following language of
his biographer--the burning of the frigate Philadelphia.

Decatur had been sent out from the United States, in the Argus, to join
Commodore Preble's squadron before Tripoli. He exchanged this vessel
with Lieutenant Hull for the Enterprise.

After making that exchange, he proceeded to Syracuse, where the squadron
was to rendezvous. On his arrival at that port, he was informed of the
fate of the frigate Philadelphia, which had run aground on the Barbary
coast, and fallen into the hands of the Tripolitans. The idea
immediately presented itself to his mind of attempting her recapture or
destruction. On Commodore Preble's arrival, a few days afterwards, he
proposed to him a plan for the purpose, and volunteered his services to
execute it. The wary mind of that veteran officer at first disapproved
of an enterprise so full of peril; but the risks and difficulties that
surrounded it, only stimulated the ardour of Decatur, and imparted to it
an air of adventure, fascinating to his youthful imagination.

[Illustration: COMMODORE PREBLE.]

The consent of the commodore having been obtained, Lieutenant Decatur
selected for the expedition a ketch (the Intrepid) which he had captured
a few weeks before from the enemy, and manned her with seventy
volunteers, chiefly from his own crew. He sailed from Syracuse on the 3d
of February, 1804, accompanied by the United States brig Syren,
Lieutenant Stewart, who was to aid with his boats, and to receive the
crew of the ketch, in case it should be found expedient to use her as a
fire ship.

After fifteen days of very tempestuous weather, they arrived at the
harbor of Tripoli, a little before sunset. It had been arranged between
Lieutenants Decatur and Stewart, that the ketch should enter the harbor
about ten o'clock that night, attended by the boats of the Syren. On
arriving off the harbor, the Syren, in consequence of a change of wind,
had been thrown six or eight miles without the Intrepid. The wind at
this time was fair, but fast declining, and Lieutenant Decatur
apprehended that, should he wait for the Syren's boats to come up, it
might be fatal to the enterprise, as they could not remain longer on the
coast, their provisions being nearly exhausted. For these reasons he
determined to venture into the harbor alone, which he did about eight
o'clock.

An idea may be formed of the extreme hazard of the enterprise from the
situation of the frigate. She was moored wit