Historickal Wash, Rinse and Repeat

On this day in 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur led a daring raid on the harbor at Tripoli and burned the frigate U.S.S. Philadelphia, captured by the Moors the previous October. Here is the Naval Historical Center's description of the raid.

The Philadelphia had run aground outside the harbor's mouth under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, who later commanded the U.S.S. Constitution in her famous combat with H.M.S. Java, a battle beautifully described in Patrick O'Brian's The Fortune of War.

According to Richard Zack's recent book The Barbary Coast: Thomas Jefferson, The First Marines and the Secret Mission of 1805, Bainbridge had no business abandoning the Philadelphia when she grounded, as she floated free by herself within a few hours, thus allowing the Triptolitans to tow her in. Needless to say, this takes nothing away from the heroism of Decatur and his men in putting an end to Tripoli's embarrasing and potentially dangerous possession of her.