a ledge of rock that was not down on the map which he possessed. All efforts to force the _Philadelphia_ off the reef were unsuccessful, although everything was done to accomplish this; and after being subjected for five hours to the fire of numerous gunboats, a council of officers was called, and it was decided to surrender the ship as the only means of preserving the lives of her people. After this followed the long confinement, during which Bainbridge saw from his prison-cell the attempts of the American fleet under Preble to rescue him, and the destruction of the _Philadelphia_ at last. Shortly before the peace was made he was allowed to visit Preble’s fleet, under pledge of his word of honor to return, although the Bashaw exacted that he should leave a hostage. He returned to his confinement, unable to effect conclusions satisfactory to the Turk and to Commodore Preble; but in 1805 the Tripolitans gave in, the prisoners were exchanged after their nineteen months of painful captivity, and Bainbridge returned to the United States, where he was greeted with the warmest sympathy and exonerated for the loss of the _Philadelphia_ by a Court of Inquiry. After making successful cruises in various commands, Bainbridge, being in America at the time war was considered imminent between this country and England, hastened to Washington and appeared before the Cabinet, and, with Commodore Stewart, successfully urged the rehabilitation of our little navy, that, owing to the mistaken policy then in force, had been allowed to fall into sad decay. Delighted at the result, he returned to Boston, where he took command of the navy-yard at Charlestown, which position he held at the time of the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812. But, to quote from the _American Naval Biography_, by John Frost, “it is not to be supposed that one so adventurous as Bainbridge could be satisfied to remain on shore comparatively inactive when danger and glory were to be courted on the sea.” Applying for the command of a frigate, the _Constellation_, 38, was placed at his service; but his arrangements were not completed when Captain Hull arrived in Boston harbor in the _Constitution_, after his victory over the _Guerrière_. Owing to some private affairs that demanded his immediate attention, Hull was obliged to resign his command, and Bainbridge, at his own request, was transferred to “Old Ironsides.” The _Essex_ and the _Hornet_ also were placed under his orders, the former under command of Captain David Porter, and the latter under the brave Lawrence. On October 26th, 1812, the _Hornet_ and the _Constitution_ sailed out to sea, bound for the Cape Verd Islands. The _Essex_, then being in the Delaware, was ordered to join them there; but circumstances prevented her from carrying this out, although Porter did his best to find his superior officer and report.