In all, 315 men surrendered. Among the officers was Lieutenant Porter, already mentioned; Jacob Jones, James Biddle, and James Renshaw, who, though now prisoners, were to help make history in notable fashion in another war to come. Two days later a strong wind from the north piled the water of the Mediterranean high on the reef. The stern of the _Philadelphia_ floated, anchors and cables were put out astern, and having stopped up the holes the Americans had bored, and having brought a strain on the cables, the corsairs hauled her off, and she was towed to an anchorage under the Bashaw’s castle. And more than that, the Tripolitans succeeded in getting up and replacing the guns, anchors, and most of the shot that had been thrown overboard to lighten her. That Bainbridge was eventually honorably acquitted when tried by court-martial for losing his ship, scarcely need be said. CHAPTER XIV DECATUR AND THE _PHILADELPHIA_ STORY OF THE BRAVE MEN WHO DISGUISED A KETCH AS A MERCHANTMAN AND SAILED INTO THE HARBOR OF TRIPOLI BY NIGHT, DREW UP ALONGSIDE THE CAPTURED _PHILADELPHIA_, AND THEN, TO THE ORDER “BOARDERS AWAY!” CLIMBED OVER THE RAIL AND THROUGH THE PORTS, AND WITH CUTLASS AND PIKE DROVE THE PIRATES INTO THE SEA OR TO A WORSE FATE--“THE MOST BOLD AND DARING ACT OF THE AGE.” With 315 American prisoners, including twenty-two officers, to hold for ransom, and with a swift and most substantial thirty-six-gun frigate added to his fleet, the Bashaw of Tripoli had gained a decided advantage over the Americans. He was so pleased over it that on a festival day that followed the accident, he brought the officers before him where his court was assembled in gala attire and, after a proper greeting, the Americans were liberally sprinkled with ottar of roses and other perfumes and were served with coffee and sherbet. Later, however, they were confined in filthy dungeons and otherwise ill treated. But, in spite of dungeons, through the aid of Mr. N. C. Nissen, the Danish consul at Tripoli, who was unremitting in kind attentions to the Americans, Bainbridge was able to communicate with the American fleet, and on December 5, 1803, he sent a letter, written with lime juice (which becomes legible when heated), in which he proposed that the _Philadelphia_ be destroyed as she lay at anchor by the Americans, who might come into the harbor at night in a schooner, and, after firing her, get away again. The suggestion was adopted, and it was carried out in a fashion that made the name of Decatur famous in the annals of the American navy. At this time Stephen Decatur, Jr., was a lieutenant of the navy and in command of the famous schooner _Enterprise_. On December 23, 1803, he fell in with a Tripolitan ketch named the _Mastico_, that was carrying a lot of female slaves to the Sultan of Turkey, and very quickly captured her. This prize he carried to Syracuse, where the American fleet, under Capt. Edward Preble, was at anchor.