. Our navy and the Barbary corsairs. eating in your boats and thoseof the Siren. You must take fixed ammunition andapparatus for the frigates eighteen-pounders, and ifyou can, without risking too much, you may endeavorto make them the instruments of destruction to theshipping and Bashaws castle. You will provide allthe necessary combustibles for burning and destroy-ing ships. The destruction of the Philadelphia is anobject of great importance and I rely with confidenceon your intrepidity and enterprise to effect it. Lieu-tenant Stewart will support you with the boats ofthe Siren and cover your
. Our navy and the Barbary corsairs. eating in your boats and thoseof the Siren. You must take fixed ammunition andapparatus for the frigates eighteen-pounders, and ifyou can, without risking too much, you may endeavorto make them the instruments of destruction to theshipping and Bashaws castle. You will provide allthe necessary combustibles for burning and destroy-ing ships. The destruction of the Philadelphia is anobject of great importance and I rely with confidenceon your intrepidity and enterprise to effect it. Lieu-tenant Stewart will support you with the boats ofthe Siren and cover your retreat with that sure and set fire in the gun-room berths, cock-pit, storerooms forward and berths on the berth the ship is well on fire, point two of the eighteenpounders, shotted, down the main hatch and blow herbottom out. ^ 1 Preble, pp. 60-63 ; Mrs. Decatur, pp. 46-50. ^ For the destruction of the Philadelphia, see Decatur, ch. iv andapp. iv; Cooper, ii, ch. ii; C. Morris, pp. 25-31; Mrs. Decatur, pp. 27-. STEPHEN DECATUR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PHILADELPHIA 167 Everything being ready and the weather favorable,on February 3 Decatur mustered the crew of theEnterprise, explained the object of the expedition, andcalled for volunteers. Every officer, man, and boyimmediately stepped forward. Five officers, Lieuten-ants James Lawrence, Joseph Bainbridge, and Jona-than Thorn, Surgeon Lewis Heermann and Midship-man Thomas Macdonough, and sixty-two men, wereselected. These were joined by Midshipmen RalphIzard, John Rowe, Charles Morris, Alexander Laws,and John Davis from the Constitution ; and SalvadoreCatalano, a Sicilian pilot familiar with the harbor ofTripoli, was also taken. Catalano was afterwards formany years a sailing-master in the navy. The Siren and Intrepid sailed in the evening ofFebruary 3, and were off Tripoli on the 7th. To avoidsuspicion, the Litrepid drew ahead and anchored afterdark about a mile to the westward of the town. Badweather was ju
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