USS Intrepid

“ If the accident had its rise on board the ketch, it probably occurred in the attempt to take this preliminary step.
But the Intrepid may have been blown up, by means of a shot from the enemy. This is the most probable solution of the catastrophe, and the one which is the most consoling to the friends of the sufferers, and which ought to be the most satisfactory to the nation. Commodore Preble says, “on entering the harbor several shot were fired at her (the Intrepid) from the batteries.” ”

“ It really seems very wonderful. How the crews of the two ships ever got away is almost beyond imagination.’ Lieutenant Bonham-Carter, after running Intrepid into the canal bank, ordered his crew away in the boats, and blew her up himself. He then escaped on a Carley float, a kind of patent buoy which lights a flare when it takes the water. Very fortunately, Intrepid was still smoking and the smoke partially hid both him and his flare. ”

“ Of all the officers and men who formed Intrepid’s ship’s company (and never surely was a ship’s name more happily chosen) , only one man, Stoker Petty Officer H. L. Palliser, was killed.
H.M.S. Iphigenia, the third of the blockships to enter the harbour under heavy shrapnel fire, followed in the wake of the Intrepid. The steam-pipe of her syren was severed, enveloping the bridge in steam and rendered navigation no easy matter. She rammed a dredger with a barge in tow, crashed clear, and drove the barge ahead of her into the canal. ”

“ In Feb. 1852 a larger Arctic expedition of five ships was fitted out and placed under the command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher [q. v.] . Two of the ships had auxiliary steam power, and McClintock was given the command of one of these, the Intrepid, which was officially described as tender to the Resolute, Capt. Kellett, under whose immediate orders he was. The Intrepid wintered on the south side of Melville Island, whence many sledge expeditions were sent out. ”

“ The suspicions of the Tripolitans, however, were not aroused, and when they hailed the Intrepid, the pilot answered that they had lost their anchors in a gale, and asked that they might run a warp to the frigate and ride by her. While the talk went on the Intrepid's boat shoved off with the rope, and pulling to the fore-chains of the Philadelphia, made the line fast. A few of the crew then began to haul on the lines, and thus the Intrepid was drawn gradually toward the frigate. ”

“ The frigate Philadelphia, now the Pasha's prize ship, lay at anchor in the harbor, and the Intrepid slowly drifted toward her in the light of the new moon. No one on ship or shore realized the real purpose of the slowly-moving Intrepid. Had the men at the forts on shore or the watchman at the Pasha's castle suspected her purpose they could have blown her from the water with their heavy guns.
The Intrepid drifted closer and closer, with her crew hidden, except for six or eight men dressed as Maltese sailors. Decatur stood by the pilot at the helm. ”

“ However, nothing came in sight, and on the seventh day—a Thursday it was—according to my orders, I fetched Intrepid No. 2 back to the anchorage off Sheikh Hill, and found the Intrepid herself anchored there, with my chum's boat already alongside.
I made fast to her, and immediately began the job of filling up with coal, water, and provisions; whilst the crews of the two cutters went inboard in order to get a good meal and a comfortable sleep whilst their boats were being revictualled. Sleep in a cutter crammed with gear is not a success. ”

“ On the 4th of September, commodore Preble, in order to try new experiments of annoyance, determined to send a fireship into the enemy’s harbor. The Intrepid was fitted out for this service, being filled with powder, shells, and other combustible materials. Captain Somers, who had often been the emulous rival of Decatur in the career of glory, was appointed to conduct her in, having for his associates in the hazardous enterprise lieutenants Wadsworth and Israel, all volunteers. The Argus, Vixen, and Nautilus, were to convey the Intrepid as far as the mouth of the harbor. ”

“ In this climate we can trap almost the whole year round. We can start putting them out in a few days more—keep them out clear till June. Every year a ship—the Intrepid that you've likely heard of—touches here to buy my furs—just one trip a year—and it leaves here supplies of all kinds in exchange. But don't take hope from that. Hope is one thing you want to get out of your systems. The captain of the Intrepid and his Japanese crew are the only human beings that know I live here, except yourself—that know there's a human occupant on this island. ”

“ I have obtained the honor of taking charge of this expedition, and I wish my boat manned by four men who would rather die than be captured; for the pirates are short of gunpowder, and they can get no more from Europe, so that unless they capture this, it will be easy work to reduce them next spring, when we shall take another and a last whack at them. But—the Intrepid must not be captured! The commodore, on this condition only, gave it me. I do not disguise from you that the enterprise is one full of danger, but fuller of glory. No man shall be ordered to go ”

“ Mason, James Murray, Confederate Commissioner to England, in company with John Slidell, sails in the blockade-runner Theodora, iv. 141; arrives at Cardenas, Cuba, and proceeds to Havana, ib.; sails in the Trent for St. Thomas, 143; is taken off the Trent and carried into Boston, 147–149; he and Slidell are released, 156. Mastico, Tripolitan ketch, captured by Decatur, i. 346; he sails in it to fire the Philadelphia, 348–356; its name changed to the Intrepid, 358. See Intrepid. Mathews, Jack, an old man-of-war tar, on the ironclad Essex, gallant conduct of, iv. ”

“ Sixty-two men of the Enterprise were taken. The officers were Decatur, commanding; Lieutenants [136] Lawrence, Bainbridge, and Thorn, and Midshipman Macdonough, all of the Enterprise; Midshipmen Izard, Morris, Laws, Davis, and Rowe of the Constitution, and Salvador Catalano as pilot. Nearly two months from the inception had been spent in maturing the plans, and on the evening of February 3d the Intrepid and Siren sailed together from Syracuse and were off Tripoli on the 7th. A gale of wind drove them to sea, and it was not until the 16th that they were again off Tripoli. ”

