr. Barnes tells of Perry's 
 adventures as a boy on the frigate General Greene, and conducts 
 his hero through the exciting scenes which attended the battle of 
 Lake Erie. It is a story which illustrates the resourcefulness, 
 energy, and dauntless courage which have characterized our 
 naval heroes from Paul Jones to Dewey and Hobson. The 
 book is an important addition to a series which is indispen?able 
 for American youth who wish to know the historic deeds of our 
 navy, and at the present time the Young Heroes of our Navy 
 series is of peculiar interest to older readers. 
 
 Commodore Bainbridge. Prom tbe Ounroom 
 to the Quarter-deck. 
 
 By James Barnes. Illustrated by George Gibbs and 
 Others. 
 
 Midshipman Farragut. 
 
 By James Barnes. Illustrated by Carlton T. Chapman. 
 
 Decatur and Somers. 
 
 By Molly Elliot Seawell, author of " Paul Jones," 
 " Little Jarvis," etc. With 6 full-page Illustrations by 
 J. O. Davidson and Others. 
 
 Paul Jones. 
 
 By Molly Elliot Seawell. With 8 full-page Illus- 
 trations. 
 
 Midshipman Paulding. 
 
 A True Story of the War of rSra. By Molly Elliot 
 SeaW£LL. With 6 full-page Illustrations. 
 
 Little Jarvis. 
 
 The story of the heroic midshipman of the frigate Constella- 
 tion, by Molly Elliot Seawell. With 6 full-page 
 Illustrations. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
The Java strikes. 
 
 (See page 164.) 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE 
 
 FROM THE GUNROOM TO THE QUARTER-DECK 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES BARNES 
 
 AUTHOR OF MIDSHIPMAN FARRAGUT, FOR 
 KING OR COUNTRY, NAVAL ACTIONS OF 
 THE WAR OF 1812, A LOYAL TRAITOR, ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE GIBBS AND OTHERS 
 
 SCIMETAR PRESKNTED TO COMMODORE 
 BAINBRIDGE BY SIUl MOHAMMED d'GUIEKS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1899 
 
 s 
 
^_ 
 
 "^ 
 
 •> 
 
 A 45^1=1 fc 
 
 Copyright, 1897, 
 By D. APPLETON AND COxMPANY. 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
 
 It will be of interest to know that the miniature por- 
 trait of Mrs. Bainbridge, the scimiter presented by Sidi 
 Mohammed D'Ghiers, and the sword presented by General 
 Hislop are all reproduced from the originals in the pos- 
 session of a family descended from Commodore Bain- 
 bridge, which includes among its number the author of 
 this book. This circumstance readily suggests the ex- 
 ceptional opportunities at the author's command in the 
 way of unpublished letters and papers, and in a personal 
 knowledge, which imparts a peculiar actuality to the 
 scenes described in his story. 
 
LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 FACING 
 PACB 
 
 The Java strikes Franthpiece 
 
 Bainbridge quells a mutiny ......... 22 
 
 On the deck of the Volontier . . . . . . . .47 
 
 The Turkish admiral visits the Washington ...... 76 
 
 The miniature of Mrs. Bainbridge .... ... icg 
 
 Decatur boarding the Philadelphia . . . . . . . .130 
 
 Watching the bombardment from the Tripoli prison cell . . . 138 
 
 Action between the Constitution and the Java ..... 163 
 
 Bainbridgc's reception at Boston ........ 167 
 
 vii 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 John Taylor, Esq., of Monmouth County, New Jer- 
 sey, was walking slowly along beneath the shade of the 
 trees bordering the path that led from the turnpike up to 
 the big white house, an odd-looking building begun by his 
 father and completed by himself, in an entirely different 
 style of architecture, a score of years previous to the 
 time this story begins. It had an air of ponderous pros- 
 perity. 
 
 As the old gentleman walked slowly up the path he 
 took from his pocket a letter, the seal of which had already 
 been broken, and thrusting his gold-headed stick beneath 
 his arm, he re-read the epistle for the second time. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was stamped with the unmistakable air 
 of wealth, respectability, and importance. One could see 
 that his was a mind that came to conclusions slowly, and 
 in the lines of his strongly marked old face a close student 
 of character would have perceived firmness and resolution. 
 He halted for an instant before he stepped out into the 
 bright sunlight at the end of the row of trees, and finished 
 his letter, reading the last words half aloud: 
 
 " I trust, my dear sir, that you will find our son tract- 
 able in disposition, willing and eager to meet your views, 
 and obedient to your behests. Although he is so young. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 his mother and myself have discovered in him evidences 
 of a lofty temperament, and I am sure that no lad could 
 wish for a better promise for the future than the chance 
 of spending his early life near one so able to teach the 
 importance of high moral sentiments and proper rules 
 of conduct as yourself. I shall bring William to you in 
 the course of the next fortnight. Believe me, I am, most 
 honored sir, your very devoted son-in-law, Absalom Bain- 
 bridge." 
 
 When Mr. Taylor reached the portico of the house 
 he turned and looked back toward the big gateway 
 and smiled broadly and pleasantly. It was almost as 
 if he had seen some one whom he was glad to welcome 
 walking toward him, and in his imagination the old 
 man had pictured a boyish figure coming up the shaded 
 walk. 
 
 Yes, it would be pleasing to have his grandson here; 
 the old house had been lonely for many years. It would 
 be a delightful task to again feel a young mind expanding 
 under his control, for John Taylor was one of those nat- 
 ural-born instructors, a man with a gift of imparting in- 
 formation and controlling character. 
 
 As he stood there mopping his forehead with a large 
 handkerchief, and smoothing back the thin, gray hair tied 
 in a long queue down his back, his thoughts were inter- 
 rupted by the approach of a little dried-up individual 
 whose appearance showed that he occupied a position 
 above that of a servant; but his manner was respectful, 
 and was that of one well accustomed to Mr. Taylor's 
 peculiarities. He coughed gently to attract the old gen- 
 tleman's attention. 
 
 " Ah, Fenwick ! " exclaimed the latter, turning. 
 " Good news! My grandson is coming to us inside of a 
 fortnight." 
 
 " I am very glad of that, sir," was the reply. " I was 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 much taken with the young gentleman at my first sight 
 of him, sir." 
 
 With that the two old men entered the house. 
 
 Two weeks later a heavy, clumsy-looking coach rolled 
 down the Middletown turnpike and stopped at the big 
 gate of the Taylor place, and a boy of about thirteen years 
 of age clambered down from the top. His box was handed 
 to the roadside by the guard, and he stood there looking 
 across the lawn at the great white house that seemed to 
 smile a welcome from its wide-open doors and windows. 
 There was no shade of sadness or despondency in the 
 boy's face; he looked eagerly through the gateway as if 
 expecting some one to come and meet him, and at this 
 instant two figures appeared upon the veranda. His 
 grandfather's appearance was well known to him, and al- 
 though too far ofif to speak a word, he lifted his hat in 
 a salutation at long range. Soon the old gentleman came 
 hurrying down to meet him, accompanied by a servant, 
 who shouldered the box and followed his master and the 
 newcomer back to the house. 
 
 " Mother sends her love to you and my father sends 
 assurances of his deep regard, and regrets that it was im- 
 possible for him, owing to his practice, sir, to accompany 
 me," said the boy gravely, after the first words of greeting. 
 
 " And they are all well? " inquired Mr. Taylor kindly, 
 but speaking as though he were addressing a man of 
 mature age and understanding. 
 
 " All well, sir, I am glad to say." 
 
 " And so you wish to study to become a merchant, 
 or mayhap a lawyer, eh, Williaiti? " 
 
 " I had rather be a sailor, sir." 
 
 " Highty-tighty! " exclaimed Mr. Taylor, lifting his 
 eyebrows; " and what put such an idea as that into your 
 head?" 
 
 " I thought about it a great deal, grandfather," the lad 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 answered. " In fact, ever since we came to New York 
 I have liked to think of going to sea." 
 
 " What does your father say to it, William? " 
 
 " He says I'm too young to decide what I want; but 
 I haven't spoken to him about it for a long time now." 
 
 " Then you would rather be a sailor and have to en- 
 dure all the hardships of his precarious calling than to 
 be a merchant and have dry ground under your feet, and 
 a safe living always in peace and comfort? " 
 
 " Yes, sir, I think so." 
 
 " Well, well! " smiled the old man, a little nonplused at 
 his grandson's calm frankness. " We'll see about all 
 this after a while; perhaps you will change your mind." 
 
 " I think not, sir." 
 
 " We'll see," responded the grandfather. Then he 
 went on to ask questions of the boy about his studies, 
 his progress in the classics and languages, and to his 
 delight he found him responsive and eager to learn. 
 
 Before the day was over John Taylor's heart went out 
 to the son of his only daughter, and a great affection grew 
 between them, to ripen into trust and confidence never 
 to be displaced. And thus it is easy to perceive that 
 young WilHam Bainbridge's changing his home from that 
 of his father, a hard-working physician in New York city, 
 to the shelter of the mansion of his maternal grandfather 
 augured well for his future career in life. 
 
 Two very uneventful years followed in the peaceful 
 New Jersey town. Studying with his grandfather and 
 the village schoolmaster, young Bainbridge made great 
 progress, and endeared himself to all those with whom 
 he came in contact. But there is not space to tell of 
 these early school days that flew by as quickly with Wil- 
 liam as they do with every boy. That unalterable in- 
 clination toward the life of a seafarer had led him upon 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 more than one occasion respectfully to petition his parents 
 and Mr. Taylor to grant him an opportunity of taking 
 up early a profession in which sooner or later he be- 
 lieved he would find himself. He dreamed of ships and 
 the sea. 
 
 Although Air. Taylor had nothing to complain of in 
 regard to the way he attended to his duties and pursued 
 his studies, with great wisdom he saw at last that it would 
 be best to grant the boy's request, and, instead of hinder- 
 ing him in fulfilling the wishes of his heart, he concluded, 
 not without sorrow and some misgivings, to give him a 
 good start, and place him in a position to make the best 
 of any opportunities for advancement. To this end he 
 wrote to Dr. Bainbridge a letter that surprised the good 
 physician into an expression of astonishment, for it advo- 
 cated placing William under the charge and patronage 
 of a " respectable and intelligent commander " whom 
 Grandfather Taylor knew was soon about to sail from 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 " We had better let the lad follow his inclinations — a 
 determined spirit may be broken, but not bent," read the 
 letter. " Let him go to sea." 
 
 After some delay and much discussion, this was 
 agreed to, and William, at the age of fifteen, started for 
 Philadelphia with a letter in his pocket introducing him 
 to Captain Waldron, well known as one of the most care- 
 ful and painstaking ofificers then sailing out of the port 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 The good ship Ariel was his vessel, and, although she 
 was small, she had made many voyages, and had the repu- 
 tation of being a lucky ship with all the seamen— a point 
 in her favor that offset her small size in securing a good 
 crew. 
 
 Thus far this introductory chapter deals but slightly 
 with the personal qualifications or the appearance of the 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 hero of the succeeding tale, so before we follow him 
 in his numerous adventures a few words are not amiss. 
 He was a tall boy for his age, with a dignified, quiet man- 
 ner, gentlemanly bearing, and a low, modulated voice. 
 He was strong and active and of an adventurous dis- 
 position. In every boyish enterprise where peril was to be 
 encountered, he had been the leader of his youthful 
 comrades and many stories of his school days might 
 be recounted. But we skip over the early life at Mid- 
 dletown to the very day on which began the career that 
 has made his name famous among those " who go down 
 to the sea in ships," and made him, moreover, a model for 
 the young American sailor to look up to. 
 
 Fenwick, Mr. Taylor's confidential clerk and general 
 major-domo, accompanied William on the way to Phila- 
 delphia. If there was one thing that the wizened little 
 man objected to, it was the idea that any one in whom 
 he felt an interest should display such a lack of apprecia- 
 tion as to choose to adopt the life of a seaman. And 
 so William was compelled to listen to a long lecture, and 
 many mournful predictions as to what might become of 
 him after leaving good dry land. 
 
 He dreamed of the numerous dangers that Fenwick 
 had called up to his mind — shipwreck and disaster, pirates 
 and icebergs — but awoke the next morning undeterred 
 and eager. He parted from his old friend at Burton's 
 Cofifee House after a hasty breakfast, and all alone he 
 walked to the water front, to present himself to Cap- 
 tain Waldron on board the Ariel, then almost ready to 
 set sail. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Well, my young gentleman," said Captain Waldron, 
 looking up from a letter that he had just finished reading, 
 " this is no time to make a speech to you; in fact we are 
 so busy that I have hardly time for more than a few words, 
 but those are words of welcome. We are glad to have 
 you aboard. And I can promise you that you will have 
 every opportunity given you to show what you are 
 made of." 
 
 He surveyed young Bainbridge from head to foot, and 
 then turning to one of the sailors, he directed him to 
 take the little sea chest down below and show the young 
 gentleman where he was to swing his hammock. 
 
 A great many captains in those days took out with 
 them upon their voyages young boys who had shown a pre- 
 dilection for the sea, instructing them in seamanship and 
 navigation, and thus many of the larger vessels were prac- 
 tically school-ships that turned out many young otBcers 
 who afterward became famous in the service of their 
 country, for, most unfortunately, the regular navy, during 
 the ten years that followed the cessation of hostilities 
 between Great Britain and the United States, had 
 dwindled into nothing. 
 
 Captain Waldron's vessel was not large enough to 
 accommodate many young gentlemen, and upon this voy- 
 age Bainbridge found himself the only scholar. 
 
 " That's a likely youngster," observed the captain to 
 his first mate, his eyes following William's figure as it dis- 
 
 7 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 appeared down the companion way. " I can tell by the 
 looks of a lad how he's going to move. He's quick- 
 handed and quick-witted, mark my words, Mr. Seth. 
 There's a topman and an officer, too, in the make-up of 
 him." 
 
 Mr. Seth was not altogether an optimistic person. 
 He was curt and short-spoken in his manner, and a be- 
 liever in the hard school from which he had graduated, 
 for he had worked his way from the forecastle to the 
 quarter-deck, and had not " come in through the cabin 
 window," as he expressed it. 
 
 " Three weeks at sea will show us more about the 
 lad," he observed. " But I confess, sir, I rather like the 
 cut of his jib myself." 
 
 " I wish you to give him every opportunity, Mr. Seth." 
 
 " Be easy on that score, sir," Mr. Seth made answer. 
 " He will not be neglected." 
 
 And this was a fact. Before the Ariel was four weeks 
 from land young Bainbridge had proved, even to the 
 first mate's satisfaction, that the choice of his calling had 
 not been made haphazard. He could lay upon the yard 
 with the best of them. His work was thoroughly done, 
 and he kept his eyes and ears open to such good advan- 
 tage that even before the return voyage was over he was 
 no longer counted a green hand, and had lost all traits 
 that mark the landsman. 
 
 Captain Waldron was delighted. Although not given 
 to praising, upon one occasion, when Bainbridge had sur- 
 prised him by his alertness and good judgment, he placed 
 his hands on the boy's shoulder. 
 
 " My son," he said, " some youngsters I've advised to 
 go home and seek a place in the counting house, some 
 few to return to their mothers, but the sea is the place for 
 you, there's no mistaking." 
 
 Thus when Bainbridge returned home from his maiden 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 voyage his family found him well launched in his career, 
 and Grandfather Taylor did not regret the fact that he 
 had been instrumental in helping to provide the mer- 
 chant service with so proficient a candidate for honors. 
 
 For three years he sailed with his good friend Cap- 
 tain \\'aldron, and at the age of eighteen the latter wrote 
 to the firm that owned the Ariel, stating that, if they 
 wished to keep the services of young Bainbridge, they 
 had better ofifer him a berth aft at the earliest possible 
 moment, despite the fact of his extreme youth. The 
 captain concluded by saying that he should have been 
 glad to take him out with him as first officer on his next 
 voyage, but, he added, he was reluctantly compelled to 
 stay on shore for some months, and he bespoke for his 
 young charge the first vacant position that could be 
 found on any ship of the company that might be sailing. 
 
 William was paying a visit to the parents in New York 
 when he received the notice of his appointment as first 
 mate of the ship Cantor, sailing in the Holland trade. 
 His stay on shore was cut short, and he hurried to Phila- 
 delphia to assume his post. 
 
 Before young Bainbridge had been on board of the 
 Cantor half an hour he found that his position was to be 
 very different from that of first mate on the vessel on 
 which he had previously served. It needed but a glance 
 at the crew to determine that the men were a bad lot, 
 and the captain was not the man to have been placed 
 in charge of them. He was undersized, and did not pos- 
 sess an air of authority. 
 
 It was the day previous to sailing, but the crew, at 
 least those of them that were on board, were in various 
 stages of intoxication. The cargo had been stowed, and 
 Captain Stebbins was waiting for the tide, to set sail 
 on the following morning. 
 
 Bainbridge looked older than his years. He stood 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 five feet eleven inches, and weighed about one hundred 
 and eighty pounds. His broad shoulders and deep chest, 
 and the tremendous strength of his arms and back, to- 
 gether with the fearless glance of his eye, gave him the 
 appearance of being at least four or five years older than 
 he really was. But he longed for Captain Waldron and 
 Mr. Seth, and his fears that there might be trouble 
 before long were verified by the first words spoken by 
 Captain Stebbins after their greeting. 
 
 " Glad to see you, Mr. Bainbridge, and I might as well 
 tell you that I am agreeably disappointed, sir. I had 
 been told that you were but a lad who had secured this 
 appointment through family influence. It will be a man's 
 job to handle that lot of cutthroats — just look at them! " 
 
 Bainbridge glanced at the forecastle where three or 
 four surly, hangdog-looking villains were sitting with their 
 backs against the rail. Then he looked at Captain Steb- 
 bins's irresolute face, and again at the group on the 
 forecastle. One of the men at this moment produced a 
 big black bottle and, without any efifort at concealment, 
 passed it to his comrades. Each one of them took a pull, 
 and the last half-insolently held the bottle up to the 
 light and said in words loud enough to be heard well aft: 
 
 " Here's to the young gentleman on the quarter-deck." 
 
 " Hadn't you better stop that, sir? " inquired Bain- 
 bridge politely of the captain. 
 
 The latter turned his head away. 
 
 " I'm afraid to attempt it, Mr. Bainbridge, just now; 
 'twas hard enough to get a crew as it is. In fact, I had to 
 pay them something in advance, and I fear me they would 
 leave the ship — wait till we get to sea. We can't pre- 
 vent it now." 
 
 " I think I can prevent it, sir," Bainbridge answered 
 quietly, " if you will allow me to make the attempt. Are 
 they all on board? " 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 " All but two. I suppose they'll come on board to- 
 night drunk as the others." 
 
 It was indeed a bad lookout. But the young officer's 
 temper had risen. 
 
 " I should like to make the attempt to put a stop to 
 it, sir, if I may, during my watch." 
 
 "Very good; then it's your watch now," answered 
 the captain, a little provoked and showing it plainly. " I 
 shall be below." 
 
 " Will you tell me the names of the men as they sit 
 there, sir? " 
 
 The captain answered, speaking in a whisper, giving 
 the names of the men in order. The fellow who had pro- 
 posed the insolent toast answered to the sobriquet of 
 " Whisky Jack," but his real name was Monson. 
 
 No sooner had the captain disappeared than Bain- 
 bridge walked forward to the mast. 
 
 " Monson," he called, " step aft here, my man." 
 
 The sailor lurched unsteadily to his feet, and, followed 
 by all of his companions (there were six of them), obeyed 
 the order with a leer on his sodden countenance. 
 
 " The rest of you stay forward; I want to speak to this 
 lad alone." 
 
 It was rather a strange thing for a boy of eighteen 
 to address a man of at least forty in these terms, but there 
 was no mistaking the import of his tone. A sailor knows 
 quicker than any other man when he meets his master, and 
 the rest halted waiting to see what Whisky Jack would 
 do. Bainbridge did not speak a word. With his arms 
 folded he looked the approaching man full in the face. 
 The latter shuffled uneasily as he attempted to reply to 
 the first mate's steady gaze. The leer faded from his face, 
 and slowly his fingers rose to his forehead. 
 
 " Well, sir? " he said thickly. 
 
 " Fetch me that bottle." 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 " What bottle, sir? " 
 
 There was no reply for an instant. Bainbridge's face 
 had a dangerous, set expression, but he repeated his 
 order, if anything more quietly and calmly than before. 
 
 " Fetch me that bottle! " 
 
 The man turned and walked forward. 
 
 " The young gentleman wants a drink, Bill," he said, 
 as if trying to keep up appearances. " Let's let him 
 have it." 
 
 The fellow addressed as Bill grinned, and produced 
 the bottle from his jacket, and Monson again walked up 
 to his officer. Bainbridge extended his hand. 
 
 " Give it me," he said. 
 
 With a last attempt at bravado the sailor began to 
 remove the cork. 
 
 " Never mind that," and with a quick movement the 
 bottle was snatched from his grasp and tossed over the 
 rail. 
 
 " Now, below, every man-jack of you! " thundered the 
 first mate, stepping forward. 
 
 It was very wonderful indeed, almost past believing, 
 in fact, but the discomfited group had no time to parley. 
 Without a question they stumbled down the forward 
 hatch. 
 
 The vessel yet lay moored alongside the wharf, and her 
 rail was lower than the stringpiece. 
 
 " Well done, sir! This is Mr. Bainbridge, I presume," 
 exclaimed some one, and looking up, William saw that an 
 elderly man dressed in a rough sailor jacket was looking 
 down at him. 
 
 " I'm Mr. Taft, second mate, sir," said the man, bend- 
 ing forward and climbing down to the vessel's deck. 
 " That's the way to treat those drunken rascals. I'm 
 glad to see it, sir, and I'd have begun it long ago myself 
 if Captain Stebbins " 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 13 
 
 " I was acting under Captain Stebbins's orders," inter- 
 rupted Bainbridge, not wishing to discuss the actions of 
 his commanding officer. " When will the rest of the crew 
 be on board, Mr. Taft? " 
 
 " They're coming down the wharf now," the second 
 officer made reply, " drunk as fiddlers." 
 
 And no sooner had he spoken than two more hard- 
 featured individuals were seen climbing unsteadily down 
 on to the forecastle. 
 
 " Monson," said Bainbridge, turning quickly to the 
 sailor who had waited at the mainmast, " tell those men 
 that I wish to speak to them." 
 
 With a look almost of admiration, Whisky Jack obeyed 
 the order. 
 
 " See here, my bulHes," he exclaimed in an undertone 
 to the other two, " we are not going to have such an easy 
 time of it after all. There's an oiflcer on board this ship. 
 He wants to speak to you. Don't give him any back talk; 
 won't do for a minute." 
 
 The two sailors came aft. 
 
 " Monson," said Bainbridge, " search these men." 
 
 Two more bottles of whisky went overboard. 
 
 At this juncture Captain Stebbins came on deck. The 
 first mate had given a glance at the weather vane that 
 surmounted a flagstaff on top of one of the near-by build- 
 ings. He remembered a bit of seamanship that he had 
 seen Captain Waldron successfully execute when lying 
 at a wharf. A light breeze was blowing from just the right 
 direction. It would require no warping for the Cantor 
 to back out of her slip. 
 
 " Had we not better get out into the stream and an- 
 chor, sir? " Bainbridge asked, then perceiving for the first 
 time that Stebbins was suffering from the same ailment 
 that affected the crew. But his head was clear enough to 
 grasp the idea that had entered Bainbridge's mind. 
 
14 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 " Perhaps we had," he acquiesced. 
 
 The second mate sprang on the dock, and with the 
 assistance of Monson cast off the moorings; the two 
 sailors who were sober enough to have some of their wits 
 still about them were sent aloft, and soon the mizzen 
 topsail was laid against the mast, then with the assist- 
 ance of the current the little ship gained sternway and fell 
 off into the stream. Scarcely had the end of her flying 
 jib boom cleared the pier head when those of the crew who 
 were below in the forecastle came rushing up on deck. 
 
 But another surprise was in store for the first officer. 
 Captain Stebbins, irritated that he should have appeared 
 to have lost authority, burst into a torrent of profanity. 
 The men came crowding down to the waist. One of 
 them detached a belaying pin from the bitts. It looked 
 like mutiny. Bainbridge stepped to the captain's side. 
 
 " I understood you to say this is my watch, sir," he 
 said quietly. 
 
 Stebbins glanced at him, and without another word 
 went down into the cabin. 
 
 One of the foremast hands had constituted himself 
 spokesman. He was of that type so feared by officers of 
 ships — a natural disturber, a born loafer and sea lawyer, 
 breeder of trouble in the forecastle. 
 
 " We're not on the high seas yet, my Bucko," he said 
 defiantly, " and we're not to sail until to-morrow morn- 
 ing. We have a right to go ashore." 
 
 " Can you swim? " asked Bainbridge quietly. " If so, 
 overboard with you, and be quick about it. Come, now, 
 are you ready? " 
 
 The man looked over the side. It was February; the 
 river was yet filled with floating cakes of ice. 
 
 "Too cold, eh?" Bainbridge went on; "well, then, 
 go forward. All hands get ready to drop starboard 
 anchor." 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 15 
 
 Whisky Jack was among the first to obey, and in 
 surly fashion the others followed suit. They had found 
 out, as he had said, that there was " an officer on board," 
 and no mistake. 
 
 The first mate was very tired the next morning at 
 daybreak when the anchor was weighed, for he had not 
 closed his eyes all night, and as soon as the vessel was 
 under way he sought his berth and fell into a troubled 
 slumber. He could see that all the seafaring he had 
 done was but child's play to the experience that was 
 probably before him. In these surmisings he was correct. 
 
 Bad weather was encountered during the first two 
 weeks in the open sea, and so busy were the crew handling 
 the vessel when on watch, and so wearied were they 
 when below, that little time was found for grumbling. It 
 had not taken William very long to perceive one reason 
 at least why it had been so difficult for the Cantor to 
 i secure a better crew. The vessel was small, scarcely more 
 than three hundred tons burden, and Captain Stebbins 
 had received rather a bad name. 
 
 It was easy to see that he was not so much of a martinet 
 or a driver as a " nagger " ; although of rather a cowardly 
 disposition, he was great on bluster, threats, and profanity, 
 and when good weather was met with, instead of relax- 
 ing a little, owing to the hard time that had just been 
 gone through with, he kept the men hard at it — first 
 one thing and then another, and rating them severely 
 on the slightest provocation. It almost appeared as if he 
 did this to retrieve what he thought he might have lost 
 by his timid behavior when in port. 
 
 But at last they reached the English Channel, and 
 dropped anchor in the roadstead of Rotterdam. On the 
 second day of their arrival more trouble occurred. They 
 had passed the customs and were going to begin the 
 unloading of the vessel when an affair took place that 
 
i6 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 came near relieving the old ship of her rather obnoxious 
 commander in a summary way. 
 
 How the men had obtained anything to drink Bain^ 
 bridge never found out ; probably from some of the small 
 boats that were rowing about, for none of the crew had 
 been permitted to go ashore, the captain having landed 
 in a small boat he had hailed from the quarter-deck. He 
 had returned to the ship late in the evening. Bainbridge 
 had been below in his berth writing a letter in order to 
 send it back by a vessel nearly ready to set sail, when 
 suddenly there came from the deck above a sound of 
 scuffling feet. 
 
 What possessed him to think of danger he did not 
 know, but reaching up to the rack above his head he drew 
 forth a brace of heavy pistols and hurried out. At the 
 door of the cabin he ran into Monson, almost knocking 
 him full length against the ladder, so great was his haste 
 to gain the deck. 
 
 " What are you doing here, you rascal? " he cried, 
 helping the man to his feet. 
 
 Whisky Jack was very drunk. 
 
 " Hurry, sir," he said thickly. " I ain't no talebearer, 
 Init there'll be dirty work up there in a minute." 
 
 A mufifled cry for help reached the first mate's ears. 
 In two bounds he was on deck. It was almost pitch dark, 
 but there was light enough to see a confused struggle 
 ofif to the port side against the rail, and in the rays from 
 the anchor light he noticed Mr. Taft fighting furiously in 
 the arms of two of the strongest members of the crew. 
 One of them had wound his arms about the second mate's 
 throat, and was almost throttling him, while the other 
 was attempting to pinion his arms down to his sides. 
 The old man was no match for them, and it would have 
 been all up in another moment if it had not been for 
 Bainbridge's opportune appearance. He grasped one of 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 17 
 
 the heavy pistols by the barrel and brought the butt down 
 upon the nearest sailor's head. At this same instant he 
 caught the other by the back of his collar and gave him 
 a twist that set him off his feet; the man tripped and 
 disappeared backward down the hatchway. Bainbridge's 
 eyes had become better accustomed to the darkness by 
 this time, and he saw that another struggling group was 
 centered about a prostrate figure on the deck. 
 
 " Don't use your knife, you fool," grunted some one 
 thickly; "just heave him overboard." 
 
 The first mate's onslaught was so sudden and so un- 
 expected that even he himself afterward marveled at the 
 results of it. There were five men against one, for the 
 second mate had not yet recovered himself sufficiently 
 to render assistance. Two of the mutineers went down 
 under two separate strokes of the heavy pistol. The men 
 were too drunk to do much fighting, and even at the best, 
 Bainbridge would have been equal to both of them; but 
 as he turned from giving the last blow his foot slipped 
 and he fell forward on one knee. At this instant he saw 
 standing above him one of the men with an open sheath 
 knife in his hand. Quickly he raised the other pistol and 
 pulled the trigger; the powder only flashed in the pan, 
 and the knife descended at him viciously. But the point 
 struck one of the buttons of his coat, and, being deflected, 
 entered the cloth and ripped it open the full length. 
 
 But help came from an unexpected quarter. Whisky 
 Jack made his way on deck, and probably could not have 
 explained why he had chosen the weapon that he had, 
 but a heavy bucket can do a great deal of damage when 
 swung by a strong arm, and the blow that Jack delivered 
 upon the head of the would-be assassin put him out of the 
 fight. 
 
 Mr. Taft had gathered himself together, and, armed 
 with a belaying pin, laid one of the two remaining sea- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 men on the deck with a blow that opened his head and 
 nearly was the end of him. The last man, who was the 
 soberest, cried for mercy. 
 
 Captain Stebbins managed to get to his feet. He had 
 been frightfully mauled and was trembling so he could 
 hardly stand; but the mutiny was over, and in five minutes 
 the three ringleaders, who were the least hurt, were below 
 in irons. 
 
 This was an end of the trouble for some time, but when 
 the Cantor was ready for her return voyage Stebbins re- 
 fused to sail and resigned command of her. Although 
 exceedingly short-handed, Bainbridge agreed to bring her 
 back to America, which he successfully accomplished, land- 
 ing in Philadelphia in the latter part of June. 
 
 But although he said nothing, the story of his manly 
 conduct and his display of nautical skill on the return 
 voyage reached the ears of the owners of the ship, and 
 in conversation with him before he left for a short visit 
 to his family in New York, the senior partner offered him 
 command of the vessel on her next voyage if he wished 
 to accept the position. 
 
 When William returned home, he found that his 
 younger brother Joseph had also decided to take up the 
 sea as a vocation, and was then absent on his first cruise 
 to South America. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 So we find Bainbridge a full-fledged commander at the 
 early age of nineteen. At his suggestion, some alterations 
 were made in the Cantor's rig that improved her sailing 
 qualities in a great measure, and, odd to relate, when it 
 came to shipping a crew, Monson was one of the first to 
 make application; and when it came to sailing, it was 
 evident that he had taken pains to turn up particularly 
 clean and sober. 
 
 Three successful cruises were made without occur- 
 rences of much importance — one to Haarlem, one into the 
 Mediterranean, and one south to Brazil. Upon his return 
 from the last, Bainbridge spent some time ashore, and in 
 the spring of 1796 he was offered the command of the ship 
 Hope, a new vessel belonging to the same firm by which 
 he had always been employed. And in June of this year 
 we find him lying at anchor in the Garonne opposite 
 Bordeaux. 
 
 His vessel was one of the neatest in the harbor; all 
 the metal shone, the decks where white and clean, and 
 the paint work bright and well touched off. He had been 
 most happy in securing good crews to work with him, 
 and he had found out that to make a sailor contented 
 he must be well fed and kept busy. 
 
