Details
PREBLE, Edward (1761-1807), Commodore, U.S. Navy, commander of the U.S. Constitution. Letter signed ("Edward Preble") to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn in Washington; "Constitution, Malta Harbour," 14 March 1804. 2½ pages, 4to. In very fine condition.
PREBLE FROM THE " CONSTITUTION" DURING THE WAR AGAINST THE BARBARY PIRATES
A superb letter written at the height of the Naval war against the Barbary states. Tripoli had declared war on the U. S. in May 1801, after President Jefferson refused to accede to demands of additional tribute payments to guarantee the safety of American merchant vessels. The Constitution, commissioned in 1798, was sent in October 1803 to the Mediterranean, as Preble's flagship. To the great mortification of the Navy and nation, Tripoli had captured the U.S. warship Philadelphia after it ran aground on the coast. Realizing that it would be impossible to recapture the vessel, Preble dispatched a raiding party, under Stephen Decatur, to enter the harbor in a captured Tripoline vessel, board the Philadelphia, set her afire, and escape. On 4 February, a month prior to this letter, the daring attack was successfully carried out, making Decatur a national hero. Here, Preble refers the Secretary of War to his report of "the affair of destroying the Tripoline Frigate (late the Philadelphia) in the Harbour of Tripoly."
While "winter is not the season for action in these seas," Preble notes, "we have not been wholly idle; for independent of burning the Frigate, I have made upwards of 70 Prisoners, some of the Officers of rank, which I hope to be able to exchange for ours. My squadron now consists of only two Brigs and three Schooners besides this ship. One of the Brigs I am obliged to keep on Gibralter Station to watch over the Moors and the Spanish Coast in case a Tripoline should slip by us in the Night in thick weather. I am very apprehensive that Tunis will ere long break with us. They are equipping a Squadron with all possible expedition: three of their Frigates from 24 to 32 Guns are fitting in this Port [Malta]; and a Frigate of 32 Guns besides several smaller vessels at Tunis; their object is said to be the American command, unless we give them a Frigate which I hope our Government will never consent to. If I have two Frigates and two Brigs sent out in addition to my present force I will so beat the Tripolines and the Tunisians if they dare to make war, that we never shall have occasion in future to pay them a cent for Peace or Tribute: this I pledge myself to do, or perish in the attempt...." He closes with the suggestion that his brother Henry might be a candidate for U.S. commercial attaché at Havre-de-Grace: "Mr. Madison knows him..."
Preble's concern that the American naval garrison in the Mediterranean was under-strength did not fall on deaf ears, and, five months after this letter, with additional warships on station, he was able to mount a series of bold and devastating retaliatory attacks on the heavily defended town and harbor of Tripoli itself, one of the most memorable early naval actions of the famed "Old Ironsides."
PREBLE FROM THE " CONSTITUTION" DURING THE WAR AGAINST THE BARBARY PIRATES
A superb letter written at the height of the Naval war against the Barbary states. Tripoli had declared war on the U. S. in May 1801, after President Jefferson refused to accede to demands of additional tribute payments to guarantee the safety of American merchant vessels. The Constitution, commissioned in 1798, was sent in October 1803 to the Mediterranean, as Preble's flagship. To the great mortification of the Navy and nation, Tripoli had captured the U.S. warship Philadelphia after it ran aground on the coast. Realizing that it would be impossible to recapture the vessel, Preble dispatched a raiding party, under Stephen Decatur, to enter the harbor in a captured Tripoline vessel, board the Philadelphia, set her afire, and escape. On 4 February, a month prior to this letter, the daring attack was successfully carried out, making Decatur a national hero. Here, Preble refers the Secretary of War to his report of "the affair of destroying the Tripoline Frigate (late the Philadelphia) in the Harbour of Tripoly."
While "winter is not the season for action in these seas," Preble notes, "we have not been wholly idle; for independent of burning the Frigate, I have made upwards of 70 Prisoners, some of the Officers of rank, which I hope to be able to exchange for ours. My squadron now consists of only two Brigs and three Schooners besides this ship. One of the Brigs I am obliged to keep on Gibralter Station to watch over the Moors and the Spanish Coast in case a Tripoline should slip by us in the Night in thick weather. I am very apprehensive that Tunis will ere long break with us. They are equipping a Squadron with all possible expedition: three of their Frigates from 24 to 32 Guns are fitting in this Port [Malta]; and a Frigate of 32 Guns besides several smaller vessels at Tunis; their object is said to be the American command, unless we give them a Frigate which I hope our Government will never consent to. If I have two Frigates and two Brigs sent out in addition to my present force I will so beat the Tripolines and the Tunisians if they dare to make war, that we never shall have occasion in future to pay them a cent for Peace or Tribute: this I pledge myself to do, or perish in the attempt...." He closes with the suggestion that his brother Henry might be a candidate for U.S. commercial attaché at Havre-de-Grace: "Mr. Madison knows him..."
Preble's concern that the American naval garrison in the Mediterranean was under-strength did not fall on deaf ears, and, five months after this letter, with additional warships on station, he was able to mount a series of bold and devastating retaliatory attacks on the heavily defended town and harbor of Tripoli itself, one of the most memorable early naval actions of the famed "Old Ironsides."