“ Every man who took part in it would be in great danger of death. But that danger did not give much trouble to bold young Decatur, who was as ready to fight as he was to eat. [114]
What was the commodore's plan, do you ask? Well, it was this. Some time earlier the Enterprise had captured the Mastico, a vessel from Tripoli. Preble gave this craft the new name of the Intrepid and proposed to send it into the harbor. The Moors did not know of its capture and would not suspect it, and thus it might get up close to the Philadelphia. ”

“ A short time before this, Decatur had captured a small vessel, known as a ketch. As this kind of boat was common here, nobody would suspect her.
The little craft, now named the Intrepid, was soon loaded with all kinds of things that would catch fire easily.
On board the Enterprise on the afternoon of February 3, 1803, the order was, "All hands to muster!"
"I want sixty-one men out of this ship's crew," said Decatur, "to leave to-morrow in the Intrepid, to help destroy the Philadelphia. Let each man who wants to go take two steps ahead." ”

“ It was an enterprise likely to be attended by the destruction of all engaged in it, but volunteers were not lacking. Master-Commandant Richard Somers, Decatur's bosom friend, was in charge and Midshipman Henry Wadsworth, uncle of the poet Longfellow, was second in command. Midshipman Joseph Israel also managed to get on the ketch unobserved, and was permitted to remain. The crew consisted of ten seamen from the Nautilus and the Constitution, all volunteers. The fate of these gallant men was never known, except that it is certain that they all perished upon the explosion of the Intrepid. ”

“ Out ring three good American cheers above the crackling roar of fire and the thunder of cannonade.
The flames now have mounted the frigate’s rigging turning night into day. The Intrepid is clearly disclosed to the enemy gunners. From every direction shot converge on the little ship. Out are run sixteen great sweeps. Strong men, willing galley slaves for an hour, double-bank their handles. Their long blades churn the waters into foam. Away she races through the shell splashes.
From an old painting Chase of the Constitution
From the painting by John W. Jarvis Edward Preble ”

“ Some Navy admirals had recently remarked that the 'Pacific Fleet belongs in San Diego!' If the Japanese should sink one ship in Pearl Harbor (the so-called Mouse Trap) , they could bottle up the entire fleet. Now, with the Pacific Fleet crippled, there could be no rescue attempt. For several years we had been aware that in the event of an invasion, all our defending military forces would hole-up on the Bataan Peninsula, where supplies and equipment had previously been stored, until the U.S. Navy, the most powerful in the world, could come to our rescue (Orange Plan-WPO III) . ”

“ Admiral von Tirpitz was perhaps not serious when he intimated to the representative of the United Press of America that German submarines might be instructed to torpedo all trading vessels of the Allies which approach the British coasts. The first duty of a ship of war which proposes to sink an enemy vessel is admittedly, before so doing, to provide for the safety of all its occupants, which (except in certain rare eventualities) can only be secured by their being taken on board of the warship. A submarine has obviously no space to spare for such an addition to its own staff. ”

“ There are those two gunners on the transport Antilles who stood serving their gun until the ship sank and carried them down. There is the freighter Silver-Shell whose gun crew fought and sank the submarine that attacked the ship, and the gun crews of the Moreni, the Campana, and the J.L. Luckenback—indomitable heroes all. There is Osmond Kelly Ingram, who saved the Cassin and lost his life. There is the glorious page contributed [Pg 25] to our naval annals, by the officers and crew of the San Diego. History indeed is in the making—history that Americans are proud to read. ”

“ And while the canal has lightened our strategic difficulties in that our battle fleet can now reach San Francisco from the Caribbean in a fourth of the time it took the Oregon to make her celebrated passage from San Francisco to Key West, there is upon us the heavy burden of the defence of the isthmus, its position being in effect insular. It can only remain in our hands by our controlling the sea. Fortifications assist in its defence for the time being, but should we go to war it must finally go into the hands of the power with a superior navy. ”

“ The United States Navy appears to have figured chiefly through its destroyer fleet. It has been stated that half the number of sailors who were in the navy when we entered the war [Pg 137] were sent to European waters. The system of training them involves a number of training-bases in Europe constantly filling up from American drafts. Each new destroyer that steams to Europe from our shores in due course sends back some of her men to form a nucleus for the crew of another new destroyer turning up in American waters. Their places are taken by drafts from the training-bases in Europe. ”

“ Our transport service is adequate for our present needs, but in the event of a new war, which might require us to send an enlarged army over seas, we are practically no better prepared than in 1898; for there are no more ships in the merchant marine carrying the United States flag which could be drafted into service than were in commission then. There are practically no American ships in trans-oceanic service outside those of the government. ”

“ These facts have not only been made clear by official Navy Department statements, but have been attested to by many British and French Admiralty and Government authorities and naval commanders.
"You doubtless know," wrote Admiral Sims to the Secretary of the Navy some time ago, "that all of the Allies here with whom I am associated are very much impressed by the efforts now being made by the United States Navy Department to oppose the submarine and protect merchant shipping. I am very [Pg 10] glad to report that our forces are more than coming up to expectations." ”

“ The navy has risen to the exacting demands imposed upon it by the war, and it will certainly be a source of pride to the American people to know that within ten months of the time that this new force was created, in spite of the many obstacles in the way of its accomplishment, an American naval vessel, manned by an American naval crew, left an American port on the average of every five hours, carrying subsistence and equipment so vital to the American Expeditionary Force. ”

“ No nation with a long sea frontier and important interests abroad should be without the means of protecting both, and for this an adequate naval force is essential. For the United States this dangerous condition no longer exists. Stirring appeals by successive Secretaries of the Navy have at last roused the nation to action. With a marvellous energy, of which an example was afforded in the last Civil War, America has developed during the last few years everything necessary for the construction and equipment of a modern fleet. ”