 His first officer was the same Mr. Seth whom he had 
 sailed with in the Ariel, and his second was a young 
 Yankee, named Beebe, but a few years older than him- 
 self, who hailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, an 
 adventurous fellow and a good all-around sailorman. 
 
 '9 
 
COMMODORE BAINBEIDGE. 
 
 There were a number of American ships in port at the 
 time, and one fine day Bainbridge called away his gig and 
 rowed ofif to a large ship half again the size of his own, the 
 Lafayette, of Boston, whose captain, Richard Samuelson, 
 was an old sailor of Revolutionary fame. He was giving 
 a dinner to the officers of the American vessels on this 
 particular afternoon, and the talk about the table was 
 mainly upon one subject, an all-engrossing one to the 
 Yankee mariner — the high-handed behavior of Great 
 Britain on the seas! There was not one of them who did 
 not have some tale to tell of having had his vessel stopped 
 and good seamen taken from him by the display of supe- 
 rior force, to begin a life of slavery on board of one of the 
 great floating fortresses of King George. 
 
 " What are we going to do, gentlemen, may I ask? " 
 said one of the younger captains from the foot of the 
 table. " Remonstrance is worse than useless. Our repre- 
 sentatives at St. James's Court can accomplish nothing. 
 We have no vessels of the regular navy to enforce respect. 
 We are completely at the mercy of these sea robbers — 
 confusion to them! And so far as I can see there is no 
 ending to it." 
 
 " It is the solemn truth," put in another. " I've lost 
 five men in the last two voyages, and would probably 
 have lost two more if my little brig couldn't leg it pretty 
 well, I can tell you. They took my third mate, a man 
 who went to school with me in Roxbury. Sad news did 
 I have to write to his wife, and he but just married." 
 
 " What would the English think," exclaimed the first 
 speaker, " if a ship of any other nation dared trifle with 
 their merchantmen in this fashion? There'd be a fine 
 hullabaloo, wouldn't there? " 
 
 "Oh, just another war!" remarked Captain Samuelson. 
 " I wish that we had a few fine live-oak frigates afloat 
 with men like my old friends, John Paul Jones, Nichol- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 son, Barry, and Biddle, to command them. But no, the 
 Government expects us to look out for ourselves. Bain- 
 bridge here — what experience has he had with the John 
 Bullies? " 
 
 " I've been most fortunate, sir," responded Bainbridge, 
 who was by far the youngest of the five men seated in the 
 cabin; " but I think that we have been rather too submis- 
 sive, perhaps; though I say it who should not, I might 
 feel inclined to make a show of resistance. We might even 
 persuade the country at large that it is worth while to 
 take up cudgels in defense of their citizens abroad, as well 
 as to fight for their interests at home." 
 
 " Well said, Captain Bainbridge," put in Captain Steele, 
 of the brig Bangor. " But the only trouble is that we 
 would probably be blown out of the water for our pains. 
 It is well to have a locker full of foreign flags at one's dis- 
 posal, I find it, and to know a few words of foreign lingo." 
 
 Bainbridge said nothing, but he had long ago made up 
 his mind to one thing: He would permit no one to search 
 his vessel or to rob him without a show of the strongest 
 remonstrance. He was afraid that if he spoke his full 
 mind upon this occasion he might be regarded as bluster- 
 ing, a thing absolutely impossible to his nature, as he had 
 never made a threat or a promise in his life that he did 
 not intend at the time to carry out. 
 
 It had been his good fortune, as already stated, to have 
 escaped the numerous discomfitures that had fallen to the 
 lot of most of his companions at the dinner, but he knew 
 that sooner or later their experience would be his. Proud 
 of his country and jealous of the rights of her citi- 
 zens, it rankled deeply to think that he would have to 
 submit to the indignities of which he had heard the 
 others tell. 
 
 But this day was not to go by without incident of 
 more importance than a dinner party. As his gig neared 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 the side of the Hope, that was lying quite a distance out 
 in the harbor alongside of the vessel hailing from Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina, he suddenly perceived a commotion 
 on the deck of the latter — voices in loud talk, a sudden 
 hoarse cry, and then a hail. 
 
 " Ho, on board the ship there! Help! Mutiny! " 
 
 Bainbridge had not left the deck, but at the cry he 
 hastened below, and opening a chest, he drew out the two 
 big pistols that had served him in such good stead on 
 board the Cantor. He hastened up again and jumped into 
 the gig. In three minutes he was alongside the other 
 vessel, and followed by half his crew, he climbed on deck. 
 
 Without a shot being fired or blood spilled, the rioters 
 were made prisoners and placed in irons. Then, after 
 receiving the thanks of the captain, Bainbridge rowed 
 back to the Hope. 
 
 As he was lifting the lid of the chest to stow the pis- 
 tols away, the vessel lurched a little and the lid fell down 
 upon his forearm, but unfortunately in such a way as to 
 touch the hammer of one of the pistols, which was dis- 
 charged, the flame igniting a bag of powder which lay in 
 a compartment of the chest. Instantly there was an ex- 
 plosion, and Bainbridge was hurled across the cabin, badly 
 wounded in his legs and the upper portion of his body. 
 The crew, who were hoisting the gig out of the water, 
 rushed down to see what had happened. A few buckets 
 of water extinguished the flames, and a doctor came ofif 
 shore at once. He pronounced Bainbridge dangerously 
 hurt, but stated that he had a fair chance of recovery. 
 
 No one could have been nursed more carefully than 
 he was by his officers and crew, each vying with the other 
 to see what he could do for the injured commander. In 
 five weeks he was able to be about the deck again, and 
 in such a healthy condition was he that his wounds healed 
 almost immediately. In a fortnight the Hope was loaded 
 
d 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 23 
 
 with a cargo, and weighed anchor for the island of St. 
 Thomas. 
 
 The crew of the little ship was composed of a fine lot 
 of sailormen. They were, without exception, full-blooded 
 Yankees, although the cook was a black, and hailed from 
 the island of Barbadoes. 
 
 Bainbridge had never had any trouble with them, and 
 had always found them wilUng and eager. Very different 
 indeed was his position from, that he had held on board 
 the Cantor when he had under him the crowd of half- 
 drunken scalawags. 
 
 Just before the sailing of the Hope an American 
 vessel had come into port and dropped anchor close 
 to hand. She reported that ten days previously she had 
 been boarded by an English cruiser, and no less than three 
 of her crew had been taken from her by main force — de- 
 liberately kidnapped! Bainbridge's blood boiled when he 
 heard the story, and a firm determination was formed 
 in his mind to resist to the very last any attempt that the 
 English might make to force such treatment upon him. 
 
 The second day at sea he called the crew to the waist 
 and made a short speech — something he had never found 
 occasion to do before. 
 
 " Men," he said quietly, " I do not intend to allow this 
 vessel to be robbed, and I know that you will understand 
 my meaning when I say that if any press officer boards 
 us and takes one of you away he will have to take the 
 rest of us also, and probably the ship into the bargain." 
 
 With that the Hope's crew were told off into divi- 
 sions and a gun captain was appointed for each one of the 
 four nine-pounders. They did not make a very formidable 
 array, to confess the truth, as each gun captain found 
 himself in command of exactly one man, for the number 
 of souls on board the Hope was but eleven — eight sea- 
 men and three officers. 
 
24 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 During the calm weather that followed for several 
 days the men were worked at the guns. A target was 
 towed out from the side of the ship, and good practice was 
 made with the little broadsides. 
 
 No occasion was found for their immediate use, how- 
 ever, and Bainbridge's usual good fortune seemed to fol- 
 low him; but late one afternoon, off the island of St. 
 John, a small schooner was seen bearing down, carrying 
 all sail and evidently intending to speak the Hope. 
 
 Bainbridge might have run for it and escaped, but 
 the small size of the vessel made him think that he had 
 nothing to fear from her, and he held his course. Before 
 the schooner came within hailing distance he raised the 
 American flag at his peak, and, calling all hands, had the 
 nine-pounders loaded with as much powder as he thought ' 
 they could possibly stand, and double-shotted, and for 
 good measure a handful of musket balls was added to each 
 charge. Loaded muskets, two to each man, were placed 
 along the bulwarks, and everything was made handy in 
 case resistance should become necessary, for there was 
 no doubt that the schooner was one of the small English 
 cruisers whose commanders took it iipon themselves to 
 stop American ships at every opportunity, and, trusting 
 to the prestige of the royal service, insist upon the right 
 of search. 
 
 Very soon the schooner had ranged alongside. She 
 had not displayed her flag, but an officer in a cocked hat 
 and a brilliant uniform was seen standing near the rail 
 on the quarter-deck, trumpet in hand. Although the lat- 
 ter instrument was not needed, he placed it to his lip, and, 
 disdaining the usual formalities, he bellowed at top voice: 
 
 " On board the ship there! Heave to! I'm going to 
 send a boat off to you." 
 
 Bainbridge stepped to the side of the Hope. He saw 
 that the little schooner carried four guns of a side, but 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 25 
 
 they were of no heavier metal than his own, although, of 
 course, they were twice the number. 
 
 The men had all come to the port side, and the nine- 
 pounders had been cast loose. Everything was in readi- 
 ness. 
 
 " I'm sorry I can't stop," Bainbridge shouted in an- 
 swer to the Britisher's hail. " We are in a great hurry to- 
 day." 
 
 " Perhaps they're in some distress, Captain Bain- 
 bridge," suggested Mr. Beebe. 
 
 " They may be in a minute," suggested one of the 
 gun captains who had overheard the remark, slapping 
 the breech of his gun with a chuckle. 
 
 "Heave to!" shouted the Englishman, disdaining to 
 use his trumpet this time. " Heave to, or I'll fire a shot 
 into you." 
 
 " I advise you not, sir," was Bainbridge's return to 
 this. 
 
 The conversation had evidently caused some surprise 
 to be felt on board the schooner, and, as the two vessels 
 were now so close that everything could be observed 
 clearly, it was noticed that the men employed in cast- 
 ing the lashings off the small quarter boat stopped their 
 work; and that very deliberately the forward gun was 
 run in and loaded. As the Hope was all prepared, her 
 men stood apparently inactive along the bulwarks. 
 
 " Ready there! " said Bainbridge quietly; " if a shot 
 touches us, let them have it." 
 
 Grimly he waited for the Englishman to take the 
 initiative. 
 
 Bang! went the first gun. The ball plashed harm- 
 lessly across the bows. 
 
 " Steady! " ordered Bainbridge. " Don't fire until she- 
 hits us." 
 
 It was evident that the commander of the schooner. 
 3 
 
26 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 did not know what to make of the unexpected behavior 
 of the Yankee vessel, for, instead of seeing her heave to 
 with all evidences of consternation and fright, there she 
 was sailing along as if nothing had occurred, with her 
 commander looking over the rail with his arms folded, 
 apparently unconcerned. 
 
 The Englishman's next order was heard by every one 
 of the Hope's crew as well as by those for whose ears it 
 was intended. 
 
 " Fire into her! " he roared. 
 
 Plainly he did not think it worth while to discharge 
 his broadside, for the same gun was loaded, but this 
 time with the intention of doing damage. 
 
 Bang! it went the second time. A long splinter 
 whirred across the Hope's deck and the ball, deflecting, 
 plunked through one side of the deck house and out the 
 other, making a great crash among the " doctor's " pans 
 and kettles. But before the John Bulls could see the 
 result of their marksmanship the doubled-shotted guns 
 of the Hope had answered. Away went the schooner's 
 gafT and the main-topmast, brought down by the after 
 gun, while the forward division of one, with equal good 
 fortune, shot away the flying jib boom and the fore-top- 
 mast stay. 
 
 The shoe was on the other foot now! The man at 
 the schooner's helm became confused, and Bainbridge had 
 to come about to avoid collision; or perhaps it was the 
 British captain's intention to board. So close did she 
 cross the bows of the Hope that the latter's jib boom 
 struck her side, carrying away all her starboard shrouds 
 and braces. She fell off rapidly to leeward, and as she 
 did so found time to discharge a gun of her port battery, 
 the ball lodging in the Hope's mainmast. 
 
 But Bainbridge's starboard guns were double-shotted 
 also, and the answer they gave to this was almost as dis- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 27 
 
 astrous to the schooner as the first reply had been. One 
 ball entered near the fore chains, and another, coming- 
 through the port, dismounted one of the guns, killing 
 or wounding three or four of the crew. The second gun 
 had put two balls into the schooner's side, ripping a gash 
 but a foot or so above the water line. 
 
 So great was the confusion on board of her that Bain- 
 bridge could see her crew running hither and thither as if 
 they had lost their heads completely. But what was his 
 surprise when he saw the English ensign run a short way 
 up on the color halyards that flapped from the wounded 
 peak, and then hauled down again. 
 
 "We've surrendered!" shrieked the English captain, 
 who but a few minutes before had been so full of impor- 
 tance and bravado. " Cease firing, for Heaven's sake! " 
 
 Here was a pretty mess. Great Britain and the United 
 States were ostensibly at peace. There was a strong 
 party in the United States who deprecated any idea of 
 resistance to the Crown, and what would be the conse- 
 quences of his action Bainbridge could not foresee. 
 
 Paying no attention to the words he had just heard, 
 he raised his voice and called an answer slowly back: 
 
 " What schooner is that? " 
 
 " Her Majesty's schooner Linnet, commanded by Cap- 
 tain Sir Philip Townes. What ship is that? " 
 
 Before Bainbridge could reply to this the action of his 
 own crew drew his attention. They had given three cheers 
 when they saw the English flag come down, and now, 
 much excited, they were gathered in a body, evidently 
 waiting for further orders. 
 
 " Shall we board and take possession of her, sir? " 
 asked Mr. Beebe eagerly. 
 
 " Not for the world," replied Bainbridge. " Those 
 guns were put on board of us for our defense, and we 
 have used them for that purpose, but we have no right 
 
28 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 to put a foot on board that vessel. Our lives would pay 
 the forfeit, and justly too, sir." 
 
 The crew looked a little disappointed, and some were 
 quite angered that they should not be allowed to take 
 advantage of their victory, but Bainbridge's course was 
 the only one left open, for had he dared to treat the Lin- 
 net as a prize, he would have been guilty of piracy, or 
 something akin to it. So seeing that the Englishman 
 was yet waiting for an answer and displaying no indica- 
 tion of a desire either to escape or to renew the action, 
 he called across the water to him: 
 
 "Schooner there! . Will Captain Sir Philip Townes 
 pray go about his business in peace, and report to his 
 masters that if they want this ship they must send a 
 greater force or a more skillful commander? " 
 
 With that he squared his yards and cleared away on 
 the course for St. Thomas, leaving the English captain 
 to chew the bitter cud of reflection, to his own enlighten- 
 ment it is to be hoped. 
 
 Although Bainbridge did not mention the affair ex- 
 cept in a short report to the owners of the Hope, the news 
 of it was soon traveling about Philadelphia within a few 
 days of his arrival, and before he left to pay a visit to his 
 friends in New York he had been offered the pick of the 
 finest vessels then lying in the port of Philadelphia. 
 
 The English captain had thought fit to belittle the 
 affair more than likely, or he had failed to make a report 
 of it altogether. There was no complaint made to the 
 United States Government, and it is doubtful whether 
 Sir Philip's masters ever received the message sent 
 to them. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 When Bainbridge returned to Philadelphia after his 
 visit to his parents he decided not to desert the owners 
 of the Hope for a more ambitious command, but to make 
 at least one more voyage in the little vessel before he 
 turned her over to other hands. He knew her tricks and 
 her manners, and he found that the large proportion of 
 the crew were anxious to ship with him once again. 
 
 Mr. Seth had obtained a vessel of his own. Beebe 
 was promoted to be first mate, and just previous to sailing, 
 Bainbridge was fortunate enough to fill the latter's place 
 with a young Philadelphian, Allen M'Kinsey, who, al- 
 though he was but thirty-three years of age, had been 
 eighteen years at sea, a tall water sailor and a good offi- 
 cer, although his lack of education had for a long time 
 told against his securing a berth aft. His parents were 
 respectable townsfolk; his father kept a small ship 
 chandlery near the wharf. 
 
 The cargo was delivered successfully at Bordeaux, and 
 
 after a short stay, Bainbridge by a most lucky chance was 
 
 able to load his vessel with silks and wine and set sail, 
 
 almost retracing his former course. Everything went well 
 
 until within three hundred miles of the American coast, 
 
 when at sunrise a large vessel was descried to windward 
 
 drifting leisurely down upon the Hope before the light 
 
 morning breeze. About nine o'clock she was near enough 
 
 for it to be seen that she was a British line-of-battle ship, 
 
 or better a razee — that is, a three-decker cut down to a 
 
 ship of two decks only. 
 
 29 
 
30 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 On she came, a fine sight to behold, with every stitch 
 of canvas set, catching the gleams of the sun, the shadows 
 shifting on her sails as she rolled lazily from side to side 
 on the bosom of the long, easy swell. 
 
 When within speaking distance she hauled her wind 
 a little, and without a hail dropped a boat cleverly from 
 her quarter, and soon a young officer in a lieutenant's uni- 
 form hailed the little Yankee ship and requested " some 
 one there on board " to heave a line to him. As no one 
 apparently replied to that title, which was certainly as in- 
 definite as it was insulting, the young officer scrambled 
 on board over the low bulwarks, assisted by no one but 
 the members of his crew. 
 
 Bainbridge was standing near the wheel with his hands 
 folded in front of him, calmly waiting for the interview 
 that he knew was soon forthcoming. 
 
 " Ship's this? " questioned the Englishman, straighten- 
 ing his cocked hat. " Is any one in command here? " 
 
 " I suppose you wish to inquire," responded Bain- 
 bridge, " the name of this vessel. It is the American ship 
 Hope from Philadelphia, and if you are looking for the 
 commanding officer, sir, you have the honor of address- 
 ing him." 
 
 " Very distinguished, I am sure. Have you your 
 papers handy, my young Yankee? " 
 
 Bainbridge looked over the tafifrail at the great shape 
 of the battle ship, in whose shadow his own little vessel 
 was then swallowed up completely. His brows knitted. 
 It was odious that he had to stand and bear this insult, 
 that he felt was more leveled at his country than at him, 
 without doing anything to resist the imposition. 
 
 " Just wait a moment, please," he said politely. And 
 going to the head of the companion ladder, he called the 
 steward and told him to bring up the large tin box that 
 stood in the corner of the cabin. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 31 
 
 His leisurely movements angered the lieutenant, who 
 exclaimed in irritation: 
 
 " Come, come, my man, make haste. You are 
 squandering time." 
 
 _" Not altogether," Bainbridge rephed. " I am giving 
 you a few minutes to think, so that you may act with care 
 and discretion and regain your composure." 
 
 He looked the other squarely in the eye with his fear- 
 less glance as he spoke. And, as there was no reply 
 made, he extended the papers to his unwelcome visitor, 
 adding only: 
 
 " Read here for yourself. I have no one shipped with 
 me who is not an American seaman; but I assure you, sir, 
 that were it not for the fact that we are under the muzzles 
 of yonder guns, you would not receive the satisfaction 
 even of my assurance, or the pleasure of glancing over the 
 paper that you now hold. There are my men; their ap- 
 pearance speaks for itself." 
 
 The boarding officer, who had been followed by five 
 or six of the boat's crew, commenced to read the names 
 in the order of their enhstment, but everything was so 
 plainly as Bainbridge had stated it that it scarcely needed 
 a glance to confirm his words. The men were passed and 
 everything appeared to be over with, when suddenly the 
 name of M'Kinsey caught the lieutenant's eye. 
 
 " This man here — M'Kinsey — where is he? " he asked 
 as if with a ray of hope. 
 
 " He's my second officer," Bainbridge replied, " and 
 is standing here beside me." 
 
 " You are a Scotchman," stated the officer positively, 
 glancing from the paper in his hand to the face of the 
 honest seaman. 
 
 " Any one who says that is a liar! " returned the young 
 Philadelphian hotly. 
 
 " I'll make you eat that word," replied the Britisher, 
 
32 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 stepping forward quickly. " Here, you two," he said, 
 speaking to his own men, " lay hold of him and toss him 
 into the boat. I'll break his heart for him." 
 
 Bainbridge quietly pushed his second mate to one side 
 and, stepping between the two angry men, said quietly: 
 
 " Patience, sir, a moment; I know this man. He was 
 born in Philadelphia. I know his parents. He is an 
 American. I state this to you upon my honor. His reply 
 to you was hasty, that I admit, but he had provocation." 
 
 " Provocation or no provocation," was the return, 
 " he'll come with me, or I'll know the reason why." 
 
 " Just a moment," Bainbridge responded. " May I 
 ask your name and that of your vessel? " 
 
 " I am Lieutenant Norton, of his Majesty's ship the 
 Indefatigable, Sir Edward Pellew." 
 
 " Ah, so! Then does Lieutenant Norton mean to tell 
 Captain Bainbridge that he lies? " 
 
 There was such a dangerous Hght in the young Ameri- 
 can's teyes that for an instant Lieutenant Norton hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 " He may have deceived you," he half faltered. " He's 
 Scotch." 
 
 " He has not deceived me. Do you intend to take him 
 by force? " 
 
 " Do you intend to resist? " 
 
 " I am not so foolish; but I have no objections to his 
 doing so. — Mr. M'Kinsey, in the corner of my cabin you 
 will find two loaded pistols lying on the bunk. A sharp- 
 ened cutlass hangs from the bulkhead close to hand. See 
 if it is not as I say." 
 
 Suddenly turning, the mate jumped down the ladder, 
 and as all this conversation had been heard by the crew 
 grouped in the waist, an audible titter ran through the 
 company. 
 
 " One's as good as another," the lieutenant growled, 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 33 
 
 trying to affect amusement to hide his discomfiture. " I'll 
 take this man instead." 
 
 Reaching forward his hand, he seized one of the Hope's 
 crew, a lad scarcely more than eighteen years of age 
 but well-grown and hardy. Two of his henchmen caught 
 the young fellow about the waist, and he was uncere- 
 moniously tossed over the side almost on the heads of 
 those sitting below on the thwarts. But the officer did 
 not wish to make his own exit with any degree of haste, 
 although he perceived that there was a long pull ahead 
 of him before he would again reach his ship, as she had 
 edged off and now lay a couple of miles distant waiting 
 for him. He turned to Bainbridge as if to make some 
 parting sally, but the Yankee captain spoke first : 
 
 " Will you convey my compliments to your superior 
 officer and congratulate him upon having so efficient a 
 baiUff; and also inform him that for the young man you 
 have robbed me of I shall take one of his Majesty's citi- 
 zens serving in the first ship I meet, if her force does not 
 preclude my attempting to do so. You know as well as 
 I do that you have taken an American citizen to lead 
 him into a life of slavery and bondage." 
 
 " You talk well," responded the lieutenant, " but no 
 Yankee merchant captain would dare to impress one of 
 his Majesty's subjects. A fig for your threatening, and 
 good-day to yoU." 
 
 With that he dropped down into the boat and pulled 
 away to the battle ship. 
 
 Five days afterward the lookout forward reported that 
 there was a sail dead ahead holding the same course. 
 Spreading all sail, Bainbridge made after her, and as the 
 Hope proved to be much the faster he soon had the chase, 
 a fine merchant brig, quite as large as his own little ship, 
 under his lee. He raced down past her quarter, fired a 
 shot across her bows, and suddenly hove short in front 
 
34 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 of her in such a way that the brig, in great consternation, 
 let go all standing, and, with a tremendous fluttering and 
 clattering of canvas, she swung about and heaved there 
 up and down, helplessly confused. She was within easy 
 hail, so Bainbridge called to her stating that he was going 
 to board, and that if she attempted resistance he would 
 blow her out of the water. 
 
 "Mr. Beebe," he said, "board that brig; take nine 
 men with you, and bring back a healthy John Bull — 
 single and sober, and presumably industrious. Don't re- 
 turn without him." 
 
 If Mr. Beebe had not returned at all, he would have 
 left the Hope in a very precarious condition, for there were 
 then on board of her no one but the captain and second 
 mate, and an old seaman on the forecastle! 
 
 When Beebe came on board the Englishman he saw 
 to his consternation that she was much larger and more 
 heavily armed than it was at first supposed, for she carried 
 eight guns, and there were in the neighborhood of twenty 
 seamen huddled on deck near the mainmast. For this 
 reason he did not stop long to parley, but running up 
 to a tall, tow-headed young fellow, he addressed the fol- 
 lowing question to him, roaring the words in his ear as 
 he grasped him by the shoulder: 
 
 " Young man, are you married? " 
 
 " No, sir," faltered the seaman, taken all aback with 
 the suddenness of the question. 
 
 " Then come with me," answered Beebe; and taking 
 the sailor at a disadvantage, he grasped him from behind 
 and hustled him across the deck through the gangway 
 into the waiting boat before any one could lift a hand 
 to prevent him. There was a rush made to the side, but 
 the boat was almost an oar's length distant. In a few 
 strokes Beebe had placed the prisoner, who was too 
 frightened to resist, on board the Hope. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 35 
 
 " Better get out of this," panted the first mate, run- 
 ning aft. '■ She's armed like a man-of-war, sir." 
 
 " \\'ell, not before she takes a message that I have 
 been longing to send, and wouldn't lose the chance of 
 sending for the gain of a few minutes." 
 
 " On board the brig there! Will the captain make 
 report that Captain William Bainbridge has taken one 
 of his Majesty's subjects in retaliation for a seaman taken 
 from the American ship Hope by Lieutenant Norton, of 
 the Indefatigable razee, commanded by Sir Edward Pel- 
 lew? " 
 
 Then sheeting home, the Hope was oS before the brig 
 managed " to get out of her own way," as M'Kinsey put 
 it. Before night she was hull down, for she had not at- 
 tempted a pursuit. 
 
 Bainbridge sent for the new hand. 
 
 " Young man," he said, " I am sorry for you; but now 
 let's make the best of it. You'll be paid your wages from 
 now on to the end of the cruise, and will be discharged 
 at Philadelphia with money in your pocket, if " — and he 
 paused — " if you do your duty. Otherwise your posi- 
 tion may not be quite so comfortable. Step forward." 
 
 That was an end to it, although, of course, it did not 
 make up for the hardships the poor lad had to undergo 
 who was taken by Lieutenant Norton; but of this more 
 hereafter. 
 
 The seaman was paid in full, and, as some one said at 
 the time, he did not appear to be at all dissatisfied with 
 either the service or the country into which he had been 
 forced. 
 
 A writer of the early part of this century, in referring 
 to this incident, said as follows: "The proceeding of 
 Captain Bainbridge on this occasion was doubtless as 
 illegal as the act which had provoked it; but to a mind 
 hke his, alive to the honor of his country and the rights 
 
36 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 of his fellow-citizens, especially of those under his im- 
 mediate protection, the outrage he was compelled to wit- 
 ness by which a citizen of the United States was torn from 
 his country and family, perhaps forever, was an apparent 
 justification. Although it afforded no redress for the 
 original wrong, yet it was designed to show the naval 
 officers of Great Britain that the rights of American 
 citizens, so far as they are committed to the protection of 
 Captain Bainbridge, are not to be violated with impunity." 
 
 It was high time indeed that something should be 
 done to settle the question of the assumed right of search 
 that was to be brought to a conclusion some years later 
 only by open hostihties between Great Britain and this 
 -country, in which Bainbridge was to have a proper arena 
 for the display of his judgment, coolness, and good sea- 
 manship. 
 
 Once more he found himself much talked about, and 
 accepted an ofifer made to him to take command of a 
 large ship of some six hundred tons about to sail for the 
 South. 
 
 After landing a cargo from New Orleans in an Eng- 
 lish port, he took another shipload for the West Indies. 
 As part of his consignment was for the island of St. Bar- 
 tholomew, a mere dot on the map, just north of the 
 island of St. Christopher in the Caribbean Sea, he put 
 into the harbor of Le Carenage, a commodious anchorage; 
 but very difficult of access owing to the tortuous channel 
 and abundant shoals. Just before he was ready to sail 
 a period of calm weather began during which scarcely 
 enough wind blew to lift a flag, let alone to waft a big 
 vessel through a difficult passage. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 However, this unlooked-for calm, which under most 
 circumstances would have proved annoying, turned out to 
 be, as Bainbridge often asserted, the most fortunate hap- 
 pening of his life, and it involves a Httle romance well 
 worth the telling. 
 
 St. Bartholomew was not the most delightful place in 
 the world for a protracted stay, although the island is rich 
 and fertile and produces large quantities of tobacco, cot- 
 ton, and indigo; it contains no permanent springs, and 
 it is impossible for a vessel fully to replenish her water 
 supply there, as the inhabitants depend almost entirely 
 upon the rainfall for drinking purposes. 
 
 At the time of which we are speaking there were 
 scarcely more than twenty-five hundred white people and 
 about eight thousand blacks on the island. The latter 
 lived in huts scattered about the plantations, or in a Httle 
 settlement of their own at the southern bend of the 
 harbor, while the European colony was collected on the 
 top of one of the sloping hills on the opposite side. The 
 low white houses stood well back from the roads, sur- 
 rounded by gardens of tropical luxuriance. 
 
 One day Bainbridge was walking up the palm-shaded 
 walk with Monsieur Le Vidocq, a descendant of one of 
 the earlier French settlers. He looked down upon the 
 harbor, where his own vessel and one or two others were 
 lying at anchor, and, turning, he spoke to the gentleman 
 at his side, addressing him in French, for the young cap- 
 
 37 
 
38 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 tain was quite as familiar with that language as he was 
 with his own native tongue. 
 
 " Monsieur, I do not know what we will do if we do 
 not get some wind very soon. Have you ever known a 
 calm to last for so long a time? " 
 
 " Well, hardly. Captain Bainbridge," replied the 
 Frenchman. " That is, not within my recollection. But 
 probably in the course of the next few hours we will see 
 a , difference with the changing of the moon." 
 
 " Indeed, I hope so," Bainbridge replied, " or I may 
 have to resort to kedging, a difficult process amid such 
 tides and currents." 
 
 He turned again and looked at the still unruffled sur- 
 face of the harbor, but just as he was about to resume 
 his walk something arrested his attention, and he stood 
 there without moving. It was the sound of a woman's 
 voice singing to the accompaniment of a harp. 
 
 Monsieur Le Vidocq noticed the effect of the music 
 upon his companion. " Ah, monsieur," he said, " you 
 are listening to the voice of the Rose of St. Bartholomew, 
 Miss Hyleger, the granddaughter of a distinguished Hol- 
 land gentleman who has business interests here. Yes, it is 
 most entrancing," he added, for Bainbridge had not 
 moved. 
 
 " Indeed you are right, monsieur," he answered at last; 
 " form and feature to accompany such a voice would be 
 well-nigh perfection." 
 
 " And so it is," replied the other. " Monsieur le 
 Capitaine, I have an idea. You must meet her and de- 
 termine for yourself if, in my enthusiasm, I have over- 
 estimated the talents of this lovely person." 
 
 " Thank you indeed, my kind friend," Bainbridge re- 
 plied so earnestly that the other could not but smile. 
 " I accept your ofifer, and I pray you that, if it is your con-' 
 venience, the meeting shall be soon." 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 39 
 
 He turned again to listen more to the low music 
 when his eye happened to sweep out upon the harbor. 
 A breeze had rippled the surface, and a little Swedish brig, 
 lying far out, dropped all her sails as if to take advantage 
 of it. For an instant duty drove all thoughts of the 
 charmer from Bainbridge's mind. With a suddenness that 
 existing circumstances were alone the excuse for, he apolo- 
 gized to the little Frenchman and ran hot foot down the 
 hill to where his boat was waiting, drawn up in the sand. 
 " Ofif to the ship! " he shouted to the three men at the 
 oars; and in ten minutes the capstan falls were clicking 
 merrily as the ship crawled up to her anchor. Then, as 
 he had a moment to think, a disappointment came over 
 him. He was not to meet the owner of that voice after 
 all, and a deep regret seized upon him, which showed 
 plainly what a strong impression the sweet notes had 
 made upon his heart. 
 
 But the topsails had scarcely begun to draw when 
 the breeze died away and the ship again lay entirely 
 motionless upon the smooth surface. The little brig 
 farther out held it but a little longer, and then dropped 
 anchor with a hasty plash, as if angered at the failure 
 of the elements to help her in her escape. But, although 
 Bainbridge was anxious to leave the port, the dropping 
 of his own " mud hook," as the sailor calls it, caused him 
 no such feeling, and a boat rowed out to him early in the 
 afternoon with the welcome tidings from Monsieur Le 
 Vidocq that everything had been arranged, and that he 
 would have an opportunity of meeting Mademoiselle 
 Hyleger that evening at a dinner to be given to Captain 
 Bainbridge at the kindly Frenchman's house. 
 
