heavy shot flew in at the
window of the cell in which Capt. Bainbridge was confined, and
striking the wall, brought down stones and mortar upon him as he lay
in bed, so that he was seriously bruised. But the American captain was
in no way daunted, and the next day wrote in sympathetic ink to
Preble, telling him to keep up his fire, for the Tripolitans were
greatly harassed by it.

On Sept. 3, yet another attack upon the town and fortress was made. As
in the foregoing instances, nothing was accomplished except the
throwing of a vast quantity of shot and shell. Capt. Bainbridge, in a
secret letter to Preble, reported, that of the shells he had seen
falling in the city very few exploded, and the damage done by them was
therefore very light. Preble investigated the matter, and found that
the fuse-holes of many of the shells had been stopped with lead, so
that no fire could enter. The shells had been bought in Sicily, where
they had been made to resist a threatened invasion by the French. It
is supposed that they had been thus ruined by French secret agents.

But, before this time, Commodore Preble, and the officers under his
command, had about reached the conclusion that Tripoli could not be
reduced by bombardment. Accordingly they cast about for some new
method of attack. The plan that was finally adopted proved unfortunate
in this instance, just as similar schemes for the reduction of
fortresses have prove futile throughout all history. Briefly stated,
the plan was to send a fire-ship, or rather a floating mine, into the
harbor, to explode before the walls of the fortress, and in the midst
of the enemy's cruisers.

The ketch "Intrepid," which had carried Decatur and his daring
followers out of the harbor of Tripoli, leaving the "Philadelphia"
burning behind them, was still with the fleet. This vessel was chosen,
and with all possible speed was converted into an "infernal," or
floating mine. "A small room, or magazine, had been planked up in the
hold of the ketch, just forward of her principal mast," writes
Fenimore Cooper. "Communicating with this magazine was a trunk, or
tube, that led aft to another room filled with combustibles. In the
planked room, or magazine, were placed one hundred barrels of
gunpowder in bulk; and on the deck, immediately above the powder, were
laid fifty thirteen-and-a-half-inch shells, and one hundred nine-inch
shells, with a large quantity of shot, pieces of kentledge, and
fragments of iron