Naval Success on the Shores of Tripoli

Our reader’s painting, 20th century, 31.5” x 28”, sent by a former servicemember – U.S. Marine, DF – brought a tear to my eye. This is a painting of a tall ship by an amateur. It is signed in Arabic, rendered in a talented copyist style, and depicts the USS Philadelphia, a warship built between 1788 and 1799. She was a 1,240-ton, 36-gun frigate commissioned in April 1800 under the command of Stephen Decatur Sr.

Here’s why this painting is important to DF, and why it is a fine example of the power of a work of art to fuse the past, present, and future into one image. DF is a Marine who knows what historical event transpired on the “Shores of Tripoli,” understands that the battle for this ship and its crew marked the first time the American flag was raised over foreign soil – the very first battle and victory by the U.S., executed by the fledgling Marine Corps. The conflict was America’s first foreign engagement. Waged against the Ottoman Empire’s state-sponsored piracy, it was a war fought over the free flow of commerce, with bad actors seizing money, men, and ships on the seas between Gibraltar and Turkey.

Here’s why this ship became a symbol of endurance for both the Marines and the United States. In 1801, the Ottoman Empire’s ruler, Pasha Yusuf Karamanli, demanded a large tribute from the third U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson, in exchange for protecting commerce and preventing the enslavement of sailors trading along the Barbary Coast, primarily in northern Libya. Jefferson refused and sent the USS Philadelphia. This action marked the beginning of the First Barbary War (1801–1805). Much tragedy ensued, but the result was that the Regency of Tripoli, under the Ottoman Empire, was defeated by the U.S. Navy – remarkably in just the 25th year of the United States’ formal recognition as a country (the U.S. declared independence in 1776; the Treaty of Paris recognized it in 1783). Thus, this painting of the ship represents, to DF, the fledgling U.S. Navy and Marine’s first show of bravery and strength.

Here’s why this frigate holds much the same status as a fallen U.S. war hero. Sailing close to Tripoli Harbor in 1803, the frigate was captured by Barbary Coast (North African) pirates along with 307 U.S. Navy sailors and officers on board, with the intent to enslave them and seize the vessel. Pursued, the frigate ran aground on a reef, where Commander William Bainbridge ordered holes drilled into her hull, magazines flooded, and weapons thrown overboard in an attempt to sink her. The ship was too fine to become a spoil of war for the Ottoman Empire.

Three days later, Tripolitan pirates managed to refloat the damaged vessel. The captured U.S. Navy sailors vowed to recapture the frigate. Escaping imprisonment, they captured a local North African ketch and, with only 83 Marines, stealthily boarded the USS Philadelphia under cover of darkness, burning her to nothingness in Tripoli Harbor. From England, Lord Horatio Nelson wrote that the destruction of the captured  Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor by Lieutenant Stephen Decatur and his crew was “the most bold and daring act of the age.”

So brave were the 83 Marines that the Ottoman Empire was ultimately forced to sign a treaty of peace between the United States and the subjects of Tripoli of Barbary, ruled by the Ottoman Empire since 1551. Marine officers to this day carry a ceremonial weapon modeled after the sword given to Marine officer Presley O’Bannon by Hamet Pasha in recognition of his bravery – the Mameluke sword. No longer would North African corsairs roam the Barbary Coast seizing treasure and enslaving captives.

DF, a Marine who served for nine years, was asked why this painting was so precious. He wrote: “This story is near and dear to me. The Libyan people, during the Barbary Wars beginning in 1801, fought beside the U.S. Navy. They fought against the Ottoman warlords alongside American forces to free themselves from piracy and to free the 307 men of the USS Philadelphia. The Libyan people buried our dead and, to this day, stand guard over them. Throughout their own 220 years of a troubled past, they have protected those U.S. graves. They are an honorable and hospitable people. To have a work of art depicting that history, painted by an artist born and raised in Tripoli in the 20th century – and to have that artist paint this frigate on those very shores… well, it doesn’t get much better than that.” Nobly written, DF.

DF would like to offer this painting to another lover of U.S. maritime history. If any of my readers are interested in a purchase, please email me at [email protected].