 When the young officer entered the large, low-ceil- 
 inged drawing-room, it took him but a glance to decide 
 which one of the four ladies present was the possessor 
 of the voice, for, seated on a divan in the corner of 
 
49, COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 the room, was a tall, slender girl with a great mass of 
 brown hair; her light-gray eyes looked up to him as 
 the host introduced his guest, saying " the siren who so 
 delightfully charmed us the other day." 
 
 " But Captain Bainbridge, unlike Ulysses, made no 
 effort to escape," put in one of the other gentlemen who 
 had listened to the introduction. 
 
 " When was it you heard me singing? " asked Miss 
 Hyleger, roguishly glancing at Monsieur Le Vidocq. 
 
 " Yesterday morning, mademoiselle." 
 
 "Ah! then I can answer that the captain did do his 
 best to escape, for shortly after practicing on the harp 
 I walked out upon the veranda and was just in time to 
 see him running down the hill. He put off in his boat 
 and apparently did his very best to leave the harbor, in. 
 which he all but succeeded." 
 
 " The unfavoring winds were kindly," put in the cap- 
 tain at last, who, during this pleasantry, had been watch- 
 ing the play of Miss Hyleger's features and indulging in a 
 strange fluttering of the heart hitherto unknown to him. 
 
 " A very paradoxical statement, sir," smiled the young 
 lady, arising as she took his arm to go into the dining- 
 room. 
 
 Well, the long and short of it was that Bainbridge 
 did not leave the island that day, or the next, or the next. 
 In fact it was quite a week before the wind blew suffi- 
 ciently hard to carry him out past the headland and 
 beyond the rocky reefs. 
 
 From the wide veranda of a low white house upon the 
 hillside a tall young girl in a white dress stood half lean- 
 ing against one of the portico pillars. Her eyes had a 
 suspicion of tears, but she did not move from her posi- 
 tion until she had seen the big ship break out into a 
 cloud of swelling, gleaming sails as she reached the safe 
 waters outside the shoals. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 41 
 
 Captain Bainbridge, as he looked back at the hillside, 
 realized that this little island, scarcely twenty-five square 
 miles in extent, contained all in the world for him, and he 
 once had imagined that he saw the flash of a signal as if 
 a white kerchief was waved from the garden-shrouded 
 porch of the house on the hilltop. He would return 
 again, cargo or no cargo; to that he made up his mind: 
 but he did not know how soon this event was going to 
 occur. However, to his delight, when he reached his 
 destination, one of the islands of the western archipelago, 
 he found a letter from the owners instructing him to pick 
 up a cargo of indigo and dyestufifs, and then set sail for 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Never was a ship unloaded so quickly, and almost 
 one month to a day from the time he had left the harbor 
 of Carenage his vessel, in charge of a native pilot, was a 
 second time threading the narrow passage through the 
 reefs. 
 
 A small boat left the little white jetty as soon as 
 Bainbridge had come to anchor. Under the sturdy strokes 
 of her black crew she was at the vessel's side almost before 
 Bainbridge could complete his arrangement to receive 
 his visitors, for he had noticed the little boat and knew 
 who the two figures were that sat in the stern sheet: one 
 was his friend the Frenchman, and the other was John 
 Hyleger, who had been for many years Governor of St. 
 Eustatius, one of the islands belonging to the Dutch 
 Government. 
 
 Bainbridge was hard put to it to hide his eagerness 
 when, after the greeting, he asked concerning the health of 
 the Honorable John's granddaughter, who, although he 
 did not know it, had been the first to sight the ship and 
 had informed her grandfather and his friend of the Ameri- 
 can captain's approach. 
 
 In three weeks everything was ready for departure, 
 
42 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 the wind blew strong and steady, the cargo was stowed, 
 and the sails were loosened ready to be dropped at the 
 word; but there was some delay. On shore at the little 
 church, whose windows were wide open to the flower- 
 scented breeze, a ceremony was going on, and when Cap- 
 tain Bainbridge, resplendent in a new blue coat with 
 silver buttons as large as half dollars, rowed off to his 
 ship, a woman's slender figure sat beside him in the stern 
 sheets; she turned from a half-tearful gaze at the little 
 island and two figures standing on the shore, to glance 
 up into her husband's face, smiHng bravely and con- 
 fidently. Never was such a precious cargo carried by any 
 ship that sailed under any flag for any port. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bainbridge were exceedingly de- 
 lighted when they met their new daughter, and a visit 
 to John Taylor at Middletown resulted in the old gentle- 
 man's being completely captured by young Mrs. Bain- 
 bridge's tact and pleasant manners. 
 
 William Bainbridge was now in his twenty-fourth 
 year. He had, as we have seen, assumed many respon- 
 sibilities for so young a man, and had been through ex- 
 periences and had surmounted difficulties in a way that 
 would have done credit to any one many years his senior. 
 But it was the old story of an old head on young shoulders, 
 and people were apt to forget his youth after a few 
 minutes' conversation with him, for his manners were 
 grave and dignified, and his calm, unruffled temper never 
 left him for a minute, no matter in what position he found 
 himself. But his good spirits, his youth, and fearless 
 nature were shown in the merry twinkle or the quick 
 glance of his blue eye. 
 
 It was some time before Bainbridge went to sea again, 
 and this came about from various reasons. The difficulties 
 with France which led to the quasi war with that country 
 had now opened a new field for enterprising and chivalrous 
 exertion. The Government had found it necessary to 
 organize a small navy for the protection of our commerce 
 from the encroachments of the French privateers, and 
 movements began at the various navy yards to rehabilitate 
 the service, which had dwindled almost into nothing since 
 
 43 
 
44 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 the close of the war of the Revolution. There were not 
 sufficient officers to man the projected vessels unless the 
 merchant marine was appealed to, for there were few in- 
 deed who had received any instruction at all in regula- 
 tion naval duties or manoeuvres. Of course a few older 
 officers who had distinguished themselves in the war of 
 the Revolution could be still depended upon, but judicious 
 selection from among the commanders of the American 
 merchant vessels became necessary. Among the first 
 names inscribed on the list of the Secretary of War, 
 who was then acting as Secretary of the Navy, was 
 that of William Bainbridge, already his reputation for 
 decision of character and bravery was widespread, and 
 when Captain Decatur (whose son, Stephen Decatur, was 
 so soon to distinguish himself) brought into port the 
 schooner L'Incroyable, just taken as a prize from the 
 French by the sloop-of-war Delaware, the command of 
 her was offered to Captain Bainbridge. In a few months 
 the vessel was outfitted, and under a new name, the 
 Retaliation, she set sail in September, 1789, in company 
 with the brig Norfolk under the command of Captain 
 Williams. 
 
 The two small vessels were under orders to cruise in 
 Southern waters, where they were to join the flag of 
 Commodore Murray, who commanded the frigate Monte- 
 zuma. The islands of the West Indies were dangerous 
 sailing grounds for peaceable and unarmed merchantmen. 
 Pirates teemed in the Gulf, and the French privateers, 
 who fell but Httle short of being freebooters, rendezvoused 
 at various ports and preyed rather indiscriminately upon 
 all vessels weaker than themselves. 
 
 It might be said that although no open declaration of 
 war had taken place as an official act, yet France (then 
 under a Republican form of government) and her sister 
 republic, whom she had helped not long before, were at 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 45 
 
 odds. Hostilities had commenced at sea, and overt acts 
 were plenty. 
 
 But no adventure of any moment was met with until 
 the first week of November, although one or two small 
 French vessels had been chased into the protection of the 
 harbors during the month of October. By this time 
 the crew of the Retaliation had, owing to Bainbridge's 
 untiring efforts, been changed from that of a merchant 
 vessel to one having all the marks of a regular service. 
 Strict discipline was maintained, and strong measures had 
 been necessary to enforce it. But the ofificers knew their 
 ship and knew their men, and the latter had begun to 
 respect their commander. Commodore Murray had taken 
 occasion to compliment him on the wonderful improve- 
 ment accomplished under his direction. 
 
 OfT the island of Guadeloupe at sunrise one bright 
 morning during the first week of November, three sail 
 were discovered bearing east-south-east and only about 
 two leagues distant. At about the same time two other 
 vessels hove in sight to the westward, upon which the 
 commodore signaled Bainbridge to hold his course, while 
 he in the Montezuma and Captain Williams in the Nor- 
 folk bore away in chase of the strangers to the west. It 
 was thought that the three sails first sighted were Brit- 
 ish, so Bainbridge kept on his way and was not surprised 
 when he saw the English colors go up to the peak of the 
 leading frigate. Nearer they approached, but, when at 
 about pistol-shot distance, down came the English flag 
 and up went that of France. One of the big fellows 
 fired a broadside that brought a few spars to deck and 
 smashed into the bulwarks of the Retaliation, and at the 
 same time another ranged alongside and ordered the com- 
 mander of the schooner to lower his flag and repair on 
 board immediately. 
 
 Bainbridge was totally unprepared for making any re- 
 
46 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 sistance, and as the ship on his port hand carried forty- 
 four guns, and the one on the other carried thirty-six, 
 there was nothing else to do but give in. Sadly he saw 
 his flag come down, and calling away his boat, he rowed 
 of? to the larger vessel in obedience to the order. She 
 was a fine craft, but at half a glance he could see that 
 things existed on board of her that would not be toler- 
 ated on board an English or an American vessel of the 
 regular service. The men appeared slovenly and the 
 decks were littered about with various odds and ends, 
 and untidy to a degree. As he walked up to the quarter- 
 deck, a handsome, middle-aged man with a great deal 
 of gold lace on the wide lapels of his long-tailed coat, 
 approached him. 
 
 Bainbridge drew his sword and extended the hilt 
 toward the resplendent stranger, balancing the blade 
 across his forearm. 
 
 " May I ask to whom I have the honor of surrender- 
 ing? " 
 
 " To Commodore St. Lawrence, of the navy of the 
 French Republic. But as you had no opportunity to de- 
 fend yourself, I beg you, sir, pray retain your sword." 
 
 Very politely he then asked the name of Bainbridge's 
 vessel, and, learning of her former career, made some remark 
 that might be translated into " turn about is fair play." 
 
 The Volontier, the flagship, remained hove to while 
 she placed a prize crew on board the unfortunate Re- 
 taliation, but the other vessels, the larger of which 
 Bainbridge learned was named L'Insurgent, accom- 
 panied by a little sloop, were making off after the Nor- 
 folk and the Montezuma, who had run out of their wind 
 and whose chase had escaped them. Their capture ap- 
 peared inevitable, and as the Volontier was a mile or so 
 behind them, it appeared that she would be too late to 
 take a hand in the action if there was to be one. 
 
On the deck of the Volontier. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 47 
 
 Bainbrid;;je had joined the group of officers that had 
 made their way forward to the forecastle, and with feel- 
 ings of great distress he watched the two vessels ahead 
 near the American ships, which had Httle chance of escape 
 left them. Suddenly the French commodore turned to 
 him. 
 
 " Monsieur," he said, " what is the size and armament 
 of your two consorts yonder? " 
 
 Without hesitation Bainbridge made reply: 
 
 " The ship, sir, mounts twenty-eight long twelve- 
 pounders and the brig twenty nine-pounders." 
 
 And if he breathed an inward prayer for thus doubling 
 his friends' armaments, he must have smiled also to see 
 the result of his ruse de guerre, for Commodore St. Law- 
 rence, with a great deal of excitement in his manner and 
 gestures, hustled his officers to right and left, loudly 
 calling upon them to signal LTnsurgent and the smaller 
 vessel to return. 
 
 Soon it was seen that the former had perceived her 
 recall, for she came about and waited until the Volontier 
 bore down within speaking distance. In the mean time 
 the Norfolk and the Montezuma, having caught a new 
 slant of wind, were making ofT, carrying all sail and grow- 
 ing smaller and smaller every minute of the time. 
 
 An amusing conversation now took place between 
 the flagship and smaller frigate. 
 
 Captain Barro, the commander of the latter vessel, al- 
 most jumped up and down in his anger as he demanded 
 the reason for his being called ofif just as he was about 
 to capture both vessels; and upon the commodore stat- 
 ing that they were of " superior force," he went on to 
 state, shrieking his words over the tafifrail, for the two 
 ships were now near together: 
 
 " I could have taken them both — both, monsieur. 
 There was not a gun on board either heavier than a six- 
 
48 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 pounder." He hammered angrily upon the rail with his 
 heavy cocked hat, almost weeping in his wrath and irrita- 
 tion. 
 
 The commodore, who had spoken hitherto in fairly 
 good English, turned to Bainbridge, who was standing 
 by, with difficulty repressing the smile that would rise 
 to his lip. 
 
 " Did you not say, sir, that the force of these vessels 
 was such as I have stated? " 
 
 " I did," responded Bainbridge sternly; " but if I could 
 save two ships of my Government simply by misrepresent- 
 ing their strength, I think I was justified in doing so. 
 The circumstances warranted my hazarding the asser- 
 tion, sir." 
 
 Perhaps St. Lawrence recognized the logic and made 
 allowance for the temptation, for he said no more, and 
 that evening requested Captain Bainbridge's presence 
 at his table, as if nothing had occurred. During the 
 course of his stay on board the Volontier he treated him 
 with the greatest kindness and consideration, and pre- 
 sented him to General Desfourneaux, who was being sent 
 out from France to Guadeloupe to supersede the famous 
 , Governor, Victor Hughes. 
 
 The day after the capture, the three vessels of war and 
 their prize anchored in the harbor about six miles from 
 Basse-Terre, the capital of the island, and the next morn- 
 ing all were landed. 
 
 The officers and crew of the Retaliation were ordered 
 into close confinement in a loathsome prison; but, owing 
 to the solicitation of his friend the commodore, Bainbridge 
 and the commissioned officers were afterward brought ofT 
 shore and allowed to remain on board the frigate, where 
 they were given full liberty and treated with kindness. 
 
 On the tenth day Bainbridge was permitted to visit 
 the shore on his parole of honor, for the purpose of arrang- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 49 
 
 ing with General Desfourneaux, with whom he had had 
 but a few words on shipboard, an exchange of prisoners, in 
 accordance with instructions transmitted to him by Com- 
 modore Murray, who had sent a letter in to him by a 
 Danish brig. 
 
 It was just at this time that the French people had 
 begun that system of the affectation of extreme equality. 
 Ceremony was dispensed with and a strange attitude of 
 comradeship, simplicity, and make-believe frankness took 
 its place. 
 
 Dressed in a quiet suit of citizen's clothing, Bain- 
 bridge awaited an audience with General Desfourneaux. 
 In a few minutes he was admitted, and at once was asked 
 to seat himself at table with Ic general, as the latter was 
 about to take his luncheon. With the assertion that " sea 
 fare did not agree with him," the general requested the 
 young American to join him in the meal of a " blunt old 
 soldier," and invited him to speak openly and frankly, as 
 two citizens " would talk over their wine." The remark- 
 able interview that followed is well worth a chapter to 
 itself. But it did not take the young lieutenant (for that 
 was but his actual rating in the service) long to deter- 
 mine that he was dealing with a wily old diplomat used 
 to intrigue, and able to blow hot and cold with the same 
 breath, despite his air of sincerity and bonhomie. 
 
 It would pay him well to be upon his guard. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Now, captain," commenced the hoary old villain. 
 
 " Lieutenant, sir," put in Bainbridge, anxious to ap- 
 pear on even terms at the outset. 
 
 The general did not notice the interruption, except 
 that he corrected himself in the next sentence, continu- 
 ing: 
 
 " I do not wish you to consider yourself as a prisoner, 
 lieutenant, or I do not desire that your comrades shall be 
 treated as such. I pray you look upon your stopping 
 here as if you were visitors detained merely from political 
 motives. We intend to treat you as both friends and 
 allies, I assure you." 
 
 In view of the fact that his crew were now lingering 
 in a dungeon, this assertion appeared to be something 
 remarkable, but it did not trouble the " blunt old soldier " 
 in the slightest degree. 
 
 " Of course, it may seem strange, but I have long 
 thought how great an advantage would accrue from the 
 establishment of commercial relations between this beau- 
 tiful island and your great country of the United States." 
 
 Bainbridge remained silent, waiting to hear what all 
 this would lead up to, for he did not doubt that there was 
 much more behind it. 
 
 " If you would but consider yourself the representative 
 of your nation — which you are, for there are no others that 
 rank you on the island — we could accomplish a great deal 
 to the mutual advantage of countries," went on Des- 
 
 50 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 51 
 
 fourneaux, who had lost all interest in his soldier's fare. 
 " I promise that I will liberate your men and officers, and 
 restore your ship to you, if you will agree to consider, as 
 the representative of your country, of course, the island of 
 Guadeloupe as neutral during the passage d'armcs be- 
 tween the French Republic and the United States." 
 
 Bainbridge saw the pit into which the other would 
 draw him, and he replied calmly, after a moment's 
 thought, choosing his words in order that he might not 
 be misunderstood. 
 
 " You must know, general," he said, " that my au- 
 thority extends no farther than to enter into an arrange- 
 ment for an exchange of prisoners. If I took upon myself 
 to enter into such negotiations as you mention, and they 
 were disclaimed, you would place the United States in 
 the position of an aggressor, which probably would please 
 you. And whatever may be your views in regard to the 
 condition of my men — I speak not for myself — I consider 
 the crew of the Retaliation as not only being held in cap- 
 tivity, but as being treated with great barbarity." 
 
 The general then adopted a confidential tone in his 
 reply: " I admit that it appears so, yes," he said; "but 
 you see Monsieur Hughes has not yet left the island. I 
 can not revoke his orders until his departure. This, allow 
 me to say, is the explanation." 
 
 "General Desfourneaux," returned Bainbridge, " while 
 your proposition seems very liberal, I can not see my way 
 clear to assume this responsibility; but if you wish to 
 make a cartel of my vessel, I will vouch that my country 
 will exchange prisoners, man for man." 
 
 " I intend to include," put in the wily Governor, as if 
 ofifering special inducements, " all of the political hostages 
 now on the island." 
 
 Bainbridge, however, was not to be entrapped, and the 
 curious interview was terminated without the Frenchman 
 
52 COMxMODORE BAINBRIDGE, 
 
 securing the upper hand. The " political hostages " were 
 confined in a dungeon much too small for them. They 
 were almost naked and in a state of starvation. Many 
 of them were masters of vessels, and the jailer had proved 
 himself to be a drunken, unfeeling brute. The news had 
 been circulated among them that they were about to 
 secure their liberty, and great rejoicing was the result; 
 but they were doomed to sore disappointment. Their 
 condition grew worse and worse, as if the new Governor 
 had determined to wreak vengeance upon them. 
 
 Bainbridge had received assurances from Desfour- 
 neaux that they would be placed in better prisons, and at 
 least treated as if they were human beings, but these 
 promises came to naught, and the young officer found 
 himself powerless to assist his unfortunate countrymen, 
 although he boldly remonstrated against conduct so 
 averse to the modern usages of war. Nothing but the 
 fact that he had gained some powerful friends through 
 his own personality prevented the Governor from placing 
 him in close confinement. 
 
 About the last of December the Ponsea, frigate, from 
 Point Petre, arrived at Guadeloupe, and on board of her 
 were twenty or thirty Americans who had been captured 
 by French privateers. In consequence of the diminution 
 of the French force, as alleged by the captain of the 
 frigate, these men had been compelled to do duty as part 
 of the crew. Hearing of this occurrence, Bainbridge 
 waited upon Desfourneaux, and alleged that as these men 
 were prisoners of war they should not be kept in confine- 
 ment where they might be compelled at any time to take 
 up arms against their countrymen. He added that if they 
 were neutrals, as the Governor had intimated in a previous 
 conversation, there could be no excuse for their deten- 
 tion on board a public ship. 
 
 The Governor gave prompt assurance that the prison- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 53 
 
 ers would be landed, as the vessel, he acknowledged, was 
 within his jurisdiction. But the next day Bainbridge, 
 to his anger and indignation, saw the Ponsea sailing for 
 France without one of the Americans being released 
 from their bondage. Angry at being thus trifled with, he 
 again sought an interview, and a heated discussion 
 followed, which ended in the Governor's renewing his 
 offer to liberate all citizens of the United States, pro- 
 vided that Bainbridge would assume the responsibility he 
 had hitherto refused. He also insisted that Bainbridge 
 should use his best influence to open trade with Guade- 
 loupe, although he knew what a nest of pirates the harbor 
 was. 
 
 An extract from Bainbridge's letter, which he wrote a 
 few days later, is of interest: 
 
 " To His Excellency, the Governor of Guadeloupe. 
 
 " Sir: As you are well aware that the prisons of 
 Basse-Terre are crowded with my fellow-citizens, many of 
 whom have been brought into port since my arrixal, and 
 as I know from my own observation that American mer- 
 chant vessels have been here condemned as lawful prizes, 
 your Excellency will excuse me if I express doubt of your 
 good will toward either the Government or the citizens of 
 the United States. You of¥er to restore the Retahation to 
 my command. I can not accept unless I am permitted to 
 follow the instructions of my Government, viz., to cap- 
 ture all armed vessels sailing under the flag of the French 
 Republic. The Retaliation is now a French prize, being 
 captured by two of your national frigates. I can not 
 take command of a vessel belonging to an enemy and give 
 a pledge to be governed by an enemy's orders without 
 disgracing myself as an ofificer and rendering myself liable 
 to deserved punishment by a court martial. If I return 
 
54 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 in the Retaliation, she must be a cartel and commanded 
 by a French officer. 
 
 " I have the honor to be yours, etc., 
 
 " W. Bainbridge." 
 
 The Governor was thrown into a frightful rage at this 
 refusal to accept his proposition. He sent for the lieu- 
 tenant and informed him of his intention to place him in 
 close imprisonment, to which Bainbridge replied that no 
 fear of punishment could induce him to abandon the 
 principles which would always govern him as an officer of 
 the American navy. 
 
 At last, wishing to concihate the United States, even 
 if he could obtain no pledge in advance, Desfourneaux 
 fitted out a cartel, under the command of a French cap- 
 tain, and sent her with the Retaliation to the United 
 States, the returned prisoners amounting to nearly three 
 hundred. 
 
 In a final interview with Bainbridge he declared that 
 he had resolved to compel the immediate departure of the 
 Retaliation, and in the event of any act of hostility being 
 committed previous to her arrival in the United States, 
 he would put to death every American prisoner who 
 might be hereafter captured or brought to the island. 
 The cartel bore prepared dispatches to the President of 
 the United States, in which General Desfourneaux made 
 assurances of the neutral position of the island, and 
 pointed to his release of the prisoners as a pledge of his 
 sincerity. What he really feared was a blockade of his 
 ports! 
 
 Bainbridge's conduct was highly approved of by the 
 Government upon investigation, and he was immediately 
 promoted to the rank of master and commander, and or- 
 dered to take charge of the brig-of-war Norfolk (the ves- 
 sel he had saved), then lying in the Delaware River. He 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 55 
 
 was given directions to fit her for active service as quickly 
 as possible. 
 
 As soon as the brig was ready to proceed to sea, her 
 commander was ordered to report to Commodore Trux- 
 ton, then sailing with the frigate Constellation in the 
 West Indies. He cruised among the Windward Islands, 
 and took under his charge successfully several convoys of 
 American merchantmen, among which was one fleet of 
 one hundred and nineteen sail, bound to different ports 
 of the United States. 
 
 Returning from this arduous service to New York in 
 the month of August, Bainbridge learned to his great 
 mortification that while absent there had been five lieu- 
 tenants promoted over him to the rank of captain. He 
 remonstrated in vain against this act of injustice, but re- 
 ceived no reparation, except an assurance that it would 
 not occur again. Nothing but his pride and attachment 
 to the service, and the earnest solicitation of his friends, 
 prevented his pursuing a course which would have de- 
 prived the navy of an efficient and capable officer. 
 
 Again he set sail on a cruise to the West Indies, where 
 he captured a number of piratical craft, and landed on the 
 island of Hispaniola, and on the 8th of November, off Cape 
 Nicola Mole, he took the French armed vessel Republican 
 and a prize that she had just taken. 
 
 On the 14th of November the young commander 
 found himself at the head of a small squadron consisting 
 of his own vessel the Norfolk, the brig Warren, and the 
 sloop Pinckney, each carrying eighteen guns. With this 
 small force he blockaded the harbor of Havana to prevent 
 the escape of a large French privateer, and he did this so 
 efifectually that the latter vessel was dismantled, and ample 
 protection was afforded to American merchant vessels 
 cruising in Cuban waters. 
 
 Up to the time of Bainbridge's assuming command of 
 
56 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 this station the French cruisers had preyed on the com- 
 merce of the United States to a vast and ruinous ex- 
 tent. But so untiring was his vigilance and exertion 
 that for six months, during the most inclement and 
 boisterous season of the year, his little squadron kept 
 continually at sea, with the exception of ten days, wlwi 
 he was obliged to go into port for water and proAa- 
 ions. 
 
 The American merchants of Havana, upon his de- 
 parture for the United States, presented him with the fol- 
 lowing letter, dated March i, 1800: 
 
 " Having witnessed the ample protection which 
 you have extended to American commerce trading to 
 this island, it would be doing injustice to our feelings 
 were we to suppress our acknowledgments of the 
 vigilance, perseverance, and urbanity which have marked 
 your conduct during your arduous command on this 
 station. 
 
 " It must afford peculiar pleasure to the citizens of the 
 United States to know that a trade which was so re- 
 cently exposed to frequent depredations now passes in 
 almost certain security; and we doubt not that they, 
 with us, will do you the justice to acknowledge the essen- 
 tial services which you have rendered your country." 
 
 Sailing from Havana in March, Bainbridge arrived 
 in Philadelphia early in April. He immediately pro- 
 ceeded home and found all his family well and anxiously 
 awaiting him. To the delight of all his friends, and to 
 his own satisfaction, he heard that his conduct had been 
 viewed favorably by the President, and that he had been 
 promoted to the rank of captain, his commission dating 
 from the ist of May, 1800. Only a few days later he was 
 ordered to the command of the frigate George Washing- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 57 
 
 ton, a fine vessel, and one of the largest in our navy. But 
 his first orders were not calculated to give him much of 
 either pride or pleasure in their execution; and this will 
 be told about in the chapter that is to follow. It exposes 
 truly a strange condition of affairs. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 John Taylor was seated in an armchair in the warm 
 spring sunshine, and beside him sat the wife of his favorite 
 grandson. Her head was leaning against the old gentle- 
 man's knee, and one of her hands was clasped in both 
 of his. 
 
 " Indeed, my dear, it is hard to have him leave us again 
 so soon; but I can tell you that it is an honor, of course, 
 that he should accept the command of such a fine vessel; 
 perhaps he may not be sent on the foreign service for 
 some time, and we may have him here much longer with 
 us. Hullo! who's coming up the road? " he added, break- 
 ing off suddenly and raising one hand to shade his eye. 
 
 " Some one on horseback," answered Mrs. Bainbridge, 
 rising to her feet. 
 
 A man on a strong brown horse reined in at the 
 steps and, leaping from the saddle, left the nag to nibble 
 at the short spring turf. 
 
 " Dispatches for Captain Bainbridge, sir," he said, 
 saluting. 
 
 " I'll bring them to him," said Mrs. Bainbridge, ex- 
 tending her hand. But she was saved the trouble, for 
 just then the figure of Bainbridge himself appeared in the 
 doorway. He took the package, and his handsome face 
 clouded a httle as he observed his wife's troubled look. 
 
 " Sailing orders, William? " she asked, her underlip 
 trembHng suspiciously. 
 
 " Yes, dear, I fear so." 
 
 58 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 59 
 
 Without breaking the seal he turned and went into 
 the house. Mrs. Bainbridge again sHpped her hand into 
 old John Taylor's outstretched palm. A tear that she 
 endeavored to hide stole down her cheek, but the old man 
 had noticed it. 
 
 " A sailor's wife " he began. 
 
 " Should be brave, I know," concluded his grand- 
 daughter, anticipating his remark; "but sometimes it does 
 seem hard, I must confess." 
 
 A silence followed that was broken by the footsteps 
 of Captain Bainbridge approaching down the hallway. It 
 was evident that he was suffering from some irritation. 
 
 " W'eU, W'ilHam," asked his grandfather, " what's the 
 news? \\'elcome, I hope." 
 
 " Quite the reverse, sir," replied the captain. " I am 
 ordered to take that infamous tribute to Algiers! A 
 pretty commission for a gentleman and an officer to exe- 
 cute! " 
 
 " It is a disgrace to the country," exclaimed Grand- 
 father Taylor, thumping down both fists on the arms of 
 his chair. 
 
 " There is one kind of tribute I would like to give 
 them," continued WilHam, " and that is from the mouth 
 of my guns. The idea that we, a Christian nation, and 
 bound to be one of the most powerful, should permit 
 such a scandal as buying immunity from a lot of Barbary 
 pirates is almost as bad as submitting to the English 
 right of search." 
 
 " If anything, it's worse," put in Mr. Taylor. " Think 
 of the contempt that they must hold us in! 'Dogs of 
 Christians ' they call us." 
 
 " Well, there are others in the same position," Cap- 
 tain Bainbridge answered, sitting down on the lower step 
 beside his wife. " Almost all of Europe pays tribute in 
 one way or another." 
 
6o COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 " Except England," suggested Mr. Taylor. 
 
 "Ay, there's the rub!" was the answer. "It is my 
 opinion that she supports these brigands and buccaneers 
 in order to gain the supreme control of the commercial 
 Mediterranean. Proof is not lacking to show that in this 
 I am correct. They could suppress every pirate from 
 Gibraltar to the Bosphorus in three months, but they 
 would not have it otherwise than as it is." 
 
 In common with many of the officers and a large pro- 
 portion of American citizens, Bainbridge held strong 
 prejudices against Great Britain, and bewailed her in- 
 fluence. But, odd to relate, his grandfather, during the 
 war of the Revolution, had been an opponent of rebellion, 
 and his own father, Absalom Bainbridge, had been an 
 out-and-out Tory and had moved to New York during 
 the war in order that his children should be among the 
 adherents of the Crown, who held the city. Nevertheles'i 
 all of the younger generation had grown up stout patriots, 
 and it had not taken the honest doctor very long to 
 change his opinions, although he would never discuss the 
 question under any provocation. 
 
 It is easy to see how a mission like the delivering of 
 the tribute money to Algiers should gall so high-spirited 
 a nature as was Bainbridge's; but duty was paramount, 
 orders were to be obeyed, and as soon as the George 
 Washington was in readiness and all arrangements had 
 been completed he bade farewell to his wife and family 
 and set sail. 
 
 He arrived at Algiers with the annual tribute, amount- 
 ing to some twenty thousand dollars, which he placed 
 in the hands of the United States consul, declining to 
 assist in any ceremony of presentation to the Dey. 
 
 The George Washington was the strongest American 
 frigate that the Algerines had ever seen, and in fact was 
 one of the largest ships that ever dropped anchor in the 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 6i 
 
 harbor. She lay close in under the guns of two powerful 
 batteries, and the wily Dey, a Httle angered, perhaps, at the 
 short way in which the tribute had been paid to him, 
 viewed the tall spars and finely modeled hull with envy 
 
 Algiers. 
 
 not unmingled with ire, and a brilliant idea entered his 
 head. Why not humble this distant nation still more, and 
 make use of the fine craft yonder as if it were his own? 
 Acting upon this inspiration, he sent at once for the Ameri- 
 can consul, Mr. Richard O'Brien, a sagacious and intelli- 
 gent man, who had been at a former period a prisoner 
 in this very country. 
 
 After the audience with the regent, the consul left 
 the palace and hastened to the shore, where he was for- 
 tunate enough to find a cutter of the George Washington 
 waiting at the dock. Explaining to the cockswain the 
 
62 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 urgency of his desire to see Captain Bainbridge, he was 
 placed on board at once. 
 
 Bainbridge received him in the cabin. Consul O'Brien 
 was evidently in some distress of mind, so Bainbridge 
 treated him cordially, asked him to sit down, at the same 
 time dismissing a number of officers who were loitering 
 at the table, for dinner was just over. 
 
