A frigate like the Philadelphia was a prize the
like of which had never been seen in the Pasha's reign. He rubbed his
hands in glee and taunted her crew.

The sight of the frigate riding peacefully at anchor in the harbor was
torture to poor Bainbridge. In feverish letters he implored Preble to
bombard the town, to sink the gunboats in the harbor, to recapture
the frigate or to burn her at her moorings--anything to take away the
bitterness of humiliation. The latter alternative, indeed, Preble had
been revolving in his own mind.

Toward midnight of February 16, 1804, Bainbridge and his companions were
aroused by the guns of the fort. They sprang to the window and witnessed
the spectacle for which the unhappy captain had prayed long and
devoutly. The Philadelphia was in flames--red, devouring flames, pouring
out of her hold, climbing the rigging, licking her topmasts, forming
fantastic columns--devastating, unconquerable flames--the frigate was
doomed, doomed! And every now and then one of her guns would explode as
though booming out her requiem. Bainbridge was avenged.

How had it all happened? The inception of this daring feat must be
credited to Commodore Preble; the execution fell to young Stephen
Decatur, lieutenant in command of the sloop Enterprise. The plan
was this: to use the Intrepid, a captured Tripolitan ketch, as
the instrument of destruction, equipping her with combustibles and
ammunition, and if possible to burn the Philadelphia and other ships
in the harbor while raking the Pasha's castle with the frigate's
eighteen-pounders. When Decatur mustered his crew on the deck of the
Enterprise and called for volunteers for this exploit, every man jack
stepped forward. Not a man but was spoiling for excitement after months
of tedious inactivity; not an American who did not covet a chance to
avenge the loss of the Philadelphia. But all could not be used, and
Decatur finally selected five officers and sixty-two men. On the night
of the 3rd of February, the Intrepid set sail from Syracuse, accompanied
by the brig Siren, which was to support the boarding party with her
boats and cover their retreat.

Two weeks later, the Intrepid, barely distinguishable in the light of
a new moon, drifted into the harbor of Tripoli. In the distance lay the
unfortunate Philadelphia. The little ketch was now within range of the
batteries, but she drifted on unmolested until within a hundred yards
of the frigate. Then a hail came a