September 4, 1804: Bomb ketch USS Intrepid, fitted out as a fireship to destroy a flotilla of Barbary corsairs, blew up in Tripoli harbor before reaching her target. Ten men, all volunteers and including her commander Lieutenant Richard Somers, were lost. Commodore Edward Preble would later report that Intrepid was most probably boarded by Tripolitans and her crew, rather than give up their precious cargo of black powder, chose to destroy her before being able to abandon ship.
Header: Destruction of Intrepid from a contemporary engraving via Wikipedia
Ahoy, Pauline! A valiant sacrifce... I like the caption on the picture, too.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, huh? I plan to speak more indepth about Intrepid later this week.
ReplyDelete