 " Well, sir," he said, " what is amiss? What can I do 
 for you?" 
 
 " I do not know what is to be done," responded the 
 consul, " but I must speak quickly and to the point, even 
 if I have to indulge in a short preamble. You know. Cap- 
 tain Bainbridge, that all the Barbary States are under 
 the direct control and obey the commands of the Grand 
 Seignior at Constantinople. They are practically hire- 
 lings and dependents upon the Turk and the Ottoman 
 power. The present Dey — confound him! — has got him- 
 self into a mess with the Porte because he has concluded 
 a treaty of peace with France just at this time when Tur- 
 key, and England, her ally, are carrying on the war in 
 Egypt against the young General Bonaparte. There is 
 the situation in a nutshell. Now it has entered his un- 
 scrupulous old head — bad luck to him! — that it would be a 
 fine thing indeed to appease the heathen Turk by sending 
 to him presents of money and various things that the 
 old villain has stolen, and to have them accompanied by 
 a special ambassador to Constantinople." 
 
 " Well, I can see no objection," returned Bainbridge. 
 
 " Yes; but, man dear — excuse me, Captain — he wants 
 to send them in your ship — in the George Washington, 
 that bears the flag of the United States, by all the 
 powers! " 
 
 Bainbridge threw back his head and laughed heartily. 
 
 " Do you suppose for one minute that I intend to allow 
 him to carry out his intentions? " he asked. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 63 
 
 " But, my dear Captain, make note of this: he is a 
 murdering old divil that will stop at nothing. Can't you 
 sail out this very instant? "' 
 
 " Not without some wind to sail with," responded 
 Bainbridge, looking out of one of the after ports. " Can't 
 you secure an audience for me with the regent? I should 
 like to pohtely express my opinions to him." 
 
 " You will find that he is hard to change in his de- 
 terminations," replied Mr. O'Brien. " Could you warp 
 the vessel to the mouth of the harbor? " 
 
 " It would be a hard job;" Bainbridge answered. " But 
 for that matter, if they wanted to prevent my leaving, they 
 could dismantle me before I had sailed a cable's length. 
 Just look up there." 
 
 Over two hundred pieces of ordnance of heavy weight 
 frowned down upon the frigate, and from innumerable 
 loopholes in the castle a fire of musketry could have swept 
 lier decks and tops. 
 
 Near the entrance to the harbor two crescent-shaped 
 batteries stood close to the water's edge, and at the inner 
 bend of the anchorage another small fort looked out over 
 the roadstead. 
 
 But the next morning Bainbridge found that ]Mr. 
 O'Brien had been successful, and that the Dey would 
 grant him an audience soon after his morning meal, which 
 took place at noonday. 
 
 The captain found the Algerine potentate sitting 
 cross-legged on a luxurious divan, being fanned by 
 two large slaves, while his ministers sat at some dis- 
 tance about the walls. No chairs were provided, and 
 during the interview, that was carried on by the aid 
 of an interpreter, Bainbridge stood, and he stood very 
 erect too, with folded arms, and indulged in none of 
 the genuflections that characterize court etiquette in 
 Algeria. 
 
64 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 " Has the consul expressed my desires to the Ameri- 
 can captain? " was the first question the Dey asked. 
 
 " He has, and the American captain regrets that he 
 can not comply with the distinguished request, as it would 
 be contrary to the orders of his Government received 
 before leaving home." 
 
 " That is all right on the other side of the water," the 
 Dey responded, " but here my wishes are of more im- 
 portance." 
 
 " That I deny," returned Bainbridge through the in- 
 terpreter. 
 
 The Dey did not allow it to be seen how these words 
 nettled him, but the retort that he made showed the posi- 
 tion he intended to take in the matter. 
 
 " For what your country says," he sneered, " I care no 
 more than for a handful of dried dates. You are in my 
 power. It makes no matter to me whether you declare 
 war or not. It would only make me richer and more 
 powerful; but this much must be understood: either you 
 take my ambassador and my presents to Constantinople 
 or you sink where you are. And in three weeks my harbor 
 shall be filled with American shipping. I have said." 
 
 At this moment O'Brien spoke up. He endeavored 
 to explain the position in which Captain Bainbridge was 
 placed. He informed the Dey that such procedure was 
 contrary to all national law, and he said that the whole 
 of Europe would revolt at such an arbitrary mode of 
 procedure. But nothing moved the obstinate old Mussul- 
 man, and when Mr. O'Brien had finished speaking he 
 intimated that the audience was at an end. 
 
 Once out in the open air, O'Brien expressed his feel- 
 ings in no measured terms. Bainbridge was too angry 
 to speak, but he was going over everything calmly and 
 dispassionately in his mind. He knew that the Dey would 
 make good his threats, and he thought of the unprotected 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 65 
 
 commerce that wovild be at the mercy of the ruthless 
 barbarian if the Algerines were tvirned loose to seek their 
 prey. 
 
 " It is a good deal like having a man put a pistol to 
 your head and order you to dance," remarked the consul. 
 
 '■ Yes, somewhat similar," Bainbridge returned. 
 " What would you do in such a case? " 
 
 '■ By the saints, I suppose I'd foot it," answered the 
 little Irish-American with a shrug of his shoulders. 
 " Couldn't you slip your cable and get out under cover 
 of darkness? I'd rather have a cargo of monkeys than a 
 shipload of those heathen Turks for companions." 
 
 Bainbridge called a council of his officers that night 
 in the cabin. It was impossible to slip out of the harbor, 
 and the next morning he wrote the following letter, which 
 he placed on board a small vessel bound for Spain, with 
 instructions to put it on board the first home-bound 
 American ship that might be met with. The epistle was 
 addressed to the home Government, and, after the in- 
 troductory form, it read as follows: 
 
 " The Dey of Algiers, soon after my arrival, made a 
 demand that the United States ship George Washington 
 should carry an ambassador to Constantinople, with pres- 
 ents to the amount of five or six hundred thousand dollars, 
 and upward of two hundred Turkish passengers. Every 
 effort was made by me to evade this demand, but it 
 availed nothing. The light in which the chief of this 
 regency looks upon the people of the United States may 
 be inferred from his style of expression. He remarked to 
 me: 'You pay me tribute, by which you become my slaves: 
 I have therefore a right to order you as I may think 
 proper.' 
 
 " The unpleasant situation in which I am placed must 
 convince you that I have no alternative left but compli- 
 
66 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 ance, or a renewal of hostilities against our commerce. 
 The loss of the frigate and the fear of slavery for myself and 
 crew were the least circumstance to be apprehended; but 
 I knew our valuable commerce in these seas would fall 
 a sacrifice to the corsairs of this power, as we have here 
 no cruisers to protect it. Inclosed is the correspondence 
 between Richard O'Brien, consul general, and myself on 
 the subject of the embassy, by which you will see that 
 I had no choice in acting, but was governed by the tyrant 
 in whose power I had fallen. 
 
 " I hope I may never again be sent to Algiers with 
 tribute, unless I am authorized to deliver it from the 
 mouth of our cannon. I trust that my conduct will be 
 approved of by the President, for, with every desire to 
 act rightly, it has caused me many unpleasant moments." 
 
 A strange assortment of presents they were, and only 
 such as one barbaric power could send to another, and 
 especially if that power had at some time had free access 
 to the contents of various vessels of all nations. Silks 
 and satins from French looms, cloth and handsome em- 
 broideries, plate and chinaware from various places, three 
 handsome Arabian steeds, and two tame lion cubs were 
 stored on board, and the retinue of the ambassador, num- 
 bering some two hundred Mohammedans, thronged the 
 decks. 
 
 Bainbridge, having been forced to submit to this in- 
 dignity, made up his mind to do it as gracefully as he 
 could; but a crowning afifront was to be offered him be- 
 fore he cleared the mouth of the harbor. An Algerine 
 rowboat, manned by twenty oarsmen, came alongside the 
 vessel 'with orders from the Dey that the George Wash- 
 ington should proceed to Constantinople flying the flag 
 of Algiers! One was handed up to him for the purpose. 
 Bainbridge called away his gig at once and, thoroughly 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 67 
 
 angry, rowed ashore, and made his way to the palace. 
 The Dey would not see him, but he carried on a conversa- 
 tion with him through one of his head men. 
 
 The American captain remonstrated in vain, and was 
 forced at last to row back to the ship and hoist the hated 
 flag at his peak while he ffew the Stars and Stripes at his 
 main and fore. Once outside of the harbor and beyond 
 range of the guns that the Dey could bring to bear upon 
 him, down came the green and yellow rag. The flag of 
 the United States arose in its place, and. in some way that 
 has never been accounted for, the Algerine emblem was 
 lost overboard. 
 
 It was the nineteenth day of October in the year 1800 
 when the George Washington set sail from Algiers. Head 
 winds and bad weather were encountered from the out- 
 set, and the crowded condition of the ship made every 
 one uncomfortable. 
 
 The Mussulman is compelled by his religion to pray fre- 
 quently at various stated intervals during the day, and a 
 sine qua non is that he should face toward Mecca — in this 
 instance toward the east. It was a remarkable sight to see 
 the ambassador and his suite prostrating themselves upon 
 the deck, and then, as the ship swung off upon another 
 tack, rushing to the binnacle to be sure that their prayers 
 were directed properly. With the sailors hauling and 
 bawling about them, and not any too careful how they 
 stepped among the worshiping Turks, it must have been 
 a remarkable sight. In fact, it was very hard to manage 
 the Algerines without resorting to severe measures, which 
 would have been hardly proper under the circumstances, 
 as they were supposed to be distinguished guests. 
 
 After fifty-nine days of severe tossing, the entrance 
 to the Dardanelles was sighted, with the two large forts 
 guarding the highway to Constantinople. Bainbridge 
 took on board a pilot when some distance from the en- 
 
68 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 trance, and as they approached the narrow gateway the 
 officer of the deck was told that it was always necessary 
 for foreign ships to come to anchor under the guns of the 
 great fortress to the east and await there the permis- 
 sion or firman from the Grand Seignior. Immediately 
 Bainbridge was informed, and the prospect of having to 
 
 The Dardanelles. 
 
 remain detained any longer than was absolutely neces- 
 sary was most distressing to him. So stratagem was 
 determined upon to enable the George Washington to 
 overcome this obstacle. 
 
 The guns of the forward battery were loaded with a 
 double saluting charge, and the frigate, under the favor- 
 ing wind, swept up the narrow channel, clewing up her 
 topsails and hauling down the jib as if it was her inten- 
 tion to anchor. It was a warm, hazy day; the ramparts 
 of the fort were seen to be lined with soldiers watching 
 the frigate as she approached. When about midway in 
 the passage, Bainbridge began to fire a salute of twenty- 
 one guns, which he did as rapidly as they could be loaded 
 and primed. At once both forts began to answer. The 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 69 
 
 air clouded up with the white, opaque smoke, and when 
 it cleared away the Turks must have been astonished 
 to perceive the vessel they supposed they would find 
 anchored near to them a full mile or more up the straits, 
 bowling along with studding sails and royals set and 
 dra\\ing. 
 
 In the course of a few hours the George Washington 
 dropped her anchor in the harbor of Constantinople, the 
 lirst vessel in the history of man to have reached that 
 place without first securing the permission of the Sultan. 
 The frigate lay in the lower part of the harbor. It was 
 the 9th of November, and late in the afternoon. The many 
 minarets and slender spires and domes of the city gleamed 
 in the sun. The gray castle and the fortifications that 
 lined the water's edge were crowded, as the forts had been 
 below, with troops of curious soldiery and citizens. Pres- 
 ently from the castle a boat put out, the rowers of which 
 pulled long oars whose handles were weighted at the 
 end, and they made her dance through the water at a 
 lively pace. 
 
 A man with a large turban on his head sat in the stern 
 sheets, and seeing that it was his intention to board, the 
 ladder was hastily dropped, and in another instant he 
 stood at the gangway. 
 
 " What vessel is this? " he asked, speaking very good 
 French. 
 
 '• The George Washington from the United States," 
 Eainbridge replied, lifting his hat. 
 
 To every one's surprise, this answer was sufficient, for, 
 without coming down upon the deck, the visitor hastened 
 down to the boat, and at the same racing pace rowed 
 back to the castle. 
 
 Before the sailors had finished rigging the starboard 
 gangway he had again returned, and having boarded, he 
 approached Captain Bainbridge and made a low obeisance. 
 
70 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 " The Turkish Government sends greetings," he said. 
 " But no one has ever heard here of such a Government 
 as the United States. Will the captain please explicitly 
 describe w^hat country he hails from and vv^hat govern- 
 ment he represents." 
 
 Bainbridge thought for a minute, and then made an- 
 swer. 
 
 " Will you say to those who sent you," he said, dis- 
 covering that the gayly caparisoned visitor was merely a 
 messenger, " that this frigate comes from the country to 
 the westward — the New World — discovered by Colum- 
 bus? " 
 
 This seemed entirely satisfactory, and the turbaned 
 one took his departure for the second time. In a few 
 hours a larger boat was seen approaching with the same 
 messenger, accompanied by an elderly man, and they came 
 on board at once. They brought a lamb and a bunch of 
 flowers, the former as an emblem of peace and the latter 
 of welcome. 
 
 The elderly man proved to be the captain of the port, 
 and he bore instructions to conduct the frigate into the 
 inner harbor. The anchor was tripped as she entered 
 into the mole, passing close to the castle and firing a 
 salute of twenty-one guns, which apparently afforded 
 much satisfaction and was returned promptly. 
 
 Half an hour after the George Washington had come 
 to anchor, although it was now quite late, a boat rowed off 
 to the ship with an invitation from the Grand Seignior 
 for the American commander to appear before his august 
 presence. The Algerine ambassador was not mentioned, 
 although word had been sent of his arrival. 
 
 The Grand Seignior's first remark was upon the flag 
 that he had particularly noticed. 
 
 " It is, like my own," he said, " decorated with one of 
 the heavenly bodies, and I consider this coincidence a 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 71 
 
 good omen of the future friendly intercourse between 
 our respective nations. It is most probable that we have 
 many affinities of laws, religion, and manners." 
 
 Bainbridge tried to explain in a few words a little 
 about his country, and the Sultan displayed great interest 
 but great ignorance. The next morning the Algerine 
 ambassador reported himself at the palace but was de- 
 nied an audience, word being sent to him to wait until 
 the return of the Capudan Pasha, or High Admiral, 
 then absent on a cruise. As the ambassador refused to 
 leave the ship, Bainbridge was compelled to put up 
 with him as a guest for some time longer; but he hoped 
 the Capudan Pasha would not delay long, for he 
 was anxious to get rid of his mission and proceed home- 
 ward. 
 
 The eighth day after the arrival of the George Wash- 
 ington a very resplendent dragoman came offshore, and 
 by means of an interpreter, who spoke French, he in- 
 quired of Captain Bainbridge if the latter did not know 
 that there was such an officer as the Reis Effendi in the 
 city of Constantinople. 
 
 '■ You have reached this port," added the dragoman, 
 " without either the consent or the acknowledgement of 
 the Turkish Government — something without precedent 
 — and you have neglected to report yourself to the proper 
 ofificer, and thereby you have offered him an indignity 
 which requires a reparation. His Supreme Royal High- 
 ness, the Reis Effendi, hereby orders you to report and 
 appear before him to-morrow morning at ten o'clock." 
 
 Bainbridge was nonplused at first, but he concluded 
 that it would be best to put on a bold front, although he 
 did not know against whom he had offended. 
 
 " Although I command this ship, tell your master," 
 he said, " I carry an ambassador with presents to the Sul- 
 tan, and I feel under no obligations to hold intercourse 
 
72 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 with members of the Government other than an inter- 
 change of civiHties." 
 
 " No matter what your own personal feehngs may be," 
 responded the dragoman, nodding significantly, " I advise 
 you not to disobey the commands which I have deliv- 
 ered." 
 
 " I do not regard them as commands," Bainbridge said 
 rather hotly, for the understrapper's insolence was cal- 
 culated to disturb one's peace of mind. " And as for his 
 threats, tell him they amount to nothing. This is all I 
 have to say." 
 
 Upon thinking matters over later in the day, it seemed 
 to him that it would be prudent to find out from some 
 of the resident ministers of one of the countries friendly 
 to the United States exactly what position the Effendi 
 held, and what it would be best for him to do under the 
 circumstances. As the United States had no representa- 
 tive at all at the Sultan's court, Bainbridge accordingly 
 waited on Lord Elgin, the British ambassador, and told 
 him the whole story, informing him of the message he 
 had received from the Reis EfTendi, and expressing a hope 
 that the amicable relations then existing between their 
 respective governments would justify his calling upon 
 him for such aid as he might find necessary in case any 
 trouble should arise. 
 
 Lord Elgin responded promptly by ofifering his friend- 
 ly services, and stating that the object of the Reis Efifendi 
 was merely to obtain a bribe. He promised to send a 
 message by his dragoman to the importunate gentleman 
 that would prevent all further annoyance. 
 
 "■ You see. Captain Bainbridge," Lord Elgin said, " the 
 Grand Vizier, or Reis Efifendi, as he calls himself, is 
 actually next in rank to the Sultan. But he and the latter 
 are comparative strangers for the simple reason that the 
 Ottoman potentate has no private correspondence or in- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 73 
 
 terviews with any high official of his Government unless 
 it happens that the officer has some near relationship 
 through blood or marriage — a most singular regulation, 
 but in this case one that works to your favor, for the 
 EfTendi and the Sultan scarcely speak to one another, 
 and only meet at public functions." 
 
 After expressions of gratitude for his lordship's kind- 
 ness, Bainbridge put back to his ship, much reassured, few- 
 he was placed in a worse position in Constantinople than 
 he was in the harbor of Algiers, having no one at all to 
 represent his Government, and being under the guns of 
 the fort, escape was beyond question. 
 
 Two weeks went by, and on the fourteenth day a 
 man working up aloft shouted down to the deck of the 
 George Washington that a large fleet of thirty or forty 
 sail was approaching, distant about six or eight miles. 
 Before sunset the Capudan Pasha, the Lord High Ad- 
 miral, sailed in, just home from Egypt, with fifteen sail 
 of the line and thirty smaller vessels. As the leading 
 battle ship entered the harbor the George Washington 
 fired a salute. But no answer was given, for at that 
 moment a heavy squall blew across the Bosporus, and 
 many of the vessels were taken all aback, the largest, the 
 flagship, only being saved from going ashore by dexterous 
 handling. Bainbridge was disappointed and hurt that 
 no attention had been paid to his twenty-one guns. 
 But the next morning, very early, he was informed that 
 the admiral's private secretary, Mr. Zacbe, was waiting 
 to see him. Upon being ushered into the captain's pres- 
 ence he advanced, and, omitting the low obeisance of 
 the Ottoman, he extended his hand in European fashion, 
 at the same time saying in good English: 
 
 " The admiral's compliments to Captain Bainbridge, 
 and he regrets that an accident alone prevented his re- 
 plying to the captain's courteous salute. He desires me 
 
 6 
 
74 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE; 
 
 to state that he will return it at noon to-day, gun for 
 gun." 
 
 Bainbridge could not help expressing his dehght at 
 meeting one who was close to those high in authority, 
 who could speak his language, and who knew about his 
 country. 
 
 " Ah, indeed, I know of it well," returned the ad- 
 rniral's secretary. " I was educated in Paris and London, 
 and while in the former place I had the great pleasure 
 of meeting the illustrious Benjamin Franklin. Indeed, 
 although I was a very young man, I might say that we 
 became good friends." 
 
 Bainbridge was much taken with Mr. Zacbe's engag- 
 ing manner, his demeanor, and intelligence, and he held 
 quite a long conversation, in which the secretary expressed 
 himself as a great admirer of the structure of our insti- 
 tutions, and displayed no little knowledge of our history. 
 A friendship was thus commenced that lasted through 
 many years; until Mr. Zacbe's death, in fact, regular cor- 
 respondence was exchanged, although Bainbridge and he 
 were so many thousands of miles apart. 
 
 Promptly at twelve o'clock the Turkish flagship fired 
 a salute with broadside guns, after which the captain re- 
 ceived an invitation to visit the admiral at his palace, 
 which was near to that of the Sultan and not far from 
 the water. Capudan Pasha received the American officer 
 with the greatest hospitality and many protestations of 
 delight. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 When Lord Elgin was informed by Bainbridge that 
 the Capudan Pasha had taken the George Washington 
 under his immediate protection, he was profuse in his 
 congratulations, stating that it was an honor that had 
 been extended to few vessels, and was full of promise for 
 any negotiations that he might seek to bring about, or 
 any favors he might desire to ask. 
 
 " Your way is now paved," he said, " and no better 
 opportunity could present itself for extending an entente 
 cordiale between the Ottoman Government and your 
 own." 
 
 Bainbridge saw this, and after his reception by the 
 Turkish admiral he invited the latter on board the frigate 
 and made every preparation to make a favorable impres- 
 sion. Although the admiral declined the honor of din- 
 ing, owing to the fact that he would have to meet the 
 ambassador from Algiers, who had not been accredited, he 
 came on board with a large retinue in great splendor late 
 in the afternoon. 
 
 The ship was covered with bunting, the yardarms were 
 manned, and the crew were dressed in clean white uni- 
 forms. The Capudan Pasha was delighted with every- 
 thing he saw. He remarked with great approbation the 
 correct deportment of the officers, and praised highly the 
 discipline and subordination of the crew. He was amazed 
 at the structure of the ship, the heaviness of her bulwarks, 
 and the strength of her timbers; for, mind you, he looked 
 
 75 
 
76 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 at her with a sailor's eye. But most he marveled at the 
 cleanliness and neatness that prevailed throughout. He 
 regretted frankly that such "a state of things would never 
 be found on board a Turkish vessel, and humorously ex- 
 pressed it that he was afraid his junior officers would see 
 no use in such carefulness and attention to detail. 
 
 Before he left h« invited Bainbridge and his first 
 lieutenant to dine with him at his palace on the next day 
 but one. 
 
 Although this was not a state function, and there 
 were but seven seated at the table, the dinner was of great 
 importance, as Bainbridge learned that the embassy which 
 he had been at such pains to bring thither was not to be 
 accredited at all. The presents of silks and satins, the lion 
 cubs, and the Arabian steeds were all to be returned 
 whence they came. 
 
 " What message the Grand Seignior intends to send 
 to the Dey of Algiers has not yet been determined upon, 
 but the Sultan has expressed the greatest displeasure at 
 the conduct of Algiers, and will probably demand of him 
 immediate reparation for the depredations he has com- 
 mitted on the commerce of Austria and other friendly 
 nations, and also for his disobedience in making peace 
 with France, our enemy." 
 
 Bainbridge then told of the insolent demand of the 
 Dey that he should fly the Algerine flag. When he heard 
 of this, the Pasha frowned. 
 
 " While in Ottoman waters," he said at last, " pray 
 fly no flag but that of your own country, and as upon 
 your return voyage you will still be under my protection, 
 I respectfully request that you do not fly any other but 
 that which is now at the peak of your vessel." 
 
 Altogether the dinner was a great success. The great 
 English traveler, Edward Daniel Clarke, who had traveled 
 to Constantinople from St. Petersburg in Russia over-- 
 
The Turkish admiral visits the Washington. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 77 
 
 land by the way of Moscow and Odessa, was one of the 
 guests. He was the first foreigner to make this long and 
 hazardous journey. 
 
 This was by no means the last of the meetings be- 
 tween the admiral and the American captain. Visits were 
 exchanged on many occasions, and several long excur- 
 sions were made into the surrounding country and up the 
 Thracian Bosporus, Bainbridge penetrating in his long 
 boat even as far as the Black Sea, where he wished to 
 hoist the American flag for the first time. He was also 
 fortunate enough to secure a nearer view of the private 
 and social life of the Turkish ruler than has fallen to the 
 lot of many men, for Mr. Clarke one day presented him 
 to Count Browlaski, a Pole in the service of the Sultan, 
 a high officer in the court circle, and one who had im- 
 mediate supervision of the gardens and the policing of 
 the palace grounds. 
 
 Bainbridge had expressed a desire to see the inside of 
 the seragUo and the harem, whose many grated windows 
 looked down upon the blue waters of the bay from above 
 the palace walls. The Englishman at once laughed and 
 shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " That speech shows your innocence, Captain Bain- 
 bridge," he said. " No one, not even our friend the count 
 here, has had that privilege." 
 
 At this Count Browlaski looked over his shoulder, 
 and observing that no one was nigh them, he confided to 
 them that if they wished to run a certain amount of risk 
 he thought the adventure might be carried out. Ac- 
 cordingly plans were arranged, and the visit was success- 
 fully accomplished. Mr. Clarke, in his book of travels, 
 mentions meeting Captain Bainbridge, and going with 
 him into the inner recesses of the palace in disguise. He 
 dwells at some length upon the dangers that were en- 
 countered, but in a letter to a friend of his, Bainbridge 
 
78 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 made light of them in describing the same event. But 
 he added generously, upon reading Mr. Clarke's account: 
 " One gentleman may honestly apprehend great peril 
 where it can not be perceived by another." 
 
 In return for all the courtesies that had been shown 
 him, Bainbridge gave a large entertainment in the cabin 
 of the George Washington. Although the admiral again 
 declined the honor of being present, he was represented 
 unofficially by Mr. Zacbe, his secretary. The disgruntled 
 Algerine ambassador was also present. He was a man of 
 grave deportment and good manners, and Bainbridge 
 had begun to feel really sorry for him, owing to the failure 
 of his mission, and the consequences that it might entail 
 upon him and his family, for eastern vengeance does 
 not stop at the principles involved in trouble or dis- 
 grace. 
 
 It was a remarkable entertainment in more ways 
 than one. Upon the four corners of the table were 
 so many decanters containing fresh water from the four 
 quarters of the globe. The natives of Europe, Asia, Africa, 
 and America sat down together at one board. Fruits, 
 preserved dishes and viands were passed about — a sample 
 of four different continents. In writing of this affair, Mr. 
 Clarke explains it thus: "The means of accomplishing 
 this extraordinary entertainment is easily understood by 
 his (Bainbridge's) having touched at Algiers in his pas- 
 sage from America, and his being at anchor so near the 
 shores of both Europe and of Asia." 
 
 Two more very important interviews Bainbridge held 
 with the Capudan Pasha. The first was in answer to a 
 request to know how long it would be expected of him to 
 stay in port, and whether it would be necessary for him to 
 return the embassy which had made such a fruitless jour- 
 ney. The admiral's reply to the first was that he did not 
 think Bainbridge would now be detained longer than four 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 79 
 
 or five days at the outside, but he requested especially 
 that he would return the ambassador and his suite, who 
 had not been permitted to land since their arrival in the 
 harbor. 
 
 As Bainbridge had had many conversations with the 
 Pasha on the subject of a treaty of commerce with the 
 Ottoman Government, he could not very well refuse. But 
 this was not the only subject of discussion at the meet- 
 ing. A few minutes previous to Bainbridge's taking his 
 departure the Turkish admiral had incidentally observed 
 that he had not been a little surprised to learn on his re- 
 turn to the port that the American frigate had not been 
 subjected to the usual restraints of the Dardanelles. 
 
 " I assure you, Monsieur le Capitaine, that it is the 
 first time a foreign armored vessel has reached this port 
 without our express permission and a firman from the 
 Grand Seignior — Oh, do not apologize," he added, see- 
 ing that Bainbridge was about to speak. " I attach no 
 blame whatever to your honorable conduct. You are a 
 stranger to the laws and customs of this country and 
 could not be expected to know our rules and regulations. 
 But," he added, frowning, " it was, nevertheless, the gov- 
 ernor of the castle's duty to stop you at the Dardanelles, 
 even if, alas! he had to sink the fine vessel which you have 
 the honor to command. He is not to escape punish- 
 ment for this obvious breach of duty, for he is at present 
 under sentence of death for his dereliction. It requires 
 but my signature, and that, I promise you, shall not 
 be withheld. He dies the day after to-morrow at sun- 
 down." 
 
 Bainbridge drew back in horror. The idea of allowing 
 an innocent man to suffer for a doing of his own was more 
 than his just mind and noble nature could brook for an 
 instant. No matter what the consequences might be, he 
 would make a statement. 
 
8o COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 " I assure your highness that the governor of the 
 castle at the straits is not even censurable for his con- 
 duct. Eelieve me, it was through no fault of his that my 
 vessel came by him." 
 
 The Capudan Pasha smiled and shrugged his 
 shoulders. 
 
 " He should have stopped you at all hazards, Mon- 
 sieur," he said. " Pray explain how any vessel could 
 pass those powerful batteries upon which the safety of 
 this city depends without gross neglect on the part of 
 the commander of the castle." 
 
 " But he was not neglectful." Bainbridge spoke almost 
 loudly now in his eagerness to convince the admiral of his 
 sincerity. — " He was not neglectful. He imagined that 
 I was coming to anchor. I frankly confess to you that I 
 did everything in my power to deceive him into think- 
 ing that I was going to comply with the requirements 
 of the port, for I knew well of the custom, and deter- 
 mined to evade it, if I could, to avoid delay. If any 
 one should be punished it should be myself. But I trust 
 that you will consider the circumstances and my haste 
 to perform the mission that I had so unwillingly under- 
 taken." 
 
 Bainbridge had no idea what would be the efifect of 
 this remarkable statement. The surprise of the admiral 
 was plain at the outset, but as Bainbridge proceeded, the 
 frown gradually left his face to be replaced by one of 
 friendly amazement, and when the captain had finished 
 speaking, the Pasha extended his hand. 
 
 " Thanks, a thousand times, for your brave words, my 
 friend," he said. " The Governor was an old and trusted 
 friend of mine. I now believe him to have been a faithful 
 ofificer. I thank you from my heart again for saving me 
 much pain, and preserving to the service of the Sultan a 
 loyal servant. Do not fear that the words you have said 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 8i 
 
 shall cause you to sufifer in any way. To-night one of my 
 swiftest sailing boats will leave bearing the message that 
 the governor is pardoned and restored to his former au- 
 thority." 
 
 An EngUsh ship was about sailing for the port of 
 Gibraltar, and by her Bainbridge sent the following letter, 
 with a request to the captain to place it on board the first 
 vessel bound for the United States. The epistle was ad- 
 dressed to his Excellency the Secretary of the Navy of 
 the United States, and read as follows: 
 
 " Sir: On the 23d of December, 1801, I was requested 
 by the Capudan Pasha to wait upon him at his palace. I 
 was received in a very friendly manner, and had some con- 
 versation respecting the formation of a treaty with the 
 Ottoman Porte, and he expressed a very great desire 
 that a minister should be sent from the United States to 
 effect it. I informed him that there was one already 
 named, who at present was in Lisbon, and probably 
 would be here in six months. He said he would write 
 to the ambassador, which letter would be a protection 
 for him while in the Turkish Empire, and gave me lib- 
 erty to recommend any merchant vessel to his protection 
 which might wish to come here previously to the arrival 
 of the ambassador. I thanked him in the name of the 
 United States for the protection he had been pleased to 
 give the frigate under my command, and for his friendly 
 attentions to myself and officers. I conceive it to be a 
 very fortunate moment to negotiate an advantageous 
 treaty with this Government. . . . The Capudan Pasha 
 requested me to take two messengers and land them at 
 Malta, being destined for Tripoli and Tunis, which I have 
 consented to do, conceiving it to be good policy. I think 
 it very probable that the States of Barbary will shortly 
 receive chastisement from the Turks." 
 
82 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 The ambassador of the Dey requested the honor of 
 an interview with Bainbridge the next morning. He was 
 found in a towering rage, and was almost unintelligible, 
 as he tried to explain that at last the Grand Seignior had 
 condescended to answer him. He said he was directed to 
 return at once to Algiers, which country was ordered to 
 immediately declare war against France; his master, the 
 Dey, was to be compelled to pay the large sum of one 
 million of piastres, and that only sixty days were to be 
 allowed for the transmitting of this dispatch to Algiers 
 and for an answer to be returned to Constantinople. If 
 this time was exceeded war would be at once declared on 
 Algiers. 
 
