A BURST of flame, searing the darkened harbor of Tripoli on a black night in 1804, is seemingly the last vestige of evidence in the death of Captain Richard Somers.
The end of that gallant officer and his followers aboard the powder-laden ketch Intrepid, which weighed for the Corsair stronghold, only to fade into darkness and vanish in a distant sheet of fire, has long been a mystery. It has been surmised that the vessel, which was to have been blown up in the midst of the Bashaws’ fleet, then blockaded in the harbor by Commodore Preble’s squadron, was destroyed by accident, or in an overwhelming attack by Tripolitans. Preble and his officers, however, believed that Somers, in order to prevent the capture of the vast quantity of explosives in her hold, leaped into the cockpit during a fierce but hopeless fight and applied the torch himself, thus hurling friend and foe alike to eternity. This is the most dramatic—and naturally the most popular— belief of tradition-loving Americans, and is, indeed, thoroughly in keeping with the character of the heroic commander. That Somers immolated himself and his devoted little band of volunteers rather than allow their precious cargo to fall into enemy hands, has never been positively substantiated; only the bodies of brave men, washed ashore in the shadow of an ancient Roman arch, and bits of wreckage floating over the scene of the Intrepid’s exit mutely attest a courageous though futile expedition.
There is a document, however, which tends to crystallize the early opinions of Preble and Decatur. This is a letter written in January, 1805, to Commodore Preble by General William Eaton, then United States Navy Agent to the Barbary Regencies.
Eaton, it will be remembered, was that venturesome soldier and diplomat who formed a band of mutinous nomad Arabs, renegade Greeks, and cut-throat Turks which he marched and browbeat 600 miles across the blazing desert of Barca in 1805 to capture the fortified city of Derne, citadel of the largest province in Tripoli. Prior to this remarkable expedition, which compares favorably to some of Thomas Lawrence’s exploits in the World War, Eaton went to Egypt to make his preparations for the campaign. Early in the Tripolitan War, when he was American Consul to Tunis, he had conceived a plan to depose the usurping Bashaw of Tripoli, Jussuf Karamanli, and establish his brother, Hamet, the rightful ruler, on the throne. This could be accomplished only by land cooperation with the American squadron then blockading the Corsair navy, and Commodore Samuel Barron, when lie relieved Preble of the command, authorized the project. At this time Hamet had taken refuge among the Mamelukes in Egypt and Eaton sought him there.
At Cairo he sent couriers after the fugitive Bashaw and proceeded to Dcmanhour where he went among the Tripolitan emigres to recruit Hamet sympathizers for his tatterdemalion army. Here he made the acquaintance of a recent fugitive from Tripoli, whom he questioned closely. During the conversation the man spoke of the destruction of the Intrepid.
The following extract from Eaton’s letter to Preble written the day after the interview, and headed, “Egypt, Province of Behera, Village of Demanhour, January 25, 1805,” throws an interesting light on the subject.
I busied myself in finding out the Tripolitan emigrants in this country, their attachment to the rival brothers and their feelings towards Americans. Among these one appeared who was only ninety days from Tripoli; an Arnaut Turk, who had been in the service of Joseph (Jussuf) Bashaw during the blockade last summer, whom I had under particular examination. Supposing himself to be conversing with an Englishman, he was unreserved in his confessions, and, being decidedly in the interest of the enemy . . . . his story deserves the more credit. He said Tripoli had lost many men in the attacks of the Americans last summer . . . . He confirmed, the account of the fire ship "Infernal" (Intrepid) being blown up by Captain Somers after having been boarded by two row galleys.1
This brief contribution of Eaton’s to the long mooted question of Somers’ fate, coming, so to speak, from the enemy’s camp, seems, to the writer at least, to strongly support the popular version of that heroic officer’s final decision and last mortal moment.
1Writer’s italics.