been pleasant, the hardships endured might seriously have affected the
success of the enterprise. The five commissioned officers were crowded
in the small cabin; the midshipmen and pilot on one side, and the
seamen upon the other, were stowed like herrings upon "a platform laid
across water-casks, whose surface they completely covered when they
slept, and at so small a distance below the spar deck that their heads
would reach it when seated." To these inconveniences were added the
want of any room for exercise on deck, the attacks of innumerable
vermin which their predecessors, the slaves, had left behind them, and
(as the salted meat put on board had spoiled) the lack of anything but
biscuits to eat and water to drink.

After a voyage of six days the town was sighted, but strong winds had
rendered the entrances dangerous, and the heavy gale which came with
night drove the Americans so far to the eastward before it abated that
they found themselves fairly embayed in the Gulf of Sidra. On the
afternoon of the 16th Tripoli was once more made out; and as the wind
was light, the weather pleasant, and the sea smooth, Decatur
determined to attack that night. By arrangement the _Siren_ kept
almost out of sight during the day, and her appearance was so changed
as to lull all suspicion of her true character. The lightness of the
wind allowed the ketch to maintain the appearance of an anxious desire
to reach the harbour before night, without bringing her too near to
require any other change than the use of drags (in this case buckets
towed astern) which could not be seen from the city. The crew was kept
below, excepting six or eight persons at a time, so that inquiry might
not be awakened by unusual numbers; and such men remained on deck as
were dressed like Maltese. When the _Philadelphia_ was sighted, no
doubt was left of the hazardous nature of the attack, for she lay a
mile within the entrance, riding to the wind and abreast of the town.
Her foremast, which was cut away while on the reef, had not yet been
replaced, her main and mizzen masts were housed, and her lower yards
were on the gunwales. The lower standing rigging, however, was set up,
and her battery was loaded and shotted. She lay within short range of
the guns on the castle, on the mole-head, and in the New Fort; and
close aboard rode three Tripolitan cruisers and twenty gun-boats and
galleys. To meet and overcome this force Decatur had a few small guns
and seventy