within the month; and although Preble knew that Barron was near at hand with a strong reinforcement, August 29 he carried his flotilla a fourth time into the harbor, and again threw several hundred solid shot into the town. A fifth bombardment, the heaviest of all, took place early in September. In these affairs, so poor was the Tripolitan gunnery or courage that the Americans suffered almost no loss beyond that of a few spars. The only serious disaster, besides the death of James Decatur, was never explained. Preble, wishing to try the effect of a fireship, on the night of September 4 sent one of his best officers, Lieutenant Somers, into the harbor with the ketch “Intrepid” filled with powder, bombs, and shell. The “Argus,” “Vixen,” and “Nautilus” escorted Somers to shoal water, and waited for him to rejoin them in his boats. They saw the batteries fire upon him; then they heard a sudden and premature explosion. All night the three cruisers waited anxiously outside, but Somers never returned. He and his men vanished; no vestige or tidings of them could ever be found. Considering Preble’s narrow means, the economy of the Department, and the condition of his small vessels, nothing in American naval history was more creditable than the vigor of his blockade in the summer of 1804; but he could not confidently assert that any number of such attacks would force the Pacha to make peace. A week after the loss of Somers in the “Intrepid” Commodore Samuel Barron arrived, bringing with him nearly the whole available navy of the United States, and relieved Preble from the command. Preble returned home, and was rewarded for his services by a gold medal from Congress. Two years afterward he died of consumption. Barron had with him such a force as the United States never before or since sent in hostile array across the ocean,--two forty-fours, the “Constitution” and the “President;” two thirty-eight gun frigates, the “Constellation” and the “Congress;” the “Essex,” of thirty-two guns; the new brigs, “Hornet” of eighteen, and the “Syren” and “Argus” of sixteen; the twelve-gun schooners “Vixen,” “Nautilus,” and “Enterprise;” ten new, well-built American gunboats; and two bomb-vessels. With the exception of the frigates “Chesapeake” and “United States,” hardly a sea-going vessel was left at home. Commanded by young officers like John Rodgers and Stephen Decatur, Chauncey, Stewart, and Isaac Hull, such a squadron reflected credit on Robert Smith’s administration of the navy.