Combat· First Barbary War
Fourth Attack on Tripoli
On August 28, 1804, Commodore Edward Preble's squadron made its fourth attack on the town and harbor of Tripoli.
Captain Isaac Chauncey of the John Adams, with several of his officers and about seventy seamen and marines, volunteered for service on board the frigate Constitution. At three in the morning the gunboats, led by Captains Decatur and Somers, opened fire from within pistol shot of the rocks on the shipping, town, batteries and Bashaw's castle. At daylight the Constitution stood in under the fire of 72 guns. She sank one enemy boat, drove two more ashore disabled, and forced the rest to retreat. From musket shot of the batteries she fired upwards of three hundred round shot into the town, then hauled off after three quarters of an hour in close action. A John Adams boat in tow of the Nautilus was sunk by a shot from the batteries, killing three men and wounding one, all seamen.
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Record no. 903