To The Mediterranean
On September 10, Constitution was approaching Cadiz on a black, moonless night. Suddenly, the dim silhouette of a warship loomed out of the hazy darkness close aboard. Preble immediately ordered Constitution cleared for action. Taking his speaking trumpet, he asked the stranger, "What ship is that?"
The unknown ship returned the question, to which Preble responded, "This is the United States frigate Constitution. What ship is that?"
The other ship then asked again, "What ship is that?"
Preble identified himself again with "This is the United States frigate Constitution. What ship is that?"
"What ship is that?"
Preble, whose roaring temper had a very short fuse, then told the other ship to stop playing games in no uncertain terms: "I am now going to hail you for the last time. If a proper answer is not returned, I will fire a shot into you."
"If you fire a shot, I'll return a broadside," replied an Englishman on the other ship.
Preble demanded, "What ship is that?"
"This is His Britannic Majesty's 74-gun ship of the line Donegal, Sir Richard Stratchan commanding. Heave to and send a boat."
Simply put, an 74 would crush a mere frigate within a broadside or two. Surely the "old man" would have to back down.
But the Commodore wasn't having any of it. Leaping up to the mizzen shrouds, Preble roared, "This is the United States Ship Constitution, 44 guns, Edward Preble, an American Commodore, who will be damned before he sends his boat of aboard any vessel!" As he turned, staring flinty-eyed down the spar deck at the spluttering slow-burning fuses held by the gunners, he told his men, "Blow your matches, boys!"
A few minutes later, a British lieutenant came aboard from the other ship. He told Preble that the ship he had been arguing with wasn't the 74-gun ship of the line that the British had claimed; rather it was the 32-gun frigate Maidstone. Nevertheless, the story that Commodore Preble stood up to a British ship of the line was galvanizing, and it spread quickly throughout the Mediterranean.
After signing a peace treaty with Morocco, Preble established a blockade off Tripoli. Stephen Decatur, William Bainbridge, Charles Stewart, Isaac Hull, Thomas Macdonough, James Lawrence, and David Porter served under his command at Tripoli.
File:BombardmentofTripoliMicheleFeliceCorne.jpg While commanding in Tripoli, Preble masterminded the burning of the USS Philadelphia by Lieutenant Stephen Decatur on February 16, 1804, preventing the captured frigate from falling into enemy hands. Had Tripoli gained the use of the Philadelphia, the entire blockade would have been wasted. Stephen Decatur and his younger brother, James Decatur, led the actual operation.
James Decatur was killed in the fighting later that year aboard one of the squadron's attack craft.
Over the course of his career, Preble helped establish many of the modern Navy's rules and regulations. Described as a stern taskmaster, he kept high discipline upon the ships under his command. He also dictated that his ships be kept in a state of readiness for any action while under sail, something many US naval officers at the time did not insist upon. Future sea captains such as Decatur, Lawrence, and Porter took his procedures to heart at a time when the US Navy was highly unregulated. Many of Preble’s procedures became doctrine after the establishment of an official US Navy. The officers serving under him during his career also went on to become influential in the Navy Department after his death, and together they proudly wore the unofficial title of "Preble's Boys". (When Preble took over command he discovered that his oldest officer was 30 and the youngest 15 years old. He therefore grumbled the Secretary of the Navy had given him "just a pack of schoolboys".)
Preble's Mediterranean cruise led directly to the US government's firm anti-negotiation stance. Many Mediterranean states, including Tripoli, had been pirating American shipping vessels, ransoming the sailors, and demanding tribute to prevent future pirate attacks. The tribute rose after each successful payment, as did the brutality and boldness of the attacks.
Read more about this topic: Edward Preble