The Shining Sea by George C. Daughan Read Free Book Online Page B

up would have been the proper result. I thought such conduct would not stand acquitted before God or man, and I never presumed to think I had the liberty of putting to death the lives of 306 souls because they were placed under my command.”
    Before surrendering, Bainbridge ordered all the arms thrown overboard, the magazine drowned, and the signal books and everything else of value to the enemy destroyed. He also ordered the ship’s carpenter to smash the pumps, bore holes in the hull, and scuttle the ship. He forgot to get rid of his personal papers, however, which the bashaw eventually retrieved and gleaned important information from, particularly about Preble’s fleet.
    Unfortunately, Bainbridge’s humiliations were not over. The Tripolitans did not react to the colors coming down, so he was forced to send Porter and Midshipman James Biddle over to the gunboats under a white flag of truce and inform them that the Philadelphia had surrendered. When the two officers pulled alongside the lead gunboat, “Nearly twenty men of ferocious appearance, armed with sabers, pistols and muskets, jumped into the boat and at once commenced their work of insult and plunder,” Porter reported. “Two of them snatched Mr. Biddle’s sword, pulled off his coat, and began to fight for it, until at length, probably to decide their dispute, they returned it to him. His cravats were violently torn from his neck, his waistcoat and shirt opened, and his breast exposed, for the purpose, as he very naturally inferred, of perpetuating their horrid vengeance, though their intention, it appeared, was only to search for valuables that he might have concealed about his person. They searched all his pockets and took all his papers and money, except twenty dollars in gold which he had slipped into his boots and thereby secured.”
    Around six P.M., the Tripolitans swarmed aboard the frigate, robbing the sailors and officers of everything except the clothes on their backs—and they even ripped off some of those. During the evening, when they could plunder no more, the Tripolitans dragged the officers and crew ashore to the palace gates. The bashaw was understandably pleased to see them, for they represented a great deal of ransom money.
    To add to Porter’s misery and shame, the Philadelphia did not sink. The ship’s carpenter had not succeeded in scuttling her. The pumps,which were supposed to have been made inoperable, actually continued working. The Tripolitans stopped up the holes. The frigate remained where she was, heeled over to port, stuck on the reef. But forty hours later, her tragedy was compounded immeasurably when a strong westerly wind brought on a violent storm and a high sea that allowed the Tripolitans, after a mighty effort, to float her off the reef and bring her into Tripoli Harbor, where they repaired her. The frigate’s guns were also retrieved, and when cleaned (which they easily were), the bashaw had a fearsome 36-gun warship to sell or operate, as he chose, along with 307 Americans to ransom.
    For Bainbridge, the defeat was shattering.“If my professional character be blotched,” he wrote to his wife, Susan, “—if an attempt be made to taint my honor—if I am censured, if it does not kill me, it would at least deprive me of the power of looking any of my race in the face.” Porter was deeply affected as well. As the years passed, he vowed that if he were ever in similar circumstances, he would never surrender.
    Both Bainbridge and Porter were understandably concerned about Commodore Preble’s reaction to their decisions. They knew he would be furious. Bainbridge had not only lost a frigate and all her men, but the American squadron—pathetically weak to begin with—was now reduced by another 30 percent, making it impossible for Preble to accomplish his mission. Adding to his chagrin was the fact that the frigate had been captured intact and could