 The ambassador begged and implored Bainbridge to 
 make haste and leave the shores of Turkey behind him. 
 All his airs of superiority and importance disappeared. He 
 was a frightened, cringing, and well-nigh hopeless crea- 
 ture whose ruin stared him in the face. As Bainbridge 
 had been requested to wait upon the Capudan Pasha the 
 next morning, it was impossible for him to leave until 
 this was complied with; but yielding to the importuni- 
 ties of the frightened ambassador, he sent a messenger 
 to the palace, asking that he should be allowed to see 
 the admiral in the afternoon in order that he might sail 
 at daybreak the next morning. Word came back that 
 the Pasha would be glad to see him. 
 
 After presenting Bainbridge with a letter addressed 
 to the Honorable William Smith, minister plenipotentiary 
 of the United States at the port of Lisbon, the admiral 
 turned with a great deal of courtesy and said the following 
 words in parting: 
 
 " As your ship has been under my protection, she shall 
 receive the honors that are reserved exclusively for my 
 flag. In passing the fortress of Tapana it will salute you, 
 which, of course, you will return." 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 83 
 
 By regulation this fortress saluted no one but the 
 Capudan Pasha, and the compliment had never before 
 been extended to any foreign vessel of war, nor even to 
 Turkish vessels commanded by a less personage than an 
 admiral; but, what was more important, Bainbridge bore 
 away with him passports for the George Washington 
 which entitled that vessel and her commander at all 
 times to greatest respect in Turkish ports, and from all 
 ships of that empire. 
 
 The officer at the Dardanelles, who had been restored 
 to his command, sensible of the gallant conduct of Bain- 
 bridge, invited him to his castle, and in the most feehng 
 manner thanked him for having saved his life when he 
 had given up all hope and made his last will, excepting 
 surely to perish. He insisted upon presenting the frigate 
 with almost a cargo of fresh provisions and fruit, and 
 he parted from the captain with renewed assurances of 
 endless gratitude. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 It was the 21st of January, 1801, when the George 
 Washington arrived again ofif Algiers, but Bainbridge had 
 profited by the lesson he had learned, and he brought his 
 ship to anchor outside of the mole and beyond the range 
 of the harbor batteries. 
 
 As soon as he had appeared, two large sailboats put 
 out to meet him; one contained Mr. O'Brien and the 
 other a representative of the Dey, and it was a race to 
 see which one would arrive first. O'Brien's sailboat; how- 
 ever, caught a bad current by keeping too close to the 
 shore, and the regent's boat was the first alongside. Bain- 
 bridge received the court officer without much ceremony, 
 and was rather amused to notice that the effect of seeing 
 the returned embassy depressed the very consequential 
 individual. 
 
 Before he had asked any questions of his country- 
 man, he hastened to deliver a message for his master, in 
 the following words: " His High Mightiness the Dey has 
 noticed at what distance the honorable captain has 
 dropped anchor, and he expresses great solicitude that 
 immediately the frigate should be moved nearer the 
 city. It surely must be inconvenient, his High Mighti- 
 ness fears, for the officers to have communication with 
 the shore." 
 
 As the messenger was still speaking O'Brien came on 
 board. 
 
 "Listen to the blackguard!" he exclaimed, after 
 
 84 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 85 
 
 greeting Bainbridge. " Listen to the palvering old 
 scamp! " 
 
 " He would have me under the guns of his fortress 
 again if he could," Bainbridge said, half smiling; " but 
 he won't get me there so easily this time." 
 
 " I see you've returned the menagerie," commented 
 O'Brien. 
 
 " Yes, and I'll be glad to be rid of them," said Bain- 
 bridge, watching the preparations that were being made 
 for the ^Moslems to leave the ship. 
 
 Indeed it was a great relief when the last one had gone 
 over the side, and were it not for one thing, the American 
 captain would have made all haste to get away. But 
 previous to sailing he had taken aboard as ballast a large 
 number of old iron cannon, which he promised to return, 
 and he felt himself in duty bound to do so. And so he 
 called away his gig, and, accompanied by the consul, he 
 rowed into the harbor, intending to obtain an interview 
 with the Dey; but again he was disappointed in securing a 
 direct audience, and had to be content carrying on a 
 species of verbal correspondence through the medium of 
 one of the court ofificials. 
 
 Bainbridge had allowed Mr. O'Brien to begin the 
 negotiations, but the Dey's reply to the usual formal 
 greetings showed his position clearly. Point-blank he 
 made the request to the consul general to order Bain- 
 bridge to return at once with his messenger to Constanti- 
 nople. Bainbridge, upon hearing this, could not contain 
 his indignation. Whirling suddenly, he advanced upon 
 the astonished minister and in loud tones delivered him- 
 self of the following speech, while poor Mr. O'Brien al- 
 most collapsed in a state of fright, fearing the result of his 
 friend's temerity: 
 
 " Tell your master," Bainbridge said fiercely to the in- 
 terpreter, " that he has forgotten the oath he swore not to 
 
86 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 make any further demands upon me after the first voyage 
 was performed. Now, in the face of such a solemn declara- 
 tion, he makes another insolent request. Any one who 
 thus proves his unworthiness should be denied all cre- 
 dence. Tell him I do not doubt his disposition to capture 
 my frigate and enslave my officers and crew. To preserve 
 peace I complied with his first demand. I have done 
 everything which the commander of a ship would be justi- 
 fied in doing to prevent hostihties; but, mark you, if the 
 Dey is determined to have war, if he is so mad as to make 
 the Americans his enemy, he soon will have cause to 
 regret it." 
 
 With these words Bainbridge beckoned for the consul 
 to follow him, and stalked out of the palace. In addition 
 to the letter which has been quoted, Bainbridge had 
 written another one to the Secretary of the Navy saying 
 that he anticipated a demand of this character, but giv- 
 ing assurance that he intended to resist it, " believing 
 that the Government of the United States would never 
 sanction an act so humiliating." 
 
 The following morning he requested from Mr. O'Brien 
 that he send lighters off to the ship to receive the old 
 cannon; but the Dey, hearing of this, not only forbade 
 the consul making use of lighters, but declared that in 
 the event of the guns not being returned at once, war 
 would immediately be made upon the United States. 
 
 The consul, much frightened, asked Bainbridge to set- 
 tle matters by running his ship into the mole and deliver- 
 ing up the cannon. Bainbridge refused to do this until he 
 had received a positive promise from the Dey that he should 
 not be approached upon the subject of a second voyage. 
 Reluctantly this was given, but there was to be a dramatic 
 scene in consequence. When Bainbridge came ashore 
 after seeing that the cannon were hoisted over the side 
 on to the dock, he was met by a court ofificial accom- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 87 
 
 panied by some thirty or forty armed janizaries, and word 
 was given him that the Dey requested his presence on 
 a matter of the utmost importance. 
 
 Leaving orders with his first lieutenant to begin at 
 once to warp the ship out into the harbor and set sail 
 if he did not return within two hours, taking with him 
 only a midshipman, Bainbridge waited upon " his High 
 Mightiness "' at the palace and found him in a towering 
 rage. 
 
 " Dog of a Christian, down on your knees! " shrieked 
 the Dey, pointing to the floor at his feet. " Down, I say! " 
 he continued, jumping up as he noticed that Bainbridge's 
 only reply was a calm folding of his arms and a more 
 erect carriage to his figure, in every motion of which 
 the little midshipman accompanied him. 
 
 The Dey was absolutely foaming and spluttering in 
 his wrath. He drew his long curved scimiter, and at the 
 motion the crowd of armed men drew theirs also. The 
 minutes that Bainbridge and his little companion had 
 to live seemed numbered, when suddenly the captain 
 thought of the firman that he had thrust in his pocket a 
 minute before he had left shipboard. Not having the 
 least idea of what the result would be he drew it forth. 
 At sight of the document, with its two ponderous seals, 
 the Dey's jaw dropped, and sheathing his weapon, he 
 fell back timorously before Bainbridge, who, backed up 
 by the unflinching Httle middy, advanced upon him, un- 
 rolling the document and displaying it triumphantly for 
 the Dey's inspection. Only in the Arabian Nights could 
 any one read of such transformations being enacted. 
 It was as if he had pronounced some magic word — some 
 open sesame — whose power was resistless. With a weak 
 motion to his astonished court the Dey bade them with- 
 draw,and,to the American captain's wonderment, he found 
 confronting him, not an arrogant, bloodthirsty tyrant. 
 
88 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 but a cringing, humble dependent, alone but for a single 
 dragoman who had prostrated himself upon the floor. 
 Almost abjectly he requested the honor of having the 
 American captain sit down beside him on the divan. As 
 Bainbridge wrote, " his bearing became less lofty, his 
 words honeyed, and his offers of service most liberal." 
 
 The Dey cut down the flagstaff before the French 
 consulate, declared war against France, and made prepa- 
 rations to send an installment of the money demanded 
 by the Sultan, amounting to one million five hundred 
 thousand piastres, and humble apology thrown in, to 
 Turkey. 
 
 By orders of the Sultan also he had been compelled 
 to liberate about four hundred Venetians, Maltese, and 
 Sicilians, whom he had taken prisoners when they were 
 traveling under the protection of British passports. All 
 these people hailed Bainbridge as their generous de- 
 liverer. 
 
 Just before he was ready to sail, it was rumored that 
 the citizens of the French Republic, fifty-six in number, 
 consisting of men, women, and children, had been by 
 the Dey's orders thrown into chains and treated as slaves. 
 Bainbridge and Mr. O'Brien waited upon the Dey, 
 and expressed to him their ideas about such treatment. 
 
 "All right," the Dey returned; "then they must 
 leave Algiers in forty-eight hours." 
 
 " There are no vessels ready to convey us. Grant us 
 more time," prayed Monsieur Dubois de Trainville, who 
 was present at the interview. 
 
 " Our countries are now at war," he added, turning 
 to Bainbridge; "but I beseech you, for the cause of hu- 
 manity, to take me and the other French prisoners aboard 
 of your ship." 
 
 But the consul had only anticipated Bainbridge's own 
 desire, the captain giving up his own cabin for the use 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 89 
 
 of the ladies, and supplying them all with the necessities 
 for the voyage, for the poor French people left Algiers 
 in such a hurry that they had time to procure nothing 
 but the clothes they wore. 
 
 The George \\'ashington, bidding farewell to Algiers, 
 set sail for France, and after a short passage arrived safely 
 at Alicante. The gratitude of the people whom he had 
 saved was unbounded, and Napoleon, at that time first 
 
 Alicante. 
 
 consul, tendered his " acknowledgments and thanks to 
 Captain Bainbridge for the important services he had 
 rendered the republic, with assurances that such kind 
 offices would always be remembered, and reciprocated 
 with pleasure whenever occasion offered." 
 
 From Alicante, Bainbridge set sail for America, and 
 after explaining and reporting to the President in per- 
 son, the latter expressed his approbation, and even com- 
 mended him for the judicious and skillful manner in which 
 7 
 
90 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 he had discharged his duty while under the pressure of 
 such extraordinary circumstances. 
 
 A historian, writing contemporaneously of these times, 
 says as follows: "This humiliating condition in which 
 Captain Bainbridge was placed arose out of the feeble 
 policy of our Government in stipulating to purchase an 
 immunity from insult to our citizens, and spoliations on 
 our commerce by paying an annual tribute to barbarians 
 whom it could have readily controlled by force. There is 
 no other way of giving complete protection to our citi- 
 zens and to our property afloat than by ' the cannon's 
 mouth.' Dearly-bought experience has proved the utter 
 fallacy of Mr. Jefferson's scheme of preserving peace by 
 pursuing a pacific and upright policy toward all nations. 
 The point is now settled, however, that nothing less than 
 an exhibition of force and willingness to exercise it can 
 maintain unimpaired our national rights and dignity." 
 
 Indeed, it is most remarkable when we think that the 
 United States could have so long put up with this con- 
 dition of afifairs. There were many who saw that it could 
 end but one way, and advocated a very different line of 
 action. Among these was the young officer who, at the 
 age of twenty-six, had conducted himself with such a 
 display of knowledge and judgment. It was safe to assert 
 that he would answer for himself in the event of troublous 
 times. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 It was Bainbridge's good fortune to find his wife and 
 all his relations well. Another happy reunion was held 
 at Middletown. But in the latter part of May a long 
 envelope was handed to him, which he read to all those 
 grouped about the table, from the Secretary of the Navy, 
 and couched in the following terms: " Appreciating high- 
 ly your character as an officer, the President has selected 
 you to command the frigate Essex, and has placed the 
 whole squadron under the command of Commodore Rich- 
 ard Dale, to whose orders he enjoins you to pay strict 
 attention and due obedience." 
 
 As the Essex was then in New York, Bainbridge joined 
 her at once, and found that the squadron preparing for 
 sea consisted of the President, flagship of Commodore 
 Dale; the Philadelphia, under command of Captain Bar- 
 ron; his own vessel the Essex; and the schooner Enter- 
 prise, under command of Commandant Sterrett. It was 
 intended that these ships should proceed to the Medi- 
 terranean to protect American commerce, with whose in- 
 terests the Bashaw of Tripoli had seen fit to interfere. 
 Bainbridge was rejoiced to go on this expedition, and de- 
 lighted that he should have been honored with the com- 
 mand of so fine a vessel as the Essex. He was most for- 
 tunate to have under him a fine body of young officers and 
 seamen. His first Heutenant was a man of character and 
 determination; there was not much difference in their 
 ages, and his name was Stephen Decatur. 
 
 91 
 
92 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 After a pleasant voyage, the squadron arrived at Gib- 
 raltar on the 1st of July, where two large Tripolitan cor- 
 sairs were found at anchor. The Philadelphia was detailed 
 to watch the movements of the Tripolitans, while the 
 Essex was dispatched to Marseilles, Barcelona, Alicante, 
 and other ports on the coast, for the purpose of collecting 
 the American merchant fleet, preparatory to escorting it 
 through the Strait of Gibraltar. 
 
 Barcelona was the first port visited. The Yankee 
 frigate was received with a great deal of courtesy, and all 
 went well for the first few days, until the officers of a 
 Spanish guard ship, angered and jealous because of the 
 comments of their countrymen in comparing their own 
 craft with that of the Americans, decided to make it 
 disagreeable for officers going on shore or passing off to the 
 vessel. So they stopped three or four boats and insulted 
 the officers. The morning after this occurrence Decatur 
 rowed to the Spaniard, and demanded to see the officer 
 in command — intending to challenge him, for duels 
 Were then common occurrences. When he was told that 
 the lieutenant he was after had gone ashore, he left 
 the following message for him, to be given to him on his 
 return: "Tell the man who threatened to fire into an 
 unarmed boat's crew that Lieutenant Decatur, of the 
 Essex, denounces him as a cowardly scoundrel, and when 
 they meet on shore he will cut his ears off." 
 
 Luckily, however, no meeting took place, for it is 
 without doubt that Lieutenant Decatur would have done 
 his best to carry out his threat. 
 
 It might be unfair to leave the subject, however, with- 
 out stating that the insolent Spanish officer was com- 
 pelled to apologize. 
 
 Sailing from Barcelona with a large fleet of merchant- 
 men that had been collected in the various harbors of 
 the Mediterranean, the Essex saw them safely outside of 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 93 
 
 the strait and returned to Gibraltar, where it was learned 
 that the Tripolitan corsairs had been successfully cooped 
 up and been dismantled by the Philadelphia, and the crews 
 sent over to Africa in small boats by night, to make their 
 way to Tripoli across the desert, while the Tripolitan ad- 
 miral had taken passage in an English vessel bound for 
 Malta. 
 
 Bainbridge cruised in different parts of the Mediter- 
 ranean during the winter and spring, and showed himself 
 off the cities of Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli. 
 
 The Essex needing repairs, she was ordered to return 
 home, where she arrived in July, 1802. 
 
 In the harbor of Xew York there was a little trouble 
 with the crew, who insisted upon being discharged and paid 
 off, as their time had expired; but, owing to Bainbridge's 
 promptness, a mutiny was averted and the frigate pro- 
 ceeded at once to \\'ashington, and after some delay 
 reached the navy yard early in August, where she was dis- 
 mantled in order to make the necessary repairs. 
 
 Bainbridge, who had removed his family to Philadel- 
 phia, was not loath to receive orders for shore duty as soon 
 as his leave of absence was up. He v^'as connected with 
 the Ordnance Department, and superintended the build- 
 ing of the brig Siren and the schooner Vixen. It was 
 not till the 21st of May, 1803, that he received sailing 
 orders, and was given the command of the frigate Phila- 
 delphia, forty-four guns. 
 
 She was soon ordered attached to the squadron of 
 Commodore Preble, consisting of the flagship Constitu- 
 tion of forty-four guns; the brig Siren of twelve guns, 
 under command of Captain Stewart ; the schooner Vixen 
 of fourteen guns, Lieutenant-Commandant J. Smith; the 
 Argus of sixteen guns, under command of Lieutenant- 
 Commandant I. Hull; the Nautilus of twelve guns, Lieu- 
 tenant-Commander R. Somers; Enterprise of twelve 
 
94 
 
 COMiMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 guns, commanded by Lieutenant-Commandant Stephen 
 Decatur. The whole expedition was fitted out with the 
 intention of cruising in the Mediterranean, but as it would 
 be some time before they would all be ready, Bainbridge 
 received orders on the 13th of July to proceed with his 
 frigate, the Philadelphia, in advance of the others, and, 
 under the authority of an act of Congress, to subdue, seize, 
 and make prize of all vessels, goods, and effects belong- 
 ing to the Bashaw of Tripoli or his subjects, who had de- 
 clared war against the United States. 
 
 Once more Bainbridge found under his orders a fine 
 body of officers. Their names have since become known 
 to history. David Porter was his first lieutenant, Jacob 
 Jones his second, Theodore Hunt and Benjamin Smith, 
 his third and fourth, respectively. Among the midship- 
 men we find James Biddle, Robert Gamble, James Ren- 
 shaw, and D. T. Patterson. 
 
 On the 26th of August the Philadelphia was off 
 Cabo de Gata, a promontory on the coast of Spain. It 
 
 Location of Ports in the Mediterranean. 
 
 was blowing very fresh, and only a mile or so distant was 
 seen a large ship carrying only her foresail, and just astern 
 of her was a little brig, evidently in her company. It was 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 95 
 
 so dark that it was impossible to determine the character 
 of either vessel; but at early daybreak they were quite 
 near to hand, and it was perceived that the ship was 
 \ heavily armed, although all of her guns were housed. Her 
 appearance was suspicious, as her decks swarmed with 
 swarthy men, and she displayed no flag. 
 
 Without stating who he was, Bainbridge hailed her, 
 and ordered her to send a boat and one of her officers on 
 board of him at once. The fact that the brig was so close 
 to the other almost confirmed him in his suspicions that she 
 was a prize. The ofificer who boarded the Philadelphia 
 in obedience to the command was dressed in European 
 costume and spoke both French and Spanish. He denied 
 that the brig was a prize, but confessed that she was an 
 American, and had been with them four or five days, but 
 was not in any way detained. He stated that his own 
 ship was a Moorish cruiser of twenty-two guns and carry- 
 ing one hundred and twenty men; that she belonged to 
 the Emperor of Morocco; that her name was the Mesh- 
 boha; and that she was commanded by Ibrahim Lubarez. 
 
 Lieutenant Porter rowed off to the ship in order to 
 see if there were any American prisoners on board, but 
 Captain Lubarez prevented his boarding, and as this in- 
 creased Bainbridge's suspicion, he sent a boat filled with 
 armed men to enforce his commands. 
 
 But let the story be told in Captain Bainbridge's 
 own words: " No opposition was offered to this force; 
 they (the boat's crew) found Captain Richard Rowen, of 
 the American brig Cecilia, owned by Amasa Thayer, of 
 Boston, and seven of his crew, who were taken on the 
 17th of August, twenty-five miles eastward of Malaga, 
 whither they were bound. The Moors confined them 
 under deck, which they always do when speaking a vessel 
 the character of which is not known. The Moorish cap- 
 tain displayed a passport that had been obtained from the 
 
96 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 United States consul at Tangiers, and, on seeing this, 
 Bainbridge had no hesitation in making all on board 
 prisoners because of the violation of faith. 
 
 " The Americans were taken ofif and placed back on 
 their own vessel, and allowed to depart for Malaga. The 
 morning after the capture, Bainbridge held a conversation 
 at some length with Ibrahim. He asked him why he 
 shovild so violate all rules of honor by capturing the vessel 
 of a friendly nation while sailing under her passport. The 
 wily Mohammedan said at first that his sole reason was 
 the fact that he supposed his country and the United 
 States would soon be at war." 
 
 " Is that the truth? " questioned Bainbridge, upon 
 hearing this. 
 
 The Moor signified assent. 
 
 " Then, sir," returned Bainbridge sternly, " I must 
 consider you a pirate, and will be obliged to treat you as 
 such. If in one quarter of an hour your authority for 
 preying upon the commerce of the United States is not 
 forthcoming, I'll hang you to yonder main yardarm as a 
 malefactor." 
 
 With that he sent the trembling wretch into the cabin 
 under guard, and in a quarter of an hour he had him 
 brought on deck. A rope was wove with a noose at the 
 end of it, and one glance at that and his captor's deter- 
 mined countenance, and the Moor's knees began to 
 tremble. Hastily he unbuttoned several waistcoats, and 
 from the inside pocket of the fifth he drew out a docu- 
 ment. It was a paper signed by the Emperor of Mo- 
 rocco authorizing the capture of American vessels. This 
 ■saved the Moor's life, and the paper was sent to Com- 
 modore Preble at Gibraltar. It was a discovery of great 
 importance. 
 
 After discovering that the captain of the Meshboha 
 was not acting on his own responsibility, but really under 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 97 
 
 orders of his Government, Bainbridge treated him with 
 great courtesy, and also gave orders to treat the other 
 prisoners not as pirates but as prisoners- of war, and one 
 of the Philadelphia's own seamen was punished for strik- 
 ing one of the Moorish sailors. 
 
 Bainbridge now made sail for Cape St. Vincent, hear- 
 ing that a Moorish thirty-gun ship was cruising in that 
 quarter. The search for her was unsuccessful, and he re- 
 turned to the Mediterranean to cruise ofif Tripoli. 
 
 In a few days Commodore Preble arrived, and as soon 
 as he had learned of the proceedings he set sail forTangiers 
 and demanded instant reparation from the Emperor of 
 Morocco. The Emperor said that the Moorish cruisers 
 had not sailed under his orders but under those of the Gov- 
 ernor of Tangiers, and he at once made a scapegoat of the 
 latter, although it is perfectly apparent that he was really 
 the author of the whole trouble. 
 
 Commodore Preble thanked Bainbridge officially and in 
 person for his vigilance and foresight, and Congress voted 
 afterward prize money to the value of the Moorish vessel 
 to be divided among the crew. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Bainbridge was sitting in his cabin late one morning 
 looking over some maps when Lieutenant Porter stopped 
 at the cabin door. 
 
 ■' Well, Mr. Porter," said Captain Bainbridge, looking 
 up and smiling, " come in. Did you wish to speak to 
 me?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied Porter, entering. " You remember 
 the news that the captain of the Neapolitan merchant 
 brig gave us the day before yesterday, saying that a Tri- 
 politan brig had just sailed out for a cruise." 
 
 " Indeed I do," cried the captain eagerly. " Did the 
 Vixen capture her? She could not have been far be- 
 hind." 
 
 '■ No," Porter answered; " but there is a strange sail, 
 evidently a Tripolitan, standing close inshore." 
 
 " Let's up and have a look at her," Bainbridge laughed, 
 jamming his heavy hat down upon his brows. " I think 
 a little excitement would do us good. How's the wind? " 
 
 " About due east, sir." 
 
 It was nine o'clock, for two bells were struck just as 
 tlie captain and the lieutenant returned on deck. The 
 former took a squint through the telescope at the white 
 sail inshore and then turned hurriedly. 
 
 " It is the cruiser; I'd almost swear to it," he ex- 
 claimed. " Make all sail, and take after her. We are but 
 six or seven leagues to the east of Tripoli, and, by George! 
 
 98 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 99 
 
 we'll head her off. We've got all the water we wish under 
 our keel; let's put our best foot forward." 
 
 There was much bustle and bawling as the Phila- 
 delphia broke out her studding sails and spread her royals, 
 and slowly she began to creep up upon the chase, that 
 was no mean sailer by the way, and had spread a great 
 lanteen sail forward that stretched almost to the water's 
 edge over her bulwarks. In a few minutes over an hour 
 the corsair was in within long range, and as it was per- 
 ceived that she was armed, Bainbridge began to fire at 
 her with his forward division; most of the balls fell short, 
 but the firing did not interfere in the least with the other's 
 attempt to get away. In fact she seemed to increase her 
 speed, and did not make a response, although the long- 
 range practice was kept up until half-past eleven. By this 
 time the entrance to the harbor was in full view, and it 
 became apparent that to reach there in advance of the 
 other vessel was an impossibility. 
 
 Bainbridge and Porter had made frequent observation 
 of the chart, and the deep-sea and the hand lead had been 
 busy. The soundings ran from seven fathoms to ten, 
 and the chart showed clear water up to the harbor's 
 mouth. Reluctantly Bainbridge gave orders to take in 
 sail and abandon the chase. The foresail was dropped, 
 the helm was ordered hard aport, and the Philadelphia 
 began to haul offshore. There was a strong current 
 setting in toward the mouth of the harbor, but the 
 wind was fresh, and soon the frigate had good headway 
 on her. 
 
 " It is a shame to give up after getting so close up," 
 grumbled Lieutenant Porter, noticing that the corsair 
 had taken in her sails, evidently satisfied that she had 
 shown the big ship a clean pair of heels. 
 
 Bainbridge had picked up a glass and was squinting 
 over the taffrail at the low-lying coast and the clustering 
 
100 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 white-walled houses and spires that marked the city of 
 Tripoli. 
 
 " By George, sir, look at that fleet of small craft lying 
 alongside the wall just inside the harbor! " he exclaimed, 
 handing the glass to Porter. 
 
 " Not so very small," the lieutenant replied; " I should 
 judge those vessels ranged from thirty to ninety tons or 
 more. They are the craft which do the most damage to 
 our shipping — pirates, every man-jack of them! " 
 
 No sooner had he finished speaking than Bainbridge 
 made a quick spring forward. He had been listening to 
 the monotonous voice of the man heaving the lead, and 
 the last sounding had filled him with a sudden consterna- 
 tion. Eight fathoms — and the next heave seven! — it was 
 impossible, but he was not the only one who was listening. 
 
 "Plash!" went the lead. 
 
 " By the mark, six! " roared the man in the fore chains, 
 changing his sing-song to a shrill, frightened tone. 
 
 Such an abrupt shoaling meant nothing less than im- 
 mediate danger. The maps had shown safe water, but 
 there was no gainsaying the testimony of the lead. 
 
 "Port your helm! "roared Bainbridge, twirling, and let- 
 ting go the words at the quartermaster as if he was firing 
 off a pistol. 
 
 The yards were braced about sharply as the vessel an- 
 swered to her helm, but the Philadelphia had been run- 
 ning at the rate of five or six knots. It was hard to stop 
 such headway, and it seemed hardly a breathing space 
 between the time of the first order and the moment that 
 a sudden shock was felt, followed by an upward lifting 
 motion as the bow raised itself, and then by a grinding, 
 crunching sound that showed the timbers below were 
 undergoing some frightful strain. Bainbridge uttered 
 no exclamation. He exchanged a glance with Porter that 
 meant much, however — a combined look of astonishment 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. loj 
 
 and distress. But no fear showed in the face of either, 
 although it was a moment to frighten the stoutest hearts. 
 
 \\'here had the reef come from? It was as if some 
 enemy of the deep had suddenly raised up to crush the 
 vessel in its spiteful jaws. 
 
 The watch below had come pouring up on deck; but 
 seeing their commander calmly giving orders from the 
 quarter-deck, and their companions scrambling aloft to lay 
 the sails aback in obedience to his commands, without the 
 least confusion they followed suit, going to their stations 
 as quietly as if it were fire drill instead of a sudden danger 
 they had to face. 
 
 Lieutenant Jones, who had gone forward to the fore- 
 castle, sent Midshipman Biddle hurrying aft. 
 
 " There's not fourteen feet below us at the fore chan- 
 nels, sir! " he said breathlessly, saluting Bainbridge, who 
 saw to his dismay that the sails were not working the 
 vessel off in the shghtest. 
 
 The next order was to run aft all the guns of the for- 
 ward division in the hope of raising the bow until she 
 should be clear of the rocks. The trunnions roared and 
 grumbled as the sailors bustled the heavy, clumsy guns 
 down the sloping deck until they were all huddled well 
 abaft the mainmast. 
 
 " Has she lifted, sir? " asked Bainbridge of Lieutenant 
 Jones. 
 
 " Not an inch, sir," was the answer. 
 
 Matters indeed looked bad. 
 
 '• Cut away both those anchors, Mr. Biddle," Bain- 
 bridge thundered. 
 
 A few blows with an axe and the four tons of iron 
 plashed from either side of the bows. Still she did not 
 move. The sails aloft were drawing well. It was a re- 
 markable sight. With a cross-current and quite a sea 
 running' outside, the leach of the mainsail romping and 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 flapping, and yet the deck of the ship as steady as the floor 
 of a courthouse. It produced an uncanny, frightened feel- 
 ing that seized upon the heart ; it was an unnatural thing 
 to watch — if any one could have stopped to watch_it; but 
 there was not time for that; every man was on the jump. 
 
 o , L..X""' .---' 
 
 Diagram explaining the loss of the Philadelphia. 
 Tripoli and the castle on the left ; figures indicating fathoms on the right. 
 
 " Where's the carpenter? Send the carpenter aft to 
 me," said Bainbridge quietly to Midshipman Robert 
 Gamble. 
 
 The middy ran below. " Godley, you're wanted on the 
 quarter-deck," he cried to a tall seaman into whose arms 
 he almost fell. " Captain wants to speak to you. Lively 
 there! Don't stop." 
 
 The carpenter went up the ladder in three jumps; in 
 two more he was at the break of the poop. 
 
 "Get ten men and stave in those forward water casks — 
 every one of them." 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 103 
 
 Off went the carpenter, plunging down the com- 
 panion way. 
 
 " Bo'sun," roared Bainbridge, catching sight of 
 Boatswain George Hadger hurrying across the deck, 
 " is there any water in the well? " 
 
 '■ No, sir," the old seaman cried, saluting; "and it"s 
 just been sounded. She's tight and dry, sir." 
 
 " Rig the pumps, then, and get this fresh water over- 
 board." 
 
 In three minutes the steady " slish, slosh, click, clack " 
 of the big pumps sounded throughout the ship, and the 
 water from the springs of Pennsylvania poured out into 
 the scuppers. Below, the carpenter and his crew could be 
 heard assailing the stout ribs of the water casks. 
 
 But the old frigate did not lift her nose a single inch, 
 and now a new danger appeared. Bainbridge, following 
 the pointing arm of a man on the forecastle, turned 
 around, but it was only for an instant. He had seen 
 enough, however. Out from the mouth of the harbor 
 was pouring the Tripolitan fleet; their pointed, white 
 sails — scores of them — gleamed in the sunlight. If the 
 Philadelphia could not be wore off before they arrived 
 within gunshot her chances were slim indeed. 
 
 The majority of the crew on deck, hidden by the bul- 
 warks, were ignorant of the new terror. 
 
 " Ask Mr. Porter to step here quickly," said Bain- 
 bridge to one of the midshipmen; and at the same time 
 he gave an order that to an inexperienced ear might have 
 seemed a strange one under the circumstances. It was 
 a desperate resort — nothing less than to cast overboard 
 all the guns that could be loosened; and soon almost the 
 entire starboard battery had been put over the side. 
 
 The forward division on the port hand followed suit. 
 
 " Look there, Mr. Porter," said Bainbridge, nodding 
 his head backward at the approaching fleet. " Cast loose 
 
I04 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 and provide the stern chasers here, and run two of those 
 heavy guns into my cabin. Break out the stern gallery. 
 There's where they will take position. Has she moved? " 
 
 "Not an inch, sir," replied Porter firmly. "We'll 
 have to fight for it." 
 
 Suddenly the boom of a gun sounded — the leading 
 Tripolitan had commenced firing! Before five minutes 
 had passed four large gunboats had taken their station 
 under the larboard quarter. Splinters now began to fly, 
 and the ripping and tearing aloft showed that the enemy's 
 shot were crippling the yards and spars. Already three 
 or four men, red and gory, had been carried below. The 
 quarter-deck, on which Bainbridge was standing, was 
 quivering from the discharge of the carronades that had 
 been trundled into the cabin. Sulphur smoke was in the 
 air, but the men were not cheering. They were fighting 
 with a sullen determination. 
 
