March 24, 2020
To the Shores of Tripoli E36: The Flames That Lit the Harbor
Last week, we saw the humiliating surrender of the Philadelphia. After running aground, Captain Bainbridge and his crew struggled for hours to free the ship, but their efforts were pointless. Faced with no escape, they were forced to surrender to the Tripolitans. The crew, including 38 Marines, was taken captive. Some resisted, including Bainbridge himself, who fought off a pirate attempting to steal a locket from his neck. Stripped of their belongings, the prisoners were marched through Tripoli as crowds jeered and spat at them. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia, once a symbol of American power, was now in enemy hands. But the war was far from over.
References
- A journal, of the captivity and sufferings of John Foss. (n.d.). Christian-Muslim Relations 1500 - 1900. doi: 10.1163/2451-9537_cmrii_com_27678
- Allison, R. (2014). The Crescent Obscured The United States and the Muslim World, 1776-1815. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Baepler, P. M. (1999). White slaves, African masters: an anthology of American barbary captivity narratives. Chicago (Ill.): University of Chicago Press.
- Fisher, G. (1974). Barbary legend: war, trade, and piracy in North Africa, 1415-1830. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
- Fremont-Barnes, G. (2006). The wars of the Barbary pirates: to the shores of Tripoli: the rise of the Us Navy and Marines. Oxford, UK: Osprey Pub.
- Hill, Frederic Stanhope. Twenty-Six Historic Ships; the Story of Certain Famous Vessels of War and of Their Successors in the Navies of the United States and of the Confederate States of America from 1775 to 1902. G.P. Putnams Sons, 1903.
- Irwin, R. W. (1931). The Diplomatic Relations of the United States with the Barbary Powers, 1776-1816. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
- Kilmeade, B., & Yaeger, D. (2018). Thomas Jefferson And The Tripoli Pirates: the forgotten war that changed american history. Place of publication not identified: PORTFOLIO PENGUIN.
- Lane-Poole, S., & Kelley, J. D. J. (1894). The Barbary corsairs. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
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