TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES. I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter of September 18, from Commodore Preble, giving a detailed account of the transactions of the vessels under his command, from July the 9th to the 10th of September, last past. The energy and judgment displayed by this excellent officer, through the whole course of the service lately confided to him, and the zeal and bravery of his officers and men in the several enterprizes executed by them, cannot fail to give high satisfaction to Congress and their country, of whom they have deserved well. Th: JEFFERSON. _____ _Commodore Preble to the Secretary of the Navy._ (p. 137) To the Honourable SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY, Washington, D. C. United States ship Constitution, Malta Harbour, September 18th, 1804. Sir: I had the honour to write you from Messina, under date of the 5th of July; I then expected to have sailed the day following, but was detained, by bad weather, until the 9th, when I left it, with two small bomb vessels under convoy, and arrived at Syracuse, where we were necessarily detained four days. On the 14th I sailed, the schooners Nautilus and Enterprize in company, with six gun boats and two bomb vessels, generously loaned us by His Sicilian Majesty. The bomb vessels are about thirty tons, carry a thirteen-inch brass sea mortar, and forty men. Gun boats, twenty-five tons, carry a long iron twenty-four pounder in the bow, with a complement of thirty-five men. They are officered and manned from the squadron, excepting twelve Neapolitan bombardiers, gunners, and sailors, attached to each boat, who were shipped by permission of their Government. This step I found necessary, as every vessel in the squadron was considerably short of complement. The gun boats are constructed for the defence of harbours; they are flat bottomed and heavy, and do not sail or row even tolerably well. They were never intended to go to sea, and, I find, cannot be navigated with safety, unless assisted by tow ropes from larger and better sailing vessels, nor even then, in very bad weather; however, as they were the best I could obtain, I have thought it for the good of our service to employ them, particularly as the weather in July and August is generally pleasant, and, without them, my force too small to make any impression on Tripoli.