 A big boatswain's mate, serving one of the after guns, 
 was standing upright, motioning the men with the hand- 
 spikes how to slue the piece. With the one hand he 
 was trying to stop the flow of blood from a great splinter 
 wound in his breast. But before the piece could be fired 
 the frigate gave a lurch, her bow rose a few feet higher 
 on the sunken reef, and the brave sailor pitched head- 
 long to the deck. 
 
 " Help me to my pins! " he cried weakly, making frantic 
 efforts to rise; but it was useless. Another pitch and the 
 deck was at such an angle that even the able-bodied could 
 scarcely keep their feet. But three guns now could be 
 brought to bear, and the crushing sound of the Tripolitan 
 broadsides became an uninterrupted roar. The balls were 
 entering the hull from all directions. One came in the 
 stern port, and, being deflected, crossed to the other 
 side and back again, as a billiard ball would bound from 
 the angles of a table. But the deadly splinters scattered 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 105 
 
 in its wake. Not a sign of fear, however, was to be ob- 
 served among the crew, although three fourths of them 
 could do nothing but stand idl}- by. 
 
 " Cut away the foremast! " cried Bainbridge, making 
 a trumpet of his hands. 
 
 \\'ith a crash the great pine timbers yielded to the 
 strokes of the axes, and down came the towering sails, 
 hampering the forward deck and covering the forecastle 
 in a mass of billowing, fluttering canvas. 
 
 The hull was almost on her broadside now, and the 
 main-topgallant mast was cut away, but no relief was 
 afforded. The fine vessel was a wreck, and, almost safe 
 from her few guns, the enemy were pouring in their un- 
 ceasing fire. 
 
 Yet for an hour longer the frigate replied braveh'. 
 
 " No white feathers here," said Midshipman Biddle 
 to his friend Gamble. And it was a fact. Not a single 
 skulker was there in the Philadelphia's crew. 
 
 " \\"ord's been passed for the officers," said Gamble, 
 pointing. 
 
 There, under the shelter of the poop, for the quarter- 
 deck was now swept by a murderous fire, Bainbridge, 
 with his three lieutenants, and William Knight, the mas- 
 ter, were in consultation. 
 
 " I can not sacrifice the lives of my brave men longer," 
 the captain said. " Gentlemen, I've done my best; for the 
 cause of humanity we will have to strike." 
 
 It was a cruel fate. To strike his country's flag to a 
 civilized foe after a hard-fought battle would have been 
 gall and vinegar to the commander's high-strung nature; 
 but to yield to this uncivilized and barbarous enemy was 
 humiliating. 
 
 " Sir," said Porter, extending his hand, " we've all 
 done our best, and we appreciate your feelings; but there 
 is nothing for it." 
 
io6 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 The silence of the other officers made known their 
 acquiescence. 
 
 " Tell the carpenter to scuttle the ship," Bainbridge 
 said calmly. " Overboard with the small arms, Mr. Por- 
 ter. See thkt the magazine is flooded — Mr. Jones, I am 
 sorry, sir; haul down the flag! " 
 
 The proud emblem came slowly to the deck, the car- 
 ronades ceased their useless replying to the enemy's well- 
 directed fire. An unearthly, discordant yell broke from 
 the line of the barbarians. A few of the smaller craft, that 
 had just sailed into range, discharged their guns with 
 screams of triumph, much as cowardly savages would 
 fling their darts into the helpless body of some great 
 beast that the real hunters had dispatched at their peril. ' 
 
 The men had been ordered to collect their dunnage 
 and belongings; and to prevent a massacre, there was noth- 
 ing to be done but to trust to the good temper of the vic- 
 tors. The officers searched everywhere for small arms, 
 heaving them out of ports and over the bulwarks; this 
 last operation was hardly completed before the first boat 
 of the Tripolitan fleet gained the side. With shrill cries 
 the dusky, turbaned Moslems swarmed aboard through 
 the ports, and in an instant the ship was surrounded by 
 the clamoring, screaming horde. 
 
 The scene that followed almost passes description. 
 The sailors had retreated to the forecastle, where they 
 were gathered in a compact body, held only in check by 
 the calm words of the officers scattered among them. 
 
 " Steady, now, men," said Midshipman Biddle in an 
 undertone; " make no resistance if you wish to save our 
 lives." 
 
 As he spoke the midshipman gazed with calm eyes 
 into the face of a bearded, swarthy pirate, who flourished 
 a sharp scimiter within an inch of his throat. The men 
 in the front rank, following their officer's example, folded 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 107 
 
 their arms and stood erect. Not a sound broke from 
 them, except a few curses as they perceived that the Tri- 
 poHtans were not going to respect the laws of private 
 property. Ditty-boxes and bags were broken into, and 
 their contents scattered about and scrambled for on deck. 
 
 Suddenly the frigate settled a little at the stern, and it 
 was remembered that the carpenter had been ordered 
 to let the water into her. Obeying the commands of one 
 or two who seemed to be in authority, and kept in order 
 by their own officers, the men clambered over the side 
 on to the deck of one of the large gunboats that lay grind- 
 ing against the rail. It was a good thing that they had 
 left just at this moment, for had they stayed they would 
 never have been able to stand calmly by and watch what 
 happened on the quarter-deck. 
 
 Bainbridge had been addressing in French and Italian 
 the wild crowd that were looting the vessel, asking re- 
 peatedly for their leader — for some one to whom he could 
 surrender his sword and from whom he could claim pro- 
 tection. But no one paid attention to him so intent were 
 the fiends upon bringing everything of value up from 
 below, for they feared that the ship might sink at any 
 moment. The setting sun threw a red fight across the 
 scene. To leeward hung the white cloud of battle smoke, 
 almost a mile distant by this time, and in the sharply de- 
 fining rays the varied colors worn by the Tripolitans, 
 shuffling and scampering on the main deck, stood out 
 brightly, like the shifting tones of a kaleidoscope. 
 
 All at once the hubbub ceased for an instant as if they 
 had just caught a glimpse of the tall, broad-shouldered 
 figure looking down upon them from the quarter-deck. 
 His three lieutenants stood but a few paces behind him. 
 with set faces and firmly compressed lips. A great, heavily 
 turbaned pirate shouted something, and climbed up the 
 steps of the quarter-deck followed by a half-score of others. 
 
io8 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 bearing their plunder underneath their arms, as if fearful 
 of dropping it. Bainbridge advanced to meet the leader, 
 extending the hilt of his sword as he did so. The cut- 
 throat took it. 
 
 "Dog of a Christian!" he cried, making a vicious 
 thrust at the middle of the captain's body. The point 
 struck the heavy belt plate and glanced harmlessly, and 
 the man drew back. Bainbridge was standing there with 
 his arms folded and a smile upon his lips. The corsair 
 lowered his arm; then he pointed with his finger at the 
 heavy pistol in the American's belt. It was handed over, 
 and Bainbridge, a moment later, gazed unflinchingly into 
 it as the scoundrel pointed it directly at his head. The 
 pistol was lowered. 
 
 Porter, who was standing but a few feet away, was 
 about to spring, but his commander caught the movement. 
 
 "Steady, gentlemen!" he said; "your lives depend 
 upon it. We must submit." 
 
 Insolently the Tripolitan leader stretched forth his 
 hand and lifted one of the heavy gold epaulets from the 
 captain's shoulder. Then he took the other, and picked 
 the jeweled pin from his neckcloth. The crowd gathered 
 in the waist had become silent spectators of these goings 
 on, and following the example of the swarthy villain, 
 some of his crew were despoiling the lieutenants in the 
 same way. Calmly they submitted to the removal of their 
 coats and waistcoats, and, without a tremor, allowed 
 themselves to be robbed of their heavy fobs and watches. 
 Bainbridge's eyes were following every movement of the 
 man who was submitting him to this indignity. His flash- 
 ing eyes contradicted the calm, contemptuous sneer upon 
 his lips. One thought had entered his mind — a thought 
 that brought a sickening fear in its wake. Lying upon his 
 breast, suspended by a thin gold chain around his neck, 
 was a miniature of Susan, his wife. Would he be able to 
 
The miniature of Mrs. Bainbridge. 
 From the original, now in possession of the family. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 109 
 
 stand calmly and watch it torn from him by those dirty, 
 blood-stained hands? All at once the gleam of the gold 
 chain caught the eye of the robber. With a swift motion 
 he tore the soft linen shirt open at the throat. There 
 lay the miniature, the calmly smiling face of a woman, 
 in a white, high-waisted gown. With a greedy cry he 
 reached for it, but his eager fingers never touched the 
 shining gold. With a roar like a cornered beast that 
 counts no odds, Bainbridge seized him by the throat. As 
 he stood there no one could have failed to notice the 
 tremendous muscles plain to view, but no one would have 
 supposed that human arms possessed such strength. As 
 one might beat a garment against a post to relieve it of 
 clinging dust — yes, like a bundle of rags — he picked up 
 that swarthy infidel and dashed him down against the 
 rail. The man's skull cracked like an egg, and he fell 
 limply down upon the heads of the crowd below. 
 
 Porter and Jones and Lieutenant Hunt sprang for- 
 ward, but before they could gain their captain's side they 
 were pinioned hard and fast. Bainbridge stood there pant- 
 ing. Some one fired a pistol at him at point-blank range, 
 but, owing probal)ly to the jostling of the crowd, the ball 
 missed its mark. With a cry of rage five or six of the cor- 
 sairs made at him. He felled the first one with a blow from 
 his great fist, but they swarmed upon him almost too 
 closely intertwined to draw their daggers. Again he strug- 
 gled to his feet. With a mighty effort he grasped one of his 
 assailants by his heavy cloth belt and whirled him over- 
 board into the sea. Again they closed upon him. Their 
 object now was to gain possession of the gleaming 
 miniature. They had him down more than once, but 
 could not force it from his grasp, although his fingers 
 were torn and cut. It seemed to be ages that he strug- 
 gled as if gifted with the strength of more than a dozen 
 men. Time and again he rose to his knees only to be 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 hauled down, like a fighting bull, by a pack of hungry 
 wolves. For the fourth time he managed to stand erect 
 and get his back against the rail. Unarmed, except in his 
 magnificent strength, he stood there like a warrior of the 
 stone age. The corsairs were almost awed at the sight 
 of this man and the fight they had witnessed. 
 
 But a commotion suddenly began among those who 
 had stood aloof as if waiting to see what the result would 
 be. A handsomely dressed figure, in a briHant red tunic 
 and silk scarf, was calling out to the others to make way 
 for him. He gained the deck, and thrusting back the 
 discomfited villains, he approached Bainbridge. The lat- 
 ter gathered himself as if for an onslaught, but the Moor 
 bowed low before him, and turning so as to confront the 
 others, he drew a long jewel-hilted pistol. No remon- 
 strance was made to this action, and with great relief 
 the ofificers, who had been almost weeping at their in- 
 ability to help their leader, saw that here was one who 
 held authority. 
 
 Calling again for a passageway to be cleared, he beck- 
 oned for the prisoners to follow him. Bainbridge, with 
 the miniature still tightly grasped in his hand, almost 
 breathless from the fearful struggle, motioned the other 
 ofificers to precede him. Shorn of everything but his 
 glory, he was the last to leave his ship. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 It was ten o'clock at night, some six hours after the 
 surrender of the Philadelphia, that the prisoners were 
 landed near the Bashaw's castle just as they were, ex- 
 cept that the Tripolitan officer, who had saved Bain- 
 bridge, secured for him a makeshift suit of clothes. They 
 were taken into the Bashaw's presence, where he sat in 
 his audience hall on his divan, surrounded by his richly 
 uniformed guards. 
 
 After having been subjected to a rigid cross-examina- 
 tion, and having replied to numerous questions, the party 
 of officers were conducted to another apartment where 
 a supper was served to them. At midnight they were 
 taken back to the hall again and found that they had been 
 placed in charge of the Minister of State, Sidi Mohammed 
 Dgheis. This official proved to be a fine, dignified man 
 of commanding presence, who was well acquainted with 
 European manners and customs, and from the outset he 
 not only enlisted the respect of his prisoners, but ap- 
 peared anxious to do anything he could to serve them. 
 He spoke excellent French, and informed them in the 
 first words he spoke that he hoped to make their stay 
 as little of a hardship as possible, and trusted on their 
 word, if they would give it him, not to escape while under 
 his immediate charge. Scarcely waiting for an answer, 
 he dismissed the guard and bade them follow him. As he 
 conducted them through the town, he told them that they 
 were bound for the late American consul's house, which 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 had been assigned to them as a temporary prison. Upon 
 their arrival they found that the kind TripoUtan had 
 also secured for them the clothing of which they had 
 been despoiled — all but the epaulets and some of the orna- 
 mentation. He bade them good night after doing all he 
 could for their comfort. 
 
 Poor Bainbridge was much depressed in spirit. He 
 grieved at the loss of the new and beautiful frigate, and 
 was apprehensive that his countrymen might censure him 
 before the true cause of the disaster could be explained. 
 There was one thing, however, that gave him comfort — 
 it was the locket which he still wore upon his breast, and 
 for which he would have laid down his life. 
 
 The next morning, not long after breakfast, Lieu- 
 tenant Porter appeared at the captain's door. 
 
 " The compliments of the Philadelphia's officers to 
 Captain Bainbridge," he said. " They beg that he will 
 accept this paper which was prepared for his perusal." 
 
 Bainbridge opened it and read as follows: 
 
 Tripoli, November i, iSoj. 
 
 " Sir: We, late ofificers of the United States frigate 
 Philadelphia, under your command, wish to express our 
 full approbation of your conduct concerning the unfor- 
 tunate event of yesterday, and do conceive that the 
 charts and soundings justified as near an approach to the 
 shore as we made; and that, after she struck, every ex- 
 pedient was tried to get her off and to defend her which 
 either courage or abilities could have dictated. 
 
 " We wish to add that in this instance, as well as in 
 every other, since we have had the honor of being under 
 your command, the officers and seamen have always ap- 
 preciated your distinguished conduct. Believe us, sir, that 
 our misfortunes and sorrows are entirely absorbed in our 
 sympathies for you. We are, sir, with sentiments of the 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 113 
 
 highest and most sincere respect, your friends and fellow 
 sufiferers." 
 
 This paper was signed by all the lieutenants, midship- 
 men, officers, and petty officers from William Godley, 
 the carpenter, to William Adams, the captain's clerk — 
 twenty-seven signatures being appended. 
 
 But shortly after Bainbridge had received this letter, 
 which caused him almost to break down, because of its 
 kindness and honest feeling, the Minister of State was an- 
 nounced. AMth him was Mr. N. C. Nissen, whom he in- 
 troduced to Bainbridge as his particular friend. Mr. 
 Nissen was the Danish consul, and Sidi Mohammed took 
 the opportunity to say he was the only consul in Tripoli 
 for whom he had the least respect. 
 
 The Dane expressed great sympathy for Bainbridge 
 in his misfortunes, and the American captain saw at a 
 glance that he was a friend worth keeping. Mr. Nissen's 
 manner satisfied all of the American officers that he was 
 well entitled to the esteem that had been expressed for 
 him by the Tripohtan minister. As soon as he had de- 
 parted, Bainbridge asked for pen, ink, and paper, and, 
 sitting down at the little table, the only bit of furniture 
 the room possessed, he wrote the following letter to his 
 wife, even before he indited the official notice he intended 
 sending to Commodore Preble and to the Secretary of the 
 Navy. Although the epistle is entirely personal in its 
 character, it is well worth while to give it place here, and 
 thus it appears, a true and authentic copy: 
 
 Tripoli, November i, 1803. 
 My dear Susan : With feelings of distress which I can not describe, 
 I have to inform you that I have lost the beautiful frigate which was 
 placed under my command by running her afoul of rocks, a few miles 
 to the east of this harbor, which are not marked on the charts. After 
 defending her as long as a ray of hope remained, I was obliged to sur- 
 render, and am now, with my officers and crew, confined in a prison in 
 
114 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 this place. I inclose to you a copy of my official letter to the Secretary 
 of the Navy, from which you will learn all the circumstances in detail 
 connected with our capture. 
 
 My anxiety and affliction does not arise from my confinement and dep- 
 rivations in prison — these, indeed, I could bear if ten times more severe 
 — but is caused by my absence, which may be a protracted one, from my 
 dearly beloved Susan, and an apprehension, which constantly haunts me, 
 that I may be censured by my countrymen. These impressions, which 
 are seldom absent from my mind, act as a corroding canker at my heart. 
 So maddened am I sometimes by the workings of my imagination that I 
 can not refrain from exclaiming that it would have been a merciful dis- 
 pensation of Providence if my head had been shot off by the enemy while 
 our vessel lay rolling on the rocks. 
 
 You now see, my beloved wife, the cause of my distress. My situation 
 in prison is entirely supportable ; I have found here kind and generous 
 friends, such as I hope the virtuous will meet in all situations ; but if my 
 professional character be blotched ; if an attempt be made to taint my 
 honor ; if I am censured ; if it does not kill me — it will at least deprive 
 me of the power of looking any of my race in the face, always excepting, 
 however, my young, kind, and sympathizing wife. If the world desert 
 me, I am sure to find a welcome in her affection — to receive the support 
 and condolence which none others can give. 
 
 I can not tell why I am so oppressed with apprehension. I am sure I 
 acted according to my best judgment. My officers tell me that my con- 
 duct was faultless, that no one, indeed, could have done better ; but this I 
 attribute (perhaps in my weakness) to a generous wish on their part to 
 sustain me in my affliction. 
 
 I hope soon to hear that your health is good, and that you, although 
 grieved at my misfortune, are yet surrounded by dear and condoling 
 friends, who will in some measure assuage your affliction. Perhaps, too, 
 you will be able to tell me that I have done injustice to my countrymen— 
 that so far from censuring, they sympathize, and some even applaud me. 
 God grant that this may be the case— why should it not ? The Americans 
 are generous as they are brave. I must stop, my dear wife, for I see I 
 am disclosing my weakness ; these are the mere reveries which daily 
 pass through my heated brain. 
 
 I beg you will not suppose our imprisonment is attended with suffer- 
 ing ; on the contrar)', it is, as I have already assured you, quite a sup- 
 portable state. Your ever faithful and affectionate husband, 
 
 William Bainbridge. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 "5 
 
 Through the influence of Mr. Nissen, Bainbridge suc- 
 ceeded in getting all of his letters on board an out-bound 
 vessel, and also sent a long communication addressed to 
 Commodore Preble. 
 
 Bainbridge had stated his position rightly when he 
 said that his stay in captivity promised not to be so much 
 of a hardship as might be expected; Mr. Nissen had 
 brought bedding, furniture, and all sorts of useful house- 
 hold articles to the place where the officers were confined, 
 and he also brought word that the crew were in prison in 
 a well-ventilated quarter of the castle. Said he, in refer- 
 ring to the Tripolitans: 
 
 " Although these people live by piracy, and have little 
 or no legitimate trade, those high in authority have had 
 intercourse with Christian and civilized nations, and have 
 
 Port of Tripoli. 
 
 dropped many of the attributes of the barbarian. Sidi 
 Mohammed D'Ghiers is a man of fine character and ster- 
 ling worth. You can trust in him implicitly." 
 
 Before a week had gone by time bore most heavily 
 upon the hands of the captured officers; but one day 
 
ii6 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 Nissen was announced, and looking out past their garden 
 entrance, the officers saw that a donkey, with two large 
 crates strapped on his back, was evidently waiting there 
 to be unloaded. What was the delight of all hands when 
 they ascertained that the load was nothing less^ than all 
 of their books and a great deal of personal property which 
 the Danish consul had purchased for a small sum at a sale 
 of plunder taken from the Philadelphia. He was hailed 
 with cheers, and, although he at first demurred, he was 
 at once reimbursed for his expenditure. 
 
 When Bainbridge and he found a chance to speak 
 together alone, the following conversation took place: 
 
 " Of course it is to be expected," began Mr. Nissen, 
 " that any correspondence carried on between you and 
 Commodore Preble will be visecd by the Tripolitan minis- 
 ter. I remember hearing a long time ago, when I was in 
 France, a very interesting thing. You know a writing 
 fluid may be prepared which is entirely invisible until the 
 paper has been subjected to heat. The recipe for making 
 this fluid, if I remember rightly, is something like this; 
 in fact, I am quite sure this is correct." 
 
 With that he detailed a simple formula which Bain- 
 bridge copied, and put it to good use afterward, as will 
 be proved. 
 
 It must not be thought that any degree of authority 
 or discipline had been lost because of the fact that the 
 life and routine of shipboard had been exchanged for the 
 monotony of prison existence. The same discipline and 
 respect was maintained, and, as soon as the books had 
 arrived, the midshipmen resumed their studies under the 
 direction of the officers. Classes in French and Spanish, 
 history, navigation, and mathematics went on as they 
 had on board ship. It was rather a remarkable fact that 
 the majority of all those living together at the American 
 consul's house were extremely young men, but one of the 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 117 
 
 officers being above thirty years of age. The midshipmen, 
 with one or two exceptions, were hardly more than boys. 
 But the principles of honor and high sense of duty which 
 they imbibed by contact with these young men, their 
 leaders, counted for more than the habits of study which 
 were rigidly enforced. 
 
 On the tenth dav, while Bainbridge was exercisine 
 in the little courtyard surrounded by the high white wall, 
 a messenger appeared with orders from the Bashaw for 
 him to appear at once at the vice-regal palace, in order 
 to talk with the regent upon a matter of vital interest. 
 The Bashaw was a man verv different in character and 
 personality from Sich ^lohammed. He was evidently 
 angry at something, for he scarcely waited for Bainbridge 
 to be seated before beginning upon the subject. 
 
 " I have here," he said, " letters from the commander 
 of one of my ships, the Messurre, complaining most bitter- 
 ly of the treatment he has received from your Captain 
 Chauncey, of the frigate John jVdams. We have treated 
 you kindly; we have given }-ou of the best of the land, in 
 order to prove that we are different from what we are 
 held to be in the opinions of European nations. But this 
 can not be forgotten. Any ill treatment of my subjects 
 shall be retaliated upon the heads of you and your offi- 
 cers." 
 
 Bainbridge did not reply, for he saw that this was not 
 all of the interview, and he knew that there was some 
 reason other than this for his having been ordered to be 
 present. There was to be a condition. 
 
 " If," continued the Bashaw, " you will write at once, 
 before that shadow yonder has reached that spot near my 
 hand, a letter to your Commodore Preble, asking him to 
 release the prisoners from Tripoli, I will allow you to stay 
 in your present place of confinement. If you do not, it 
 will go hard with you. What have you to say? " 
 
ii8 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 " Only this," Bainbridge replied: " I can not believe 
 that the information you received is correct. It is the 
 practice of Americans to treat prisoners with kindness 
 and magnanimity and never with cruelty. In regard to 
 the subjects of your Royal Highness, when our squadron 
 lay in the Bay of Gibraltar I saw with my own eyes one 
 of your captains visiting on familiar terms the officers of 
 the various ships in company with the officers of the 
 vessel in which he was supposed to be confined." 
 
 " You will not, then, write the letter? " asked the 
 Bashaw threateningly. 
 
 " I can not write what you demand, for the reason 
 that Commodore Preble is my senior," answered Bain- 
 bridge; "and besides this, my advice is useless, because 
 by becoming your prisoner I have lost my rank and 
 power." 
 
 " Have you any objections to stating the substance of 
 our conversation in a report to the commander of the 
 squadron? " 
 
 " None in the least," Bainbridge answered. And tak- 
 ing up pen and paper, he wrote for a few minutes and 
 read aloud what he had written. This ended the meet- 
 ing, and under guard he was sent back to join the 
 officers, who were anxiously waiting to hear what had 
 resulted. 
 
 In regard to what the Bashaw intended to do, Bain- 
 bridge could say nothing; but they were not long kept 
 in ignorance, for within the hour a commotion was heard 
 in front of the little building, a door to which had only 
 been guarded by three armed men, two on the doorstep 
 and one at the gate leading into the courtyard; but now 
 one of the midshipmen came running down the stairway 
 and knocked on the door of the room in which the officers 
 were holding their conference. Porter arose hastily and 
 opened it. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 119 
 
 " The courtyard is full of soldiers heavily armed and 
 bearing torches," said the middy. 
 
 " Surely they can not intend to turn us out at such 
 short notice," grumbled Lieutenant Hunt. 
 
 " I suspect strongly, gentlemen," put in Bainbridge, 
 " that such is their intention. At all events, the Bashaw 
 has decided that we have been altogether too comfort- 
 able, and now intends to move us." 
 
 A noise in the hallway brought every one to his feet. 
 The heavy door was unlocked, and a number of Tripolitan 
 officers were seen standing there in consultation. Beyond 
 them the startled Americans could see the courtyard filled 
 with the swarthy-faced soldiery, and against the blackness 
 of the night the torches flickered weirdly. Towering 
 shadows wavered to and fro on the walls of the court- 
 yard. 
 
 " What is the meaning of this? " Bainbridge in- 
 quired. 
 
 " We had come," answered the officer, " to escort you 
 and your companions to a different place of confinement ; 
 but we have just received another order countermand- 
 ing the first, and stating that your quarters will not be 
 moved until to-morrow morning at nine o'clock, so I bid 
 you prepare for departure." 
 
 Plainly this last message had been delivered just in 
 time to prevent the discomfort of a hasty change of base. 
 As it turned out afterward, it was the result of the inter- 
 cession of Sidi Mohammed D'Ghiers, who objected bravely 
 to the Bashaw's sudden determination. 
 
 By nine o'clock the next morning the courtyard was 
 again filled with soldiers under the command of the same 
 officer who had reported the night before; but the prison- 
 ers were ready, each with his belongings done up in a 
 bag or basket, and it was with a great deal of sorrow that 
 they bade farewell to their comfortable quarters and set 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 out through the narrow, dirty streets, bound for what they 
 knew not. 
 
 They were not taken on the mcst direct route, but 
 marched and countermarched through the lower portion 
 of the town, much to the delight of the crowds through 
 which their guards had difficulty in forcing their way. At 
 last their prison dawned in sight — a low whitewashed 
 building made of heavy stones and mortar, a filthy place 
 that had been used by generations for smoking hides and 
 for confining refractory or runaway slaves. 
 
 The officers were crowded into three rooms on the 
 north side of the courtyard that had small grated windows 
 opening on the well-guarded sea wall. On the opposite 
 side of the open space were the large cells in which the 
 crew of the Philadelphia were imprisoned. The brave 
 lads, when they saw that their officers had come to join 
 them, broke out into a cheer as the party marched through 
 the yard. 
 
 The quarters that Bainbridge and the rest found un- 
 prepared for them possessed no accommodations fit to 
 make life bearable. The heavy doors were shut upon 
 them and they sat down upon the damp stone floor. 
 Hours went by. No one came to see them. Not a drop 
 of water nor a bit of food had passed theii lips. About 
 five o'clock in the afternoon they managed to communi- 
 cate their distress to the crew confined across the way, 
 and the loyal Jack tars bribed one of their own keepers 
 to bring over a portion of their scant evening meal — ^black 
 bread and water with a small cruse of olive oil, which 
 was the food of the lower order of Algerine slaves and 
 lal)orers. 
 
 Before it was dusk there came a clanging at the door, 
 bolts from the outside were dropped, and a strange-look- 
 ing figure entered. It was a man clad in the loose-flowing 
 garments of the Tripolitan sailor, with turban and turned- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 up slippers, but his face had none of the darkness of skin; 
 it was red and mottled, and the chin was overgrown with 
 a thin beard of wiry red. His first words created more 
 of a sensation than did his remarkable appearance. 
 
 " Weel, weel, and here's where ye are noo! Is Cap- 
 tain Bainbridge here? " 
 
 " I am Captain Bainbridge," said a voice from the 
 corner; " and may I ask whom I have the honor of ad- 
 dressing? " 
 
 " Admiral Lisle, of the TripoUtan navy, is my name. 
 Hoot, mon, but this is nae place for the confinement of 
 officers and gentlemen! " 
 
 " We are not here by our own choice," answered Bain- 
 bridge, " and we are very willing to exchange it for any- 
 thing better, for in fact we could not be treated to a 
 worse fate than be left here where we are." 
 
 " It may be summat of your ain fault," the odd-look- 
 ing admiral replied, winking his little Scotch eyes know- 
 ingly. 
 
 " May I ask you to explain yourself, sir? " 
 
 " Wha don't you accede to the wishes of the Bashaw? 
 'Tis naught he demands but a little scribbling on a bit of 
 paper that will do ye no harm to write for him. You're 
 daft, mon, not to do it." 
 
 " You'll pardon me," interposed Bainbridge. " I have 
 not the least idea how great is your knowledge upon the 
 subject of which you speak; but mark you this: the 
 Bashaw can torture me; he can lop off my head; but 
 there is one thing that he can not do: he can not force 
 me to commit an act that is incompatible with the honor 
 of an American officer. If this is the object of your visit 
 to us, I can only say that you will obtain neither satisfac- 
 tion nor promises. If it is an answer you demand, you 
 have it." 
 
 The " admiral " appeared to be somewhat confused at 
 9 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 the force with which Bainbridge had uttered the last 
 words, and he mumbled something inarticulate as he 
 backed out of the doorway. No sooner had he disap- 
 peared than Porter, Jones, and Hunt grasped Bainbridge's 
 hand in turn. Without a word he understood that these 
 men felt as he did; no explanation was necessary and 
 none was ofifered. 
 
 Darkness came on. Just before midnight the door to 
 their prison was again opened, and there stood the same 
 guard that had escorted them thither in the morning. 
 
 " Follow us," said one of the officers. And forming a 
 column of twos, the prisoners marched out into the night, 
 taking their dunnage with them. 
 
 This time they were not marched through the by- 
 streets, and in less than a quarter of an hour they found 
 themselves back once more at the house that had be- 
 longed to the American conSul before the outbreak of 
 hostilities. Now Bainbridge, to his delight, found that 
 his first missive had reached Commodore Preble, for in 
 charge of Mr. Nissen an answer was received, and, by 
 means of the sympathetic ink, communication was estab- 
 lished, the Danish consul sending the epistle to his 
 confrere at Malta, and by this latter gentleman they 
 were forwarded to the commander of the American squad- 
 ron. 
 
 It had been found necessary to resort to this means, 
 as the Bashaw subjected all communications to a rigid 
 inspection and kept copies of all the correspondence. 
 
 A month went by. School was resumed, but the con- 
 finement was beginning to tell upon the spirits of the 
 officers, although they were well fed and comfortably 
 housed. 
 
 With the crew who were in the same loathsome dun- 
 geon that they had been at first thrown into, afifairs were 
 going very hard indeed. They were not used to the food, 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 123 
 
 and sickness had begun among them. Bainbridge and his 
 officers had not been permitted to hold intercourse with 
 them, and knew nothing of their condition, only having 
 been informed that they were kept employed at their 
 trades if they had any — those who possessed none work- 
 ing upon the fortifications. 
 
 From an upper window of their house, which was near 
 the water front, a glimpse of the harbor could be obtained; 
 and occasionally the captain or one of his lieutenants had 
 been allowed to stroll along the ramparts in charge of a 
 small guard. Bainbridge had looked many times with 
 deep sorrow at the Philadelphia, his fine old ship, as she 
 lay there well protected by the guns of the castle, her- 
 self a great adjunct to the protection of the town, for 
 her guns had been fished up and replaced on her decks. 
 He regretted more than once that he had not pro- 
 ceeded to extreme measures and, instead of scuttling 
 her, set her on fire when he had seen that her defense was 
 useless. 
 
 He returned from one of these walks that he had taken 
 on the 5th of December, elated with an idea that had 
 entered his mind. It was one that would require immedi- 
 ate co-operation of Preble and the squadron, and de- 
 manded great intrepidity and daring for its successful 
 accompHshment; but brave and adventurous spirits he 
 knew were not lacking. He could have called the names 
 of a half dozen young men now with the commodore to 
 whom he would intrust the leadership. 
 
