When still some distance off, a hail from the _Philadelphia_ was answered by the pilot, who stated the vessel to be from Malta, and that her anchors having been lost in a gale, permission was asked to make fast to the ship. A sudden shift of wind brought the _Intrepid_ under the frigate’s broadside and she drifted slowly astern, exposed to the _Philadelphia’s_ port broadside at a distance of about forty yards. So completely were the Tripolitans deceived that they lowered a boat and sent a line. Some of the _Intrepid’s_ men had meanwhile got into her boat and taken one to the frigate’s fore chains (supports to the shrouds). They then took the line from the frigate’s boat which had been run from the after part of the ship and made it fast aboard the _Intrepid_. Both lines were hauled upon by the men lying down concealed on her deck. On getting near the _Philadelphia_ the _Intrepid’s_ anchors were discovered. On this, the Tripolitans prepared to cut the fasts, passing the cry of “Americanos.” A strong pull brought the _Intrepid_ alongside, “where she was secured quick as thought.” The ship was immediately boarded. The Tripolitans crowded over to the starboard side and forward, offering practically no resistance, and large numbers jumped overboard. There was some struggle below, “but in less than ten minutes Decatur was on the quarter deck in undisturbed possession of his prize.” The orders to destroy the ship and not attempt to get her away, which in the circumstances of not a sail bent or a yard aloft would have been almost impossible, were imperative. The arrangements for firing her were so complete that the combustibles prepared were alight in a few minutes, and in some twenty-five minutes from boarding the Americans were hastening out of the ship to escape the flames. Their movements were none too quick to escape; the fasts were cut and the _Intrepid_ shoved clear only just in time herself to escape burning. The sixteen sweeps were manned, and, aided by a light breeze, the little vessel with her brave crew intact swept out of the harbor under the fire of the batteries and the thunder of the _Philadelphia’s_ own guns as they heated and discharged themselves, one broadside toward the town, the other toward the English fort. The only shot striking the _Intrepid_ was one passing through her topgallantsail. She was met outside the harbor by the _Siren’s_ boats. The _Siren’s_ commander had seen the rocket-signal, agreed upon, from the _Philadelphia_, and in the calm had used his sweeps to close in and protect the _Intrepid_ should she be attacked. Before the signal could be answered the flames were running aloft in the _Philadelphia_. “Presently a boat was seen coming alongside and a man in a sailor’s jacket sprang over the gangway of the brig. It was Decatur to announce his victory!”[22] On the 19th both vessels were again at Syracuse. This brilliant exploit made Decatur a captain at the age of twenty-five and promoted most of those who