Combat· First Barbary War
Loss of USS Philadelphia
The single worst American disaster of the Barbary War.
On 31 October 1803, while chasing a Tripolitan vessel close inshore, the frigate USS Philadelphia under Captain William Bainbridge ran hard aground on a reef off Tripoli. Unable to float her off and under fire from gunboats swarming out from the harbor, Bainbridge was forced to surrender the ship and her entire company, including the Marine detachment. The Tripolitans later worked the frigate free and brought her into the harbor as a prize, a powerful warship now in enemy hands and a humiliation for the United States. Bainbridge, his officers, his crew, and his Marines were held prisoner by the Pasha for the rest of the war, released only when the treaty was concluded; as McClellan put it, the Marines were freed with the others. The loss set the stage for the daring raid that would destroy the captured frigate a few months later.
Podcast episodes on First Barbary War
Record no. 198