 He had noticed that all of the enemy's gunboats were 
 hauled up on shore, and that, owing to the transfer of 
 guns, the small crescent-shaped battery was almost in 
 a dismantled condition. Dipping his pen into the invisible 
 ink, he wrote the following letter, sending it to Preble 
 through the usual channels. It does not detract from the 
 glory of any one subsequently connected with the under- 
 
124 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 taking to publish this epistle; it merely places the honor 
 of originating the plan where it assuredly belongs. Writes 
 Bainbridge under date of the 5th: 
 
 " Charter a small merchant schooner, fill her with men, 
 and have her commanded by fearless and determined 
 officers. Let the vessel enter the harbor at night, with 
 her men secreted below decks. Steer her directly on board 
 the frigate, and then the officers and men board, sword in 
 hand, and there is not a doubt of their success and with- 
 out very heavy loss. It would be necessary to take sev- 
 eral good rowboats in order to facilitate the retreat after 
 the enterprise had been accomplished. The frigate in 
 her present condition is a powerful auxihary battery for 
 the defense of the harbor. Though it will be impossible 
 to remove her from her anchorage, and thus restore this 
 beautiful vessel to our navy, yet, as she may, and no 
 doubt will be repaired, an important end will be gained 
 by her destruction." 
 
 Upon receiving this communication Commodore 
 Preble called a council of his officers, and by the earliest 
 opportunity he wrote an answer to Captain Bainbridge 
 informing him that preparations were being made to carry 
 out the plans as he suggested, and that his friend, Lieu- 
 tenant Stephen Decatur, had volunteered to command 
 the expedition. 
 
 Time went on and yet nothing was done. The winter 
 passed and a new year began. Various schemes were 
 proposed for the destruction of Tripoli, Bainbridge stating 
 in a letter to Preble that he thought the landing of four 
 or five thousand troops would result in the taking of the 
 town. But afifairs looked very dark. Hearing of the 
 condition of the crew, Bainbridge petitioned the Bashaw 
 to allow him to do something to help to make their life 
 more bearable, and again, through the kind offices of Sidi 
 Mohammed Dgheis, clothing and more sustaining food 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 125 
 
 were allowed to be sent in to them from the American 
 squadron. 
 
 Mr. Nissen continued to lend his assistance, and thus 
 cemented the friendship that had begun during the early 
 days of captivity. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Mohammedans are a peculiarly religious people. 
 They observe the festivals of their sect with the greatest 
 care and faithfulness, and it happens that once a year 
 there comes a period of thirty days vi^hich is known as 
 the feast of Ramadan. It is a period of rehgious ab- 
 stinence, during which the good Mohammedan imposes 
 upon himself moral and physical restraint to an extreme 
 degree. He is compelled by his creed to kindly thoughts 
 and deeds, such as hospitality to strangers and charity to 
 bitterest enemies. 
 
 During the day little or no food is partaken of between 
 sunrise and sunset; but in the night season, it may be 
 remarked, they make up for a great deal of lost time. At 
 the end of this month of daily fasting and nightly feast- 
 ing there comes the Biarian festival, which amounts to a 
 period of gorging and rejoicing covering from three to 
 six days. 
 
 From the lowest household in its mud-wall hut to the 
 Bashaw in his palace all hands turn to and enjoy them- 
 selves. 
 
 On this occasion Bainbridge and Lieutenant Porter 
 were invited to the Bashaw's residence, where they were 
 treated as guests of honor and received with Eastern 
 civilities. They also attended a feast of the Prime Minis- 
 ter, who was a Russian by birth, although he had lived 
 for a long time in Tripoli. The largest ceremony they 
 attended, however, and one that exceeded in point of 
 
 126 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 127 
 
 splendor all the others, was a dinner, or better, banquet, 
 at the residence of their good friend Sidi Mohammed 
 D'Ghiers, Minister of State. Through his intercession 
 also, permission had been obtained for the officers under a 
 small guard, and on their parole of honor, to ride a few 
 miles back into the country. It was a great relief to them 
 to secure these outings, but it made their confinement 
 perhaps the harder to bear. Yet what they were then 
 undergoing was nothing compared to that held in store 
 for them. 
 
 One day in the early part of the month Porter and 
 Lieutenant Hunt, astride of two small mules, had ridden 
 out beyond the walls of the city. Two armed janizaries 
 accompanied them, but kept at a respectful distance. 
 It was a fine warm morning, and a breeze that blew from 
 the north rustled the branches of the trees. It was a 
 beautiful sight. On all sides were the barley and wheat 
 fields, with their waving grain; the groves of dates, of 
 olive and of fig' trees; the orchards of lemon, orange, 
 apricot, and peach; the well-kept gardens that surrounded 
 the country houses of the wealthy. They could scarcely 
 imagine themselves prisoners, although they knew at any 
 time they might exchange all this for close confinement 
 and blank dungeon walls. 
 
 All at once they turned about a corner of a lane, and 
 there, at about a half mile's distance, they could see the 
 blue waters of the Mediterranean. The officers had no 
 idea that they had been so close to the sea, and they 
 halted a minute to observe the beautiful effect made by 
 this vivid patch of blue inclosed by the green frame of 
 the arching trees. 
 
 " It is almost enough to incline one to turn Turk and 
 settle down here forever," said Lieutenant Hunt with 
 a sigh. 
 
 "Well, it appears that we shall most probably stay 
 
128 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 here for some time to come," answered Porter. " Not a 
 movement yet from our fleet, and Preble is not a man to 
 hesitate or to put ofif action. In my opinion something 
 will be done soon that will reheve us from our position 
 of uncertainty at least." 
 
 " Well, I'd like to know where he is and what he's 
 doing," Hunt remarked, loosening his long legs from the 
 stirrups. " This is all very fine, but I'd just like to know. 
 You see By jove!" he exclaimed, suddenly inter- 
 rupting himself, " look down there, man, straight ahead." 
 
 Porter followed his glance. In the little space inclosed 
 by the green frame was a fine, large ship, with all sails 
 spread, sailing to the westward. She was less than two 
 miles from shore. 
 
 " The Constitution! " exclaimed Porter. " I know her 
 by her lofty rig." 
 
 " Ay, and here comes another," interposed Hunt. 
 " The Nautilus, I take it." 
 
 Yes, there they were, three or four 'now, seen all at 
 once, and on they came until they had passed by. 
 
 When the officers arrived that evening at the little 
 house with the heavily barred windows they had a story 
 to tell. 
 
 Preble was in the offing! And the next day this was 
 confirmed, for Nissen called to see them and brought them 
 word. But nothing out of the ordinary occurred. What 
 was Preble doing? 
 
 On the 15th of February, about midnight, Bainbridge 
 awakened with a start. There was no mistake, that was 
 the sound of a heavy cannon! Then another boom, and 
 a distant rattle of musketry and a roar of firing arose 
 from the direction of the harbor. 
 
 From the little window upstairs in the room where 
 the midshipmen slept a glimpse of the waters inside the 
 mole could be obtained, and it happened by luck that 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 129 
 
 very often as she swung at her anchor the captured 
 frigate occupied this very space, a tantalizing sight to 
 the eyes of the prisoners. 
 
 Bainbridge had hardly reached the door when he heard 
 a shrill, boyish cheer from the " steerage," as the middys 
 called their dormitory. 
 
 " The Philadelphia is on fire! The Philadelphia is on 
 fire! " cried young Reefer Biddle, who, in scanty attire, was 
 leaning over the stairway. 
 
 Way was made for the officers at the window, and soon 
 Bainbridge was standing there observing with great satis- 
 
 The harbor of Tripoli. 
 
 B, position of the Philadelphia ; the dotted line shows the course of the 
 boarding vessel. 
 
 faction the red glare, growing and growing, until he could 
 make out the outlines of his vessel and see the flames 
 pouring from her ports. She was swinging at her cables, 
 and gradually she worked around until the hull was hidden 
 by the neighboring houses and nothing but the glare 
 in the sky showed that she was blazing merrily. 
 
 Suddenly there came the roar of a tremendous ex- 
 
130 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 plosion. Bright flying sparks like rockets were hurled 
 into the air, and when they had fallen the glare had dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 "The end!" said Bainbridge calmly, turning to the 
 officers. " Who do you suppose did that? " 
 
 He knew himself, of course, but he wished to see what 
 they would say. 
 
 "Stephen Decatur!" exclaimed a small midshipman 
 involuntarily, clapping his fist to his mouth after he had 
 spoken, as a bashful schoolgirl might. 
 
 " Perhaps it was Somers," ventured one of the lieu- 
 tenants. 
 
 "Mr. Gamble was right," remarked Bainbridge; "it 
 was Stephen Decatur, unless I am much mistaken, and 
 God help and save him and all the brave men who as- 
 sisted him." 
 
 " Amen! " said the rest in chorus. 
 
 This is not the place to tell of this successful expedi- 
 tion, for it belongs to another story; but the fact remains 
 that Stephen Decatur, accompanied by Lieutenants James 
 Lawrence, Joseph Bainbridge, Midshipman Charles Mor- 
 ris, and seventy fine seamen, had carried out Bainbridge's 
 plan to the letter. They had sailed in in a large ketch, 
 and had warped themselves alongside the Philadelphia. 
 They boarded her, cutlas in hand, and set fire to her, 
 and escaped without the loss of a single man and with but 
 four of their number wounded! 
 
 The next morning Nissen hastened to see his friends. 
 Although he could not but reflect their elation that 
 was so evident, his face was clouded with a look of 
 worry. 
 
 " The Bashaw's in a frightful rage," said he, " and will 
 wreak his vengeance somewhere. I fear that he will vent 
 it upon you. He would not have lost that ship for any- 
 thing in the kingdom. I trust, my dear friends, that 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 131 
 
 you will not suffer. I am going to see Sidi Mohammed 
 to-day and find out how affairs now stand." 
 
 No notice was apparently taken of the action, how- 
 ever, except that the presents of fruit and fresh eatables 
 now suddenly ceased, and affairs went on much as usual 
 until there came a most momentous day, the ist of 
 March, two weeks after the destruction of the frigate. 
 
 Then, without warning, the officers were informed that 
 they were about to be moved to another prison, and by 
 twelve o'clock they had begun the uncomfortable march 
 through the crowded streets of the town. The Bashaw 
 had at last found a place to his hking in which to incar- 
 cerate them. It was a horribly damp and cold apart- 
 ment, whose only aperture was a small window well above 
 the height of a man's head and grated with strong iron 
 bars. It was to be their home for fourteen weary months. 
 They were even denied the privilege that the crew of the 
 Philadelphia were given — that of exercise in the open 
 air — for the Bashaw was employing the prisoners upon 
 the works and fortifications that he was pushing to a 
 close. 
 
 Of course plans for escaping from their prison were in- 
 dulged in almost without end. Nissen succeeded, with 
 a great deal of difficulty, in gaining access to them, and 
 smuggled out a letter destined for the squadron then cruis- 
 ing off the mouth of the harbor, for the blockade of the 
 port was now rigidly enforced. 
 
 All regular communication between the prisoners and 
 the outside world was interdicted by the Bashaw's orders; 
 but the letter to Commodore Preble proposed that he 
 should send into the harbor on a certain night five fast 
 rowing boats, if (and it was a very big " if " indeed) the 
 prisoners should succeed in digging their way under the 
 castle to the bottom of the sea wall. The tunnel was 
 begun, but before it progressed very far it was found 
 
132 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 that the entrance of it would be beneath the surface of 
 the water, and the idea had to be abandoned. 
 
 Sentinels had been placed along the sea wall and the 
 shore for several miles on either side of the city, and it 
 would have been impossible for boats to have rowed into 
 the harbor without being observed and subjected to a 
 destructive fire. 
 
 One dreary night, as Bainbridge and Porter and Lieu- 
 tenants Hunt and Smith lay talking together in low 
 whispers. Lieutenant Jones crawled over to them. 
 
 " I've been thinking, gentlemen," he observed, mak- 
 ing his way into the center of the group, " that it might 
 be possible to explore the adjoining apartment here on 
 our port hand. We may find a window unbarred, or some 
 way by which we can reach the sea wall, and lower our- 
 selves to the ramparts." 
 
 " It will do no harm at least to try," said Bainbridge, 
 knowing that it would give employment if nothing else, 
 and keep their minds from dwelling upon their un- 
 fortunate situation. So the next day the prisoners 
 were told off into watches, and systematic work was 
 begun. 
 
 With the aid of some hoop iron and one knife, the 
 mortar was removed from several large stones in the side 
 of the room; but every day it had to be replaced, or at 
 least made to appear all right when their prison was in- 
 spected. Behind the stones they found that the space had 
 been filled in with earth, loosely mixed with mortar, and 
 all this had to be removed carefully in order to hide 
 traces of their work. At last, however, there was nothing 
 to be done but thrust out a few bricks on the opposite 
 side to make an entrance into the neighboring apart- 
 ment. By careful listening they had determined that it 
 was unoccupied. One moonlight night the stones were 
 removed, and by means of a few well-directed kicks a 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 133 
 
 hole was made large enough for a man to work his body 
 through. 
 
 Bainbridge and two of the lieutenants made the first 
 reconnoissance. It was a large open space in the extreme 
 wing of the prison. The roof had partly fallen in, and way 
 above their heads was a small window. Standing upon 
 the shoulders of Lieutenant Porter, Jones managed to 
 work his way up to it. As soon as he reached the grat- 
 ing he uttered an exclamation of delight; the bars were 
 loose, and with a little manipulation he declared that 
 they would fetch away. The window looked down upon 
 the top of the rampart at an angle where a few heavy 
 guns pointed out over the harbor, but it was a drop of 
 forty feet to the water's edge, and fully fifteen from the 
 window to the ground outside. 
 
 As nothing could be done that night, they again re- 
 turned to their companions and blocked up the pas- 
 sageway. 
 
 Now the following plan was formed: A long rope was 
 plaited out of their blankets, and it was arranged that the 
 strongest swimmers should make their way into the next 
 room, climb to the window, descend to the ramparts, and 
 lower themselves down to the water's edge. Once there, 
 they were to swim ofif to a small boat that was anchored 
 about a quarter of a mile from shore, take possession of 
 her, and trust to luck to escape to the squadron. 
 
 The scheme necessitated leaving some of their number 
 behind. Bainbridge was not a good swimmer, and al- 
 though Hunt and Jones promised to take care of him in 
 the water, he determined to remain and share the fate 
 of the unfortunates. 
 
 One dark night silent farewells were taken, and a 
 party of twelve, dressed only in their shirts and trousers, 
 in order the better to facilitate their movements, crawled 
 through the aperture. In less than an hour a scratching 
 
134 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 was heard upon the opposite wall; the stones were again 
 withdrawn, and they filed back again. They reported 
 that everything had gone well until the very last minute, 
 when, just as they were about making the line fast to one 
 of the guns in order that they might lower themselves to 
 the water, the relief of the guard approached and they had 
 to give up the plan. 
 
 It was a fortunate thing that they had been forced 
 to return, as the vessel to which they had intended swim- 
 ming, had changed her anchorage, and all might have been 
 drowned or shot by the sentries if they had attempted to 
 land. 
 
 This was only one of numerous and repeated failures. 
 Upon one occasion they had undermined the rampart and 
 entered a large vault, but in doing so they had weakened 
 the supports so that the whole afifair caved in beneath the 
 weight of a heavy cannon, a forty-two pounder, that had 
 been resting above it. The prisoners were now suffer- 
 ing from the foul and stagnant air, and were growing 
 pale and weak. Many times had they begged and im- 
 plored for better ventilation, but, receiving no attention, 
 they determined boldly to make it for themselves, and to 
 this end opened a large hole plain to the view, admit- 
 ting the fresh air from the outside. When their jailer, a 
 bad-tempered black man of the desert named Sossey, dis- 
 covered this, he waxed exceeding angry, and threatened 
 them with terrible punishment, asking at the same time 
 who had " dared to do this act." 
 
 Porter stepped forward and informed the jailer that 
 he was the guilty one. Immediately he was hurried 
 away from his companions and placed in sohtary confine- 
 ment in a horrible dungeon not more than eight feet 
 square. On the second day he was brought before Sidi 
 Mohammed, who expressed his sorrow that he could do 
 nothing to help the prisoners, as the Bashaw was im- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 135 
 
 placable. But, nevertheless, Porter was returned to his 
 companions and Sossey was removed from his position. 
 
 But the failing spirits of all were revived when, on 
 the 1 2th of July, almost at daybreak, a furious cannonad- 
 ing was heard from the northward toward the mouth of 
 the harbor. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " Preble is at it again. Hurrah! " exclaimed Porter 
 with a laugh. " Oh, I wish we were there with him! " 
 
 He dashed his heavy hat angrily down on the floor of 
 the cell. 
 
 " Come, let us go into the next room through our 
 passageway," suggested Jones. " We can watch what's 
 going on." 
 
 No sooner had he spoken than a heavy explosion 
 sounded quite near to them. 
 
 " Hurrah! " cried Bainbridge. " Gentlemen, that was 
 a good Yankee shell." 
 
 Another one burst in the direction of the Bashaw's 
 palace. 
 
 " I'll bet their high-cockolorum bowed his old head 
 to that," said a middy. 
 
 By this time the stones were removed, and as many 
 as could crowd through into the next room did so, and 
 soon the grated window and the aperture was filled with 
 excited faces. 
 
 " Just look at those three boats bear down on that 
 division of the enemy — nine of them, by George! I'll 
 wager that we'll see some tall fighting now," cried Jones. 
 
 It was so far off that the boats looked to be mere 
 dots. But the white smoke soon blotted out even the 
 details, and the firing became steady. When the breeze 
 had cleared the air a little it was seen that three of the 
 Tripolitan gunboats had been taken and the others were 
 
 136 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 137 
 
 in flight, making their way with plashing sweeps up the 
 harbor. One of the big gunboats was some lengths be- 
 hind the rest. 
 
 "Look there! Look there!" cried Jones, pointing. 
 " See that small boat chasing the whole lot of them." 
 
 " It's one of their own," suggested Smith. 
 
 " You're mistaken, sir," said Bainbridge quietly, for 
 his eyes were like those of a hawk. " That's one of the 
 ship's cutters, and they're some of our lads putting their 
 backs into that steady stroke." 
 
 " They're after that last galley, then," roared Porter, 
 " and they are going to catch her, too! I'll bet Decatur 
 is in that cutter! " 
 
 Just as he spoke the men at the oars tossed them in- 
 board, and almost to a man they leaped for the side of the 
 Tripolitan. The other five sail continued on their way 
 and did not stop to help their companion. Soon the latter 
 was observed to come about into the wind and, with the 
 cutter in tow, make for the American line. She had been 
 taken in five minutes! 
 
 One of the Yankee gunboats had grounded near the 
 crescent-shaped battery, where she was subjected to a ter- 
 rible fire; but she managed to get ofif, replying pluckily 
 the while with her one big gun. 
 
 " Hurrah for the man who commands that little skip- 
 jack! " shouted Lieutenant Hunt. 
 
 " Cleverly done, indeed! " Bainbridge exclaimed, rub- 
 bing his hands together with delight. " Did you mark, 
 gentlemen, how he crept out of range of that big gun on 
 the point without receiving his fire? He is brave and 
 clever." 
 
 The captain did not know that it was his own brother, 
 Lieutenant Joseph Bainbridge, whom he was eulogizing; 
 nor did he know until a long time afterward that the little 
 boat that had captured the lagging Tripolitan was com- 
 
138 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 manded by Stephen Decatur, and that it was to revenge 
 the death, or better, the murder of his own brother, by 
 the corsair who held command, that had tempted him to 
 set out in pursuit to seek revenge, for the Tripolitan 
 had surrendered before and had then risen like a dastard 
 and annihilated the boarding party led by James Decatur. 
 He paid the penalty a few minutes later. But all the 
 story of the heroic deeds of those of the fleet has been 
 told elsewhere. This is but a chronicle of the doings of 
 Bainbridge and his fellow prisoners. Yet we must relate 
 what they saw that day. 
 
 Off to one side a separate little action was taking 
 place. One American gunboat was fighting five of the 
 enemy at pistol-shot range. This was the gallant Somers, 
 the man who would never know defeat, and a cheer went 
 up from the anxious watchers within the prison walls, as 
 they saw all five of the corsairs make haste to join in the 
 retreat. The Yankee boats pursued and the Tripolitans 
 rallied in force, and it appeared that the few American 
 sail were in great jeopardy, for they were almost sur- 
 rounded. But straight into the mouth of the harbor 
 sailed the great frigate Constitution to the rescue! On 
 she came until well within the range of the guns of the 
 battery; then her broadside spurted flame and smoke, and 
 the retreat of the brave httle American squadron was 
 covered. 
 
 The Constitution came about within three cable 
 lengths of the flanking fortress, and as she pointed her 
 nose once more toward the entrance of the harbor, she 
 silenced the guns with the discharge of her port battery, 
 while with the starboard she sent shot and shell flying 
 over the walls of the city in among the houses and the 
 palace gardens. 
 
 The Bashaw had promised the people of the city rare 
 sport if the American fleet should ever venture within 
 
Watching the bombardment from the Tripoli prison cell. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 139 
 
 the harbor mouth. He had been watching the action 
 from one of his windows, but when the Constitution fired 
 that last broadside he ffed unceremoniously and hid in 
 his bomb-proof cellar chamber. 
 
 Mr. Nissen was the only one of the foreign consuls 
 who had stayed in town after the beginning of the bom- 
 bardment, but he had become so devoted to the interests 
 of his American friends that he remained at the risk of his 
 life in order to be near them should his services be re- 
 quired. Several shells fell in and about his house, but 
 fortunately none of them had exploded. It had pained 
 the lookers on, who hoped that the attack might result 
 in their release, to see the withdrawal of the squadron; 
 but they recognized that nothing could be gained by ven- 
 turing farther into the harbor, and the gallantry of their 
 companions put them all in good spirits and gave them 
 much to talk about for some time to come. 
 
 The result of this first action might be told in a few 
 words: The three captured boats contained one hundred 
 and three men, of whom forty-seven were killed and 
 twenty-six wounded. Three of the enemy's vessels were 
 sunk with all their crews, and a number of guns in the bat- 
 teries along the shore had been dismounted. 
 
 On the fifth day of August Mr. Nissen brought the 
 news that Preble had returned all the wounded Tripolitan 
 prisoners, and Nissen himself had heard one of the cap- 
 tured officers say to the Prime Minister that the Ameri- 
 cans in battle were fiercer than lions, yet in their treat- 
 ment of prisoners they were even kinder than Mussul- 
 men. The result of this humane treatment on the part 
 of Commodore Preble was that the Bashaw, in thanking 
 him, stated that if any injured Americans fell into his 
 hands he would treat them with equal kindness. 
 
 Some negotiations in regard to the establishment of 
 peace were now begun, but they were soon discontinued 
 
I40 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 owing to the extravagant demands of the Bashaw, who 
 was yet very proud and haughty. 
 
 A second attack upon the city followed, and much 
 injury was done by round shot and shell. Most unfor- 
 tunately, a small American vessel was blown up by a red- 
 hot shot, losing ten of her crew killed and six wounded. 
 
 On the 27th of August a third attack was begun, and 
 an incident that occurred came very near ending Bain- 
 bridge's career on earth. He had been unwell for some 
 two or three days and was lying on his pallet of straw, 
 when the rest of the officers hurried to the points of van^ 
 tage to watch the bombardment that had just begun. The 
 Constitution had opened fire at long range, and it was 
 by one of her shots that Bainbridge nearly lost his life. 
 A thirty-two pound cannon ball struck squarely on the 
 outside of the wall, almost above his head. The masonry 
 gave way under the impact, and the captain was literally 
 covered with almost a ton of stone and mortar. His 
 officers, who were at the end of the narrow cell, hastened 
 to him and extricated him at once. It was found that his 
 ankle had been badly crushed by the falling of a part of 
 the embattlement, and he was covered with cuts and 
 bruises. 
 
 So hot had become the fire of the American squadron 
 that the Tripolitan guards fled from their places on the 
 terrace ramparts and hid behind the walls of the prison. 
 Their cowardice excited the merriment of the Yankee 
 midshipmen, and they were jeered unmercifully. Angry 
 at this, the poltroons threw stones in at the prisoners 
 through the windows that opened upon the yard. The 
 midshipmen armed themselves with bits of the debris scat- 
 tered about their apartment and returned the fire, a most 
 riotous proceeding in the eyes of the head jailer, for he 
 threatened to shoot down the offenders if they did not 
 desist. This stopped the miniature battle; but Bain- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 141 
 
 bridge wrote a note to Sidi Mohammed, complaining 
 that the guards had been the first offenders, and he had 
 the satisfaction of being informed that the villain who 
 began all the trouble had been severely bastinadoed and 
 dismissed. 
 
 A few days later news was brought that the squadron 
 was again entering the harbor, and soon the guns of the 
 forts encircling the shore had begun to roar defiance. 
 
 The enemy's galleys did not make much of a fight 
 upon this occasion, and giving away, the American squad- 
 ron pursued them within musket shot of the large fort 
 on the east, the Tripolitan admiral congregating all of 
 his fleet close under the walls. The Yankee squadron 
 separated, and part of it sailed boldly in upon the mass 
 of Tripolitan shipping, while the rest bravely engaged the 
 forts. Two bomb ketches kept on until quite close to 
 shore and began throwing shells into the town with great 
 effect. But from their exposed position it was seen that 
 they had no chance to survive the furious fire directed 
 at them. They both seemed doomed, when all at once 
 Preble, in the Constitution, came down as he had 
 done before to help them out. So close was he to the 
 terraces that the figures of the men upon the spar deck 
 could be distinguished. Seventy guns were playing down 
 upon him, but so rapidly and effectually did the Yankees 
 serve their broadsides that the Tripolitans slackened their 
 fire, and under cover of the frigate the bomb ketches re- 
 treated safely. 
 
 This time the Bashaw had received a severe fright. 
 He had lost two more of his fleet, and suffered a great 
 deal of damage by the shells that fell in the heart of the 
 city. But, although the Americans had been subjected 
 to a criss-cross fire, not a man was killed in the whole 
 affair, and the damage to the squadron consisted mainly 
 of wrecked spars and injured rigging. 
 
142 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 Under the orders of the Scotch-Turkish admiral it was 
 concluded not to use the galleys except as an assistant 
 force to the land batteries, and they remained moored 
 stem and stern in a compact mass at the upper bend of 
 
 A brass cannon captured from the Tripolitans, now at Annapolis. 
 
 the harbor. Nothing could tempt them from their safe 
 retreat. 
 
 No other demonstration was made by the squadron 
 during the following week, and despair and gloom settled 
 upon the little band confined behind the gray stone walls, 
 for it became apparent that the small fleet in the offing 
 could effect little or nothing against the powerful bat- 
 teries, although they might destroy considerable prop- 
 erty in the city itself. 
 
 A long period of captivity stared them in the face. 
 They could see no end to it, and it was no easy matter to 
 stir up the courage of the sick and despairing. 
 
 Between nine and ten o'clock on the evening of the 
 4th of September, while they were preparing themselves 
 to pass through the long hot night, there came a terrific 
 explosion that jarred the air and sent particles of plaster 
 falling in all directions. A little midshipman, awakened 
 from his sleep, cried aloud in fright. The report had been 
 preceded by a red flash, as if a great thunderbolt had 
 exploded just outside their grated window. 
 
 " What do you suppose that was," exclaimed Jones, 
 starting up and rushing to the small ventilating windoW: 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE 143 
 
 that, owing to the kindness of their friend Sidi, had not 
 been filled in. 
 
 Every one had crowded about him, but there was noth- 
 ing to be seen except the darkness of the night. 
 
 "Stop talking! Listen!" ordered Bainbridge. 
 
 From the direction of the harbor came cries and dis- 
 tant murmurings. A long wail, like a chorus of many 
 voices, rose in the air and died away; then all was silence. 
 
 " A magazine has exploded," said Porter. 
 
 " It sounded to me," replied Jones, " as if it came from 
 out on the bay." 
 
 In the morning they all learned what it meant. That 
 explosion sounded the death knell of the gallant young 
 Somers, the popular and well-beloved young officer who 
 was known to all of them. Lieutenant Wadsworth, Mid- 
 shipman Israel, and ten brave seamen shared his fate. 
 And with them over two hundred Tripolitans lost their 
 lives. Every reader of American history is familiar with 
 the story of how Somers sailed in in the ketch Intrepid, 
 laden with one hundred barrels of gunpowder, for the pur- 
 pose of destroying the Tripolitan vessels huddled within 
 the mole; how she had been boarded just before she 
 reached her destination, and the terrible result of the ex- 
 plosion. In what manner the trains of powder had been 
 ignited has never been found out. It may have been from 
 accident, or it may have been done in a moment of des- 
 peration by the heroic Somers himself. 
 
 Two days later Bainbridge and his four lieutenants 
 were permitted to view the bodies that had washed ashore. 
 So mutilated and disfigured were they by the explosion 
 that it was impossible to identify any of them. But over 
 their graves Bainbridge read a funeral service, and they 
 were placed to rest with all the small honors that could be 
 given them. 
 
 All of these attacks made the Bashaw more inclined to 
 
144 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 negotiation for peace, but yet his demands were considered 
 exorbitant, and the United States sent out a larger squad- 
 ron, under the command of Commodore Barron, who 
 superseded Preble, the latter returning to America, leav- 
 ing the Constitution under the command of his young 
 friend, Stephen Decatur. The new commodore retired 
 with his ships to Syracuse, and began making plans for 
 active operations in the spring. It was now decided to 
 attempt the reduction of Tripoli by means of a land force, 
 acting in conjunction with the deposed ruler of the coun- 
 try, for the Bashaw then upon the throne had usurped the 
 power that rightfully belonged to his uncle. But this is a 
 separate story. Not hearing from Barron, and receiving 
 no news from their country for a long time, the unhappy 
 prisoners deemed themselves deserted, and indulged in the 
 most desperate plans and projects for escape, one of which 
 was to break jail and storm the castle of the Bashaw. 
 But, owing to the watchfulness of the guards, nothing 
 was accomplished, and black despair settled down upon 
 them. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 At last word was brought again through Mr. Nissen 
 that General Eaton, an officer of the American army, had 
 joined forces with those of the deposed Bashaw's, and that 
 they were marching through the deserts of Libya, with 
 the intention of taking TripoH in the rear. The Tripolitan 
 potentate displayed great consternation at hearing this, 
 and redoubled his efforts to increase the fortifications in 
 and about the city. But one fine morning the Ameri- 
 can squadron appeared of? the harbor, and glorious in- 
 deed was the sight of the flag. 
 
 Negotiations now began in earnest, and the Bashaw 
 appointed the Spanish consul to represent him in a con- 
 ference held on board the frigate Constitution. When 
 Bainbridge heard who had been chosen he became most 
 anxious to apprise Commodore Barron, Rodgers, and 
 Colonel Lear, United States Consul General to the Bar- 
 bary powers, of the Spaniards' enmity toward the United 
 States. Sidi Mohammed, the wise and far-seeing, also 
 doubted the good will of the Bashaw's emissary, and was 
 most anxious to come to some terms of settlement. 
 
 The result of a conference held in the prison was that 
 Bainbridge himself should solicit permission to pay a visit 
 to the squadron under his parole of honor to return, and 
 that his companions would pledge their lives for the carry- 
 ing out of the promise. Porter was appointed spokesman, 
 and with the assistance of Mr. Nissen he obtained an in- 
 terview with Sidi Mohammed. The Minister of State 
 
 145 
 
146 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 agreed that the plan was a good one, but doubted whether 
 the Bashaw would consent to placing such trust in any 
 one. As for himself, he declared that he would exact no 
 pledge from Bainbridge but his own word of honor. After 
 some deliberation he agreed to ask the Bashaw to con- 
 sider it, and to use his best ofifices in*gaining a favorable 
 answer to the request. Thinking it might be a good plan 
 to have something to show, he asked that the officers 
 would draw up and sign a paper irf order that he might 
 show it to his High Mightiness. It was also thought 
 best for the captain to accompany him to represent his 
 cause. 
 
 This Bainbridge agreed to, and he was witness to a 
 remarkable scene. He had learned enough of the lan- 
 guage to understand what was going forward, and his 
 respect and admiration for Sidi Mohammed rose mightily, 
 although he had always considered him most friendly. 
 
 " Are you so mad as to believe that Captain Bain- 
 bridge will return after getting on board a vessel of his 
 own nation, simply because he has made a declaration to 
 that efifect? " asked the Bashaw with a sneer. 
 
