Combat· First Barbary War
Fifth Attack on Tripoli
On September 3, 1804, Edward Preble's squadron made a fifth attack on the town and harbor of Tripoli.
For the attack, Captain Isaac Chauncey and sixty men from the John Adams volunteered on board the frigate Constitution. In the afternoon the gunboats advanced against the enemy's galleys and gunboats in the eastern part of the harbor while the bomb vessels bombarded the town. The enemy craft retreated within the rocks under cover of musketry from Fort English. One division of gunboats, with the brigs and schooners, then attacked Fort English while the other engaged the galleys and boats. To draw fire from the exposed bomb vessels, the Constitution ran in and fired eleven broadsides into the Bashaw's castle, town and batteries, within reach of more than seventy guns. About fifty shells were thrown into the town, and the boats fired four hundred round shot. Bomb vessel No. 1 was disabled and nearly sank, but was towed off. Marines participated in this bombardment.
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Record no. 901