 The minister made a low bow. 
 
 " You have the pledge of his officers," he answered. 
 
 " True enough," the Bashaw put in, " but I value 
 Captain Bainbridge as a prisoner more than all of his 
 officers put together, and I place no reliance on their 
 pledge." 
 
 " Pray listen to me," answered the minister. " Your 
 servant has lived long in Christian countries and has seen 
 much of their officers, and he knows that the pledge of a 
 parole of honor is not to be broken." 
 
 The Bashaw shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " I have contracted a friendship for this American," 
 went on Sidi Mohammed. " I have full confidence in 
 his honor. You know that I am a Tripolitan by birth, 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. ■> 147 
 
 that all my aftections are for my country, and that I would 
 propose no measure by which it would be injured. Grant 
 Bainbridge's request, and I will leave my son in your 
 castle, and in the event of his not returning according to 
 my promise, you can take the head off him whose life I 
 value more than my own." 
 
 Although the privilege was absolutely unprecedented, 
 the Bashaw could not but yield to these circumstances. 
 But no one about the 'court believed that the Christian 
 would return, and they considered Sidi Mohammed a 
 ruined man indeed. 
 
 On the first day of June, 1805, Bainbridge left the 
 shelter of the castle in a small boat and was rowed off to 
 the fleet. He spent the day in consultation with the 
 officers, and returned late at night to the palace, where 
 he waited upon Sidi Mohammed, who had not displayed 
 the slightest anxiety, although the Bashaw had begun to 
 rebuke him for inducing him to place the least reliance 
 on the word of a " Christian dog." His surprise at see- 
 ing Bainbridge was ill-concealed. When he heard the 
 terms upon which the United States was disposed to treat 
 he became furiously angry and declined to enter into fur- 
 ther negotiations, but the next day a special meeting was 
 held, and in place of the Spaniard, Mr. Nissen, the Danish 
 consul, was selected to renew the negotiations, and went 
 on board the Constitution to confer with the American 
 officers. Without trouble they came to an agreement 
 upon which to form the basis of a treaty. 
 
 On the 3d of June the Bashaw stated that he was 
 ready to Hsten to propositions and to consider whether 
 peace should be rejected or concluded. Bainbridge and 
 Mr. Nissen were invited to be present at the council. 
 The meeting was held in the large trial chamber of the 
 palace. The members of the Bashaw's cabinet and the 
 invited guests and representatives sat about arranged in 
 
148 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 the form of a crescent, the regent being in the center, 
 his Prime Minister being on the right, and the Minister 
 for State and Foreign Affairs on the left hand. The 
 strangers were invited to be seated, and the Bashaw 
 turned to Captain Bainbridge. 
 
 " In order that everything shall be perfectly fair," he 
 said, " the debates on the subject of this treaty are to be 
 carried on in French, and if you, sir, understand the lan- 
 guage, you will be able to hear the opinions of my minis- 
 ters from their own mouths. In thus admitting you to 
 my private divan you have received an honor never before 
 conferred on a prisoner in Barbary." 
 
 Then arising with a great deal of dignity, he sub- 
 mitted the question of " peace or war with the United 
 States." The various members of the council addressed 
 the regent in turn in well-chosen words, in short but 
 direct speeches. After the debate had continued to the 
 end a vote was taken, and it was seen that of the eight 
 who had the privilege of casting a ballot, only two were for 
 peace — Sidi Mohammed D'Ghiers and the Rais of Marine. 
 Each requested the privilege of adding a few more re- 
 marks, and with a great deal of eloquence they pressed 
 their claim, with the result that two of the members 
 came over to their side of the question upon a second 
 voting. The Bashaw now arose. 
 
 " Four of you are for peace," he said, " and four for 
 war. Which party shall I satisfy? How shall I act?" 
 
 He hesitated and resumed his seat as Sidi Mohammed 
 stepped forward. 
 
 " You are our Prince and Master," the minister said, 
 making obeisance. " You have not called us here to dic- 
 tate to you, but to hear our opinions. It now remains 
 for you to act as you please; but let me entreat you, for 
 your own interests and the happiness of your people, to 
 make it peace." 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 149 
 
 Again he bowed low and returned to his seat. 
 
 The Bashaw cast his eye about the half circle, and 
 leaning forward, took a signet from the bosom of his 
 silken gown and pressed it down upon the treaty. 
 
 " It is peace! " he said. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 It did not take long to ratify the treaty, and Mr. 
 Nissen brought it on board the flagship, signed with 
 the Bashaw's signature in due form. 
 
 Now it had been nineteen months and more since the 
 day that Bainbridge and his officers had found them- 
 selves prisoners. On the morrow they would be free men. 
 The news traveled quickly through the great prison where 
 the crew were then confined. Cheer after cheer arose 
 as the TripoHtan castle fired a salute of twenty-one guns, 
 and from out in the harbor the Constitution answered it. 
 
 The terms arranged upon were, in short, as follows: 
 There should be an exchange of prisoners " man for man 
 so far as they would go; that the Bashaw should send all 
 the Americans in his power on board the squadron ofif 
 Tripoli; that his subjects should be brought over from 
 Syracuse and delivered to him with all convenient speed; 
 and as he had three hundred Americans, more or less, and 
 the United States squadron one hundred Tripolitans, 
 more or less, the American commissioners engaged to 
 give for the balance in the Bashaw's favor $60,000; and 
 that a treaty of peace should be made on honorable and 
 mutually beneficial terms." 
 
 The crew were distributed, upon their release, among 
 the various ships of the squadron, and, without loss of any 
 time, all sail was made to the northward. 
 
 A jailer, a slave to the Tripolitans, had treated them so 
 kindly that they had insisted upon purchasing his free- 
 
 150 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 151 
 
 dom, and they succeeded in so doing with the advance 
 money from their wages to the amount of seven hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 At Syracuse a court of inquiry was held on board the 
 Constitution, and an investigation was made under orders 
 of the Secretary of the Navy in regard to the loss of the 
 Philadelphia. Bainbridge was acquitted immediately and 
 with honor; and as soon as possible he returned to the 
 United States, landing in Hampton, Va. 
 
 He was received with every mark of approbation by 
 the pubHc and by the officials at Washington, and as soon 
 as Congress had been informed of the high conduct of the 
 Danish consul they passed resolutions of thanks to him 
 for his benevolent actions. 
 
 Although Bainbridge was appointed by the Secretary 
 of the Navy to the command of the navy yard of New 
 York, he found that his financial condition demanded 
 attention; so, obtaining a furlough, he embarked once 
 more in the merchant service, in which he passed two 
 years. In 1808 he returned to the service and was ap- 
 pointed to the position left vacant by the death of his old 
 friend Commodore Preble. But affairs looked very 
 stormy, owing to the continued impressment of Ameri- 
 can seamen into the service of England. The Government 
 at last concluded to order the best officers to active duty, 
 and Bainbridge was relieved of the command of the Port- 
 land station and was ordered to repair on board the frigate 
 President, the;i lying at Washington. There were many 
 repairs to be made, however, before she was ready for sea, 
 and it was not until July, 1809, that he started southward 
 on a coastwise cruise. 
 
 As hostiHties between our country and England were 
 imminent, and in Bainbridge'smind unavoidable, no trouble 
 was spared to make the crew of the frigate under his 
 command able and effective. During a long and stormy 
 
152 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 winter he kept at sea, and when he returned in May of 
 the next year no better drilled or disciplined body of men 
 could have been found afloat. But afifairs were about as 
 usual, and war seemed no nearer than it had for the past 
 five or six years. He was again in need of money, and 
 as the pay of a captain in the service at this time was 
 less than a hundred dollars a month, something had to 
 be done, and, yielding to the strenuous advice of a num- 
 ber of his friends, he accepted a position once more in 
 the merchant service and proceeded on a voyage to St. 
 Petersburg. 
 
 When just inside the straits of the Baltic his vessel 
 was captured by a Danish privateer and carried into 
 Copenhagen. As luck would have it, he had not been at 
 anchor more than a few minutes when who should come 
 off to him in a small boat from the shore but his old 
 friend Nissen, of Tripoli! The meeting between the two 
 friends was cordial and their greetings more than hearty. 
 
 Nissen said that he had just happened to hear that 
 the captured ship claimed to be an American, and some 
 one who landed from the privateer had remembered Bain- 
 bridge's name. So at once he had hastened to tender 
 his services. 
 
 " The very strangest coincidence, my dear sir," said 
 Mr. Nissen, as he seated himself beside Bainbridge in 
 the cabin, " is that this very day — aye, only an hour ago — 
 I received the handsome urn which you and the rest of 
 my kind friends, whom I had the pleasure of meetinsj 
 when they were guests of the Bashaw, had sent me. It 
 has only now arrived owing to the fact of our war with 
 England." 
 
 "Yes, I remember," returned Bainbridge; "we or- 
 dered it of a London silversmith, and I trust that you will 
 live long to possess it." 
 
 " Now, in regard to your being taken for an English- 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 153 
 
 man, and the mistake of your being brought in here," 
 Xissen continued, " leave it all to me and do not worry." 
 
 In a few days Bainbridge parted from his old friend 
 and went on to St. Petersburg, Nissen having com- 
 pleted all arrangements for his release. 
 
 His first voyage proving very successful, Bainbridge 
 crossed the seas again to the same place. As he had been 
 commissioned to undertake some valuable commercial 
 negotiations, he determined to spend the winter at the 
 capital, but hearing the news of the action that took place 
 between his old command the frigate President and the 
 EngUsh sloop-of-war Little Belt, he perceived at once 
 that hostilities would surely follow, and throwing aside 
 all his business responsibilities, he determined to report 
 himself at Washington as soon as he possibly could. 
 
 During the winter the Baltic is closed to navigation 
 and freezes over, and the only way for a traveler to reach 
 the sea was bysledge overland through Sweden to Gothen- 
 burg. The story of this journey would make a long tale 
 in itself. Bainbridge was placed under the protection of 
 the Russian Government, and after various adventures 
 and great suffering, which included a severe cold and injury 
 received from falling over a precipice with his carriage — 
 for he had traveled by sledge, rowboat, horseback, and 
 coach in this journey — with great difficulty he arrived 
 at his destination. On the 31st of December he set sail 
 on a merchant vessel, after resting for eleven days in the 
 harbor in company with a number of English men-of-war. 
 
 Bad fortune seemed to pursue him. Off the coast of 
 Jutland three of the Englishmen were lost in a severe 
 storm, and had it not been for the fact that Bainbridge 
 obtained some influence over the commander of the ves- 
 sel upon which he was a passenger, she too would un- 
 doubtedly have been lost. It was found necessary to put 
 back to the coast of Norway. 
 
IS4 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 On the 13th of January, 1812, the brig was again 
 struck by a heavy gale while passing through the chan- 
 nel between the Orkneys and the Shetland Islands. The 
 English captain, hearing the cries that there were breakers 
 on the port bow, immediately began to sing out orders 
 that Bainbridge, who was standing near him, perceived 
 would cause the vessel to be upon the rocks. Without 
 leave or permission, and before the crew had time to obey 
 their captain, he had countermanded the latter's orders; 
 and the man at the helm, remembering Bainbridge's 
 action of a few days previous to this, kept the vessel on 
 her course, with the result that the rocks were passed and 
 danger averted. 
 
 After landing in England, Captain Bainbridge made 
 all haste to Liverpool, stopping only for a visit to the 
 American minister in London, to whom he deHvered dis- 
 patches. On the 1 2th of February he arrived at New 
 York, proceeding at once to Washington, where he re- 
 ported himself ready for active service. 
 
 Congress was just at that moment deliberating on the 
 subject of declaring war against Great Britain, and Bain- 
 bridge learned, to his great sorrow and chagrin, that in 
 a Cabinet council it had been determined to lay up all 
 our frigates and vessels of war in ordinary, it being 
 thought better, forsooth, to save what little we had rather 
 than risk losing our small force in action with the gigantic 
 navy at the disposal of King George. 
 
 Bainbridge luckily met in Washington, Captain 
 Charles Stewart, a brave fighter, and, after a consultation, 
 he proposed that they should draw up a paper remonstrat- 
 ing strongly against the measure to the Secretary of the 
 Navy. They rehearsed the consequences and the depress- 
 ing effects of such action, and stated that the officers of 
 the service would feel personally wronged if they were 
 not permitted to at least court some of the dangers, \yhich 
 
COMiMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 155 
 
 their companions on land were facing. Altogether they 
 made an able defense of their position, and the letter 
 accomplished its purpose — the vessels were not laid up as 
 had been intended. 
 
 Being assured that he had succeeded, much relieved, 
 Bainbridge hastened to assume his post. He found the 
 Charleston yard in a bad condition, but he at once began 
 to make extensive changes, and to prepare for building 
 a large naval station. 
 
 AMiile in the midst of these operations the expected 
 news was brought to him of the declaration of war that 
 had been passed on the i8th of June, 1812, by the United 
 States against Great Britain. A land post was not the 
 place for a man of Bainbridge's disposition. .Vt once 
 he applied to be sent to sea, and requested that he be 
 given command of one of the frigates soon to be in readi- 
 ness. The Secretary of the Navy ordered him to the Con- 
 stellation, and he was directed to proceed to Washington 
 and fit her out with ah dispatch. 
 
 Before long the Constellation was almost ready to go 
 to sea, and Bainbridge returned to Chai'leston to make 
 arrangements for leaving his family before going upon 
 a cruise. He had been but three days in Boston when 
 in sailed Hull in the Constitution, and the news of the 
 victory over the Guerriere flew about the town. 
 
 Bainbridge hastened at once to meet with and con- 
 gratulate his old friend, and there he, to his intense excite- 
 ment, heard that Hull intended to remain on shore for a 
 few months to attend to some private affairs. 
 
 The Constitution was then the pride of the navy. She 
 was a better sailer and a finer ship in every way than the 
 Constellation; and as soon as Bainbridge found that Hull 
 intended to give her up, he applied to Secretary Hamilton 
 for the command of her. His request was granted, and, to 
 his delight, Bainbridge found that he had been appointed 
 
156 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 to the command of a small squadron of three vessels, con- 
 sisting of his own vessel, the Hornet under the command 
 of his old shipmate Lawrence, and the Essex under the 
 command of Porter, who had suffered in Tripoli with 
 him. A rendezvous was appointed, and on the fifteenth 
 day of September, 181 2, Bainbridge flew his first blue 
 pennant. Porter, who was then at anchor in the Dela- 
 ware, was directed to set sail for the Cape Verd Islands, 
 stop at Porto Praya, a bay in the island of Santiago, and 
 from whence he was to proceed to the island of Fernando 
 de Noronha. And if the Essex did not meet with theCon- 
 stitution and Hornet at the last-named port. Porter was 
 ordered to touch at the island of St. Catherine, and if 
 unsuccessful, cruise to the southward, his only orders 
 being to use judgment and to annoy the enemy's com- 
 merce. 
 
 It was the 26th of October when the Constitution and 
 Hornet sailed from Boston together. Fair weather was 
 met with, and the two vessels reached Fernando de No- 
 ronha early in December. For some time they waited 
 hoping that the Essex would join them. The island is 
 a penal colony of Portugal; it was not a pleasant anchor- 
 age, nor was their position exactly agreeable to Bain- 
 bridge, for he was compelled to sail under false colors, 
 something distasteful to his nature. The Portuguese 
 Government was then in league with Great Britain, and 
 both the Constitution and the Hornet flew the English 
 flag. Bainbridge was representing himself as Captain 
 Kerr of his Majesty's ship Acasta of forty-four guns, and 
 the Hornet pretended to be the Morgiana of twenty 
 guns. 
 
 It was impossible to obtain a supply of fresh water at 
 this place, and so Bainbridge determined to sail away, 
 leaving a letter addressed to " Sir James Yeo," which was 
 the name agreed upon that Porter would take if he 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 >S7 
 
 stopped at the island. Bainbridge bade farewell to the 
 Governor and made off for San Salvador. 
 
 Although Commandant Porter received the missive 
 left for him, and followed out the instructions contained 
 
 MADAGASCAR 
 
 CujfB uf Oood Uapa 
 
 Cruise of the Constitution, Hornet and Java. 
 
 therein, he did not have the fortune of running across 
 his superior officer, and following the dictates of his own 
 judgment, he sailed on that remarkable cruise into the 
 waters of the Pacific. 
 
 Captain Lawrence entered the harbor of San Salvador 
 leaving the Constitution anchored at the entrance. His 
 instructions were to ascertain through the United States 
 consul the disposition of the Government of Brazil toward 
 the United States, and also to find out if there were any 
 
iS8 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 British cruisers on the coast, and what chance there was 
 of picking up a British merchantman. He had not landed 
 from his vessel when he saw under the lee of a small island 
 in the inner harbor a fine, loftily sparred sloop of war of a 
 few more tons burden than his own, but not large enough 
 to frighten him. Asking who she was, he was informed 
 that it was his Majesty's corvette Bonne Citoyenne, the 
 " Good Citizeness," and Mr. Hill, the American consul, 
 informed him confidentially that the English ship was 
 laden with specie and had been ready to sail for two or 
 three days, her destiny being England. 
 
 When Lawrence had an opportunity to speak to Bain- 
 bridge he informed him joyfully of the news, and re- 
 quested permission to use every means to bring off an 
 action between the Hornet and the English vessel. 
 
 Bainbridge gave his consent at once, and eagerly Law- 
 rence made preparations for the action that he thought 
 was surely to take place. The next day Bainbridge, think- 
 ing, perhaps, it would be an inducement for the Bonne 
 Citoyenne to leave her anchorage and come out and fight, 
 sailed away, and Lawrence immediately sent the follow- 
 ing communication in to Consul Hill: 
 
 " When last I saw you I stated my wishes to meet the 
 Bonne Citoyenne, and authorized you to make it known 
 to Captain Green. I now request you to state to him, and 
 pledge my honor, that neither the Constitution nor any 
 other American vessel will interfere." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The British consul without delay transmitted the com- 
 munication he had received from Consul Hill to Captain 
 Green, but the English officer proved to be a very prudent 
 man indeed, for he replied that while he did not doubt that 
 he would be successful should a combat take place between 
 his own vessel and the Hornet, he really doubted that 
 Commodore Bainbridge would abstain from taking a hand, 
 for the reason that the " Paramount duty which he (Dain- 
 bridge) owes to his country would prevent him from be- 
 coming an inactive spectator and seeing a ship belonging 
 to the very squadron under his orders fall into the hands 
 of the enemy." 
 
 When the American consul had read Captain Green's 
 reason for not wishing to meet Lawrence, he wrote imme- 
 diately to his British friend, stating that Bainbridge had 
 given assurance that he would confirm Captain Lawrence's 
 statement, making use of the following words: " If Cap- 
 tain Green wishes to try equal force, I pledge my honor to 
 give him an opportunity by being out of the way or not m- 
 
 terfering." 
 
 Nevertheless, Green kept the harbor, and Lawrence as- 
 siduously blockaded him. The Governor of Bahia, Count 
 d'Arcos, had displayed a very unfriendly attitude toward 
 the United States, and objected to the Hornet's anchoring 
 in the harbor. Bainbridge, hearing of this and waxing 
 wroth, as soon as he returned wrote a strong letter of re- 
 monstrance to the count, and then again he set out alone 
 
 159 
 
i6o 
 
 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 ill the Constitution after sending the following order to 
 the waiting Lawrence: " I shall keep off the land to the 
 northward of latitude 12' 20", when you will meet me 
 there, except you have great reason to believe the Bonne 
 Citoyenne is coming out. In that case watch close and 
 join me on Saturday next. May glory and success attend 
 you." 
 
 This was the morning of the 26th of December, and 
 three days later Bainbridge found the chance that he had 
 so long been waiting for. 
 
 It was 9 A. M., with a fine sailing breeze blowing, 
 and the shore of Brazil bore about ten leagues off on the 
 
 Bahia. 
 
 port hand when two sails were sighted on the weather bow. 
 They were very distant, and it took over an hour's sailing 
 to determine their character. Then Lieutenant Aylwin 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. i6i 
 
 reported to the cabin that the strangers were evidently 
 large ships, and as the Constitution approached they 
 parted company; one stood on to meet her, and the other 
 made in to the land. 
 
 Lieutenant Parker, of the Constitution, at first thought 
 that the approaching vessel might be the Essex, but Bain- 
 bridge, after a careful look through the glass declared her 
 to be British, and at eleven o'clock he tacked to the south- 
 ward and eastward, haulingup his mainsail and taking in his 
 royals in order to give the stranger an opportunity to draw 
 nigh. In half an hour he made the private signal for the 
 dav, and perceiving that it was not answered, he imme- 
 diatelv set his mainsails and royals again, and made prepa- 
 rations to get out his studding sails. Observing one of 
 the officers cast a curious look up aloft, Bainbridge turned 
 and spoke to him laughingly: 
 
 " It was merely to draw our friend off the coast and 
 away from his consort," indicating the ship well inshore 
 " We will be exchanging compliments," he added, " in two 
 hours or less, and I hope that before sundown we will have 
 given a good account of ourselves." And by sundown 
 indeed they had. 
 
 Probably the commander of the English frigate, for 
 such she had now proved herself beyond a doubt, supposed 
 that the American (the Constitution had flown her flag 
 for an hour before it was answered) wished to escape him. 
 But if this was his idea he was soon deprived of it. 
 
 " Shorten sail, Mr. Parker," said Bainbridge quietly. 
 " We'll tack ship in about ten minutes. Clear decks for 
 action, sir! " 
 
 It was a grand sight to see these two fine frigates ap- 
 proaching one another. The day was bright, their colors 
 shone, and the crews were standing at the guns stripped to 
 the waist. The sanded decks and the grim tables laid out 
 below in the cockpit were notes that were entirely out of 
 
i62 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 accord with Nature's aspect. There was an anxious mo- 
 ment when it seemed that the other vessel wished to avoid 
 a meeting. But it was soon seen that this was but a feint; 
 the oncoming Britisher, who now had a flag flying at her 
 peak and mizzenmast-head, intended raking. The Con- 
 stitution wore, and cleverly avoided her. 
 
 " Well that's a strange thing! " remarked Lieutenant 
 Aylwin who had been a midshipman on board the Consti- 
 tution in her fight with the Guerriere. " See, she has low- 
 ered all her flags except the jack at the mizzenmast-head! " 
 He glanced aloft at the spars of his own ship. 
 
 From every masthead, from the peak, and from two 
 places in the shrouds, fluttered the Stars and Stripes. 
 Nearer the two frigates approached in dead silence. It 
 was generally customary for vessels of the American and 
 English service to go into action cheering; but no one 
 seemed disposed to lead off on the Constitution — it was 
 too early in the game. 
 
 At 2 p. M. the distance between the ships was less 
 than half a mile. Bainbridge sent an order to the offi- 
 cer in charge of the third division, ordering him to fire 
 a gun ahead of the enemy, in order to make him show 
 his colors. No sooner was this done than the English- 
 man replied with a broadside, and ran his flag up to the 
 peak again. 
 
 For fully five minutes the Constitution did not reply; 
 but when she had her antagonist, who was well to leeward, 
 within grapeshot distance she began the action in earnest, 
 and in the first few exchanges it appeared that matters were 
 going hard indeed, for she appeared to have the worst 
 of it. Bainbridge was talking to Lieutenant Parker, when 
 suddenly the latter saw him flinch and drop his hand to 
 his side. But he continued the conversation, remarking 
 the good effect of the Constitution's gunnery upon the 
 enemy. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 163 
 
 '■ You are wounded, Captain Bainbridge! " exclaimed 
 the lieutenant, suddenly glancing down. 
 
 Bainbridge was pressing his hand tightly against 
 his hip. 
 
 '■ It's nothing," he said; " at least 'tis not dangerous, 
 I'm sure. Call no attention to it, sir!" There was the 
 ring of an order and not an entreaty in his words. 
 
 Parker saluted and said nothing further. At this mo- 
 ment a round shot from one of the enemy's after guns en- 
 tered a port, struck the breech of one of the carronades, 
 and then bounded like lightning across the deck. In a 
 second the air was full of splinters. They rose like a cloud 
 of dry dust. Bainbridge and the officers on the quarter- 
 deck hurried forward to see what damage had been done. 
 The wheel had been shot away completely! The quarter- 
 master and the seamen who were at the spokes were lying 
 badly wounded on the deck. At first glance this loss 
 would have seemed quite irreparable. 
 
 "There's more than one way to steer a ship! " Bain- 
 bridge exclaimed. " Order eight men down into the after 
 hold, and station three midshipmen on the after compan- 
 ion ladders to pass the word." 
 
 During the rest of the engagement the Constitution 
 was handled by means of steering tackles from below. 
 
 The way her guns were now replying to the constant 
 fire of the English frigate delighted Bainbridge's heart. 
 They were served with precision and trained with accuracy, 
 and as he attempted to close, the Englishman's jib boom 
 was shot away, then the bowsprit, and at five minutes past 
 three down came his foremast by the board! Only a few 
 minutes before this happened the Constitution had crossed 
 her antagonist's bows so close as to foul her mizzen rig- 
 ging- 
 
 Bainbridge had again been wounded, this time by a 
 
 copper bolt, which was driven with great force into his 
 
i64 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 thigh; but he would not leave the deck, and scarcely 
 would he permit the surgeon to attend to him, so en- 
 grossed was he in handling ship. 
 
 It would take a seaman's knowledge to follow the vari- 
 ous manoeuvres of the latter part of the action. Bain- 
 bridge's journal speaks of the succession of incidents in the 
 following laconic fashion: " It was five minutes past three 
 when the enemy's foremast was shot away. At fifteen 
 minutes past three, shot away his main-topmast just above 
 the cap. At forty minutes past three, shot away the gaff 
 and spanker boom. At fifty-five minutes past three, shot 
 away his mizzenmast nearly by the board. At five minutes 
 past four, having silenced the fire of the enemy completely, 
 and the colors in his main rigging being down, we supposed 
 that he had struck. We then hauled down our courses 
 and shot ahead to repair our rigging, which was extremely 
 cut, leaving the enemy a complete wreck; soon afterward 
 discovered that the enemy's flag was still flying. Hove to 
 to repair some of our damage. At twenty minutes past 
 four, wore ship and stood for the enemy. At twenty-five 
 minutes past five, got very close in a very eiTectual raking 
 position athwart his bows, and when about to fire he most 
 prudently struck his fiag, for had he suffered the broadside 
 to have raked him his additional loss must have been ex- 
 tremely great as he lay an unmanageable wreck upon the 
 water." 
 
 As soon as it was seen that the English frigate was a 
 prize, the Constitution's crew broke out into loud and con- 
 tinued cheering. Bainbridge turned to Lieutenant 
 Parker with a smile of satisfaction and ordered him to 
 lower away the first cutter, which was the only boat capa- 
 ble of floating. Soon she was alongside, and her crew 
 tumbled into her most eagerly. 
 
 It was seven o'clock when Lieutenant Parker returned, 
 bringing with him Lieutenant Chads, first of his Majesty's 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 165 
 
 thirty-eight-gun frigate Java; Lieutenant-General Hislop, 
 Governor of Bombay; and Major Walker and Captain 
 Wood, of his staff. Lieutenant Chads, who was sHghtly 
 wounded, brought the message that his commander was 
 too badly hurt to be moved. Hearing that the loss of life 
 on board the Java had been extremely great, and taking 
 into account the complete wreck to which she had been 
 reduced, every exertion was now made for transferring the 
 prisoners and wounded, for it was determined to destroy 
 her instead of trying to bring her into port. 
 
 The wounded Captain Lambert was brought over 
 and placed in Bainbridge's own cabin, and everything 
 was done to alleviate his sufferings. Despite his own 
 painful wounds, the American captain did not leave 
 the deck until after eleven o'clock on the night of the en- 
 
 gagement. 
 
 There has been not a little controversy in regard to the 
 numbers engaged in the action on both sides. The Con- 
 stitution was undoubtedly the superior in the number of 
 guns and men. She carried fifty-four guns and four hun- 
 dred and eighty men composed her crew, of whom nine 
 were killed and twenty-five wounded. The Java, despite 
 her rating as a thirty-eight, carried forty-seven guns and 
 four hundred and twenty-six men, out of which she lost 
 sixty killed and one hundred and one wounded. 
 
 The next morning the Java was blown up, and the Con- 
 stitution was so Uttle injured that she was in readiness to 
 begin another action if it were necessary. Both captains 
 were now dangerously ill, and poor young Lieutenant Ayl- 
 win had died from severe wounds only a few hours after 
 the Java had struck her flag. Under Bainbridge's direction 
 everything was done that could possibly help to the com- 
 fort of the wounded prisoners, and it was decided to land 
 them all under parole at Bahia. 
 
 Just before the landing, when the English captain was 
 
i66 
 
 COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 brought up on deck, Bainbridge, supported by surgeon 
 Evans and Lieutenant Shubrick, approached the cot 
 upon which Lambert lay. Placing the 
 sword that had been surrendered to him 
 beside the suffering man, he leaned over 
 him, and with great emotion spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 " I return your sword, my dear sir, 
 with my sincerest wish that you will recover 
 and wear it, as you have hitherto done, with 
 honor to yourself and to your country." 
 
 Lambert murmured his thanks, and 
 grasped Bainbridge's hand in his feeble 
 fingers. 
 
 General Hislop presented to Bainbridge 
 a handsome sword, not in surrender, but in 
 token of gratitude for his conduct and treat- 
 ment of those unfortunates whom the fate 
 of war had placed in his keeping. 
 
 The cordial relations established be- 
 tween Bainbridge and the Governor Gen- 
 eral were of a lasting character, and the 
 latter was always proud to speak of the 
 American captain as his friend. 
 Il When the Constitution arrived off San 
 
 Salvador she found the little Hornet still 
 maintaining the blockade of the port, and 
 there Bainbridge left her. As the Essex 
 had failed to keep her rendezvous, he 
 deemed it best to return to the United 
 Sword presented States, and so he set sail on the 6th of Tanu- 
 
 to Bainbridge ^ --^ , , «■ t r n • 
 
 by Gen. Hislop. ^^y, 1813. On the 27th of the followmg 
 month he arrived in Boston, and from a pa- 
 per published two days after his arrival the following ex- 
 tract is taken: 
 
b. y 
 
 -■'^-:uj^lt^i^n-,\f-s 
 
 Bainbridge's reception at Boston. 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 167 
 
 " Captain Bainbridge landed at the Long Wharf amid 
 loud acclamations and roaring of the cannon from the 
 shore. All the way from the end of the pier to the Ex- 
 change Coffee House was decorated with colors and 
 streamers. 
 
 A procession was formed in Faneuil Hall by Major 
 Tilden and was escorted by the Boston Light Infantry 
 and the Winslow Blues. Decorations and streamers were 
 strung across State Street, while the windows and the 
 tops of the houses were filled with spectators. Captain 
 Bainbridge was distinguished by his noble figure and 
 by his walking uncovered. On his right hand was the 
 veteran Captain Rodgers, and on his left Brigadier-General 
 Welles; then followed the brave Captain Hull, Colonel 
 Blake, and a number of officers and citizens. But the 
 crowd was so immense that it was difficult to keep the 
 order of the processions. The band of music in the bal- 
 cony of the State Bank and the music of the New England 
 Guards had a ffiie effect. 
 
 On the 2d of March a splendid public dinner was 
 given in the Exchange Coffee House to Captain Bain- 
 bridge and his officers. The procession was formed at 
 Faneuil Hall and was escorted amid the applause of the 
 citizens by a battalion composed of the Boston Light In- 
 fantry and the Winslow Blues, commanded by Colonel 
 Sargeant. Before sitting down to the table the blessing 
 of Almighty God was asked in a most impressive manner 
 by the Rev. ^Ir. HoUey." 
 
 Although the victory over the Java was the culmi- 
 nating deed of Commodore Bainbridge's career, he lived to 
 serve his country longer, and the results of his good judg- 
 ment and nautical skill in the building of navy-yard docks 
 and in the revision of the signal code were of great value to 
 
 the service. 
 
 From his example many young officers profited, and 
 
COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 from the teachings of his life those now Hving can learn 
 the proper meaning of patriotism. His last words, spoken 
 in delirium, were an index to his character. " Call all 
 hands," cried he, rising in his bed, " and prepare to board 
 the enemy! " 
 
 THE END. 
 
^v-^ 
 
 ! 
 
 ^