about ten o'clock that night, attended by the boats of the Syren. On
arriving off the harbor, the Syren, in consequence of a change of wind,
had been thrown six or eight miles without the Intrepid. The wind at
this time was fair, but fast declining, and Lieutenant Decatur
apprehended that, should he wait for the Syren's boats to come up, it
might be fatal to the enterprise, as they could not remain longer on the
coast, their provisions being nearly exhausted. For these reasons he
determined to venture into the harbor alone, which he did about eight
o'clock.

An idea may be formed of the extreme hazard of the enterprise from the
situation of the frigate. She was moored within half gunshot of the
bashaw's castle, and of the principal battery. Two of the enemy's
cruisers lay within two cables' length, on the starboard quarter, and
their gunboats within half gunshot, on the starboard bow. All the guns
of the frigate were mounted and loaded. Such were the immediate perils
that our hero ventured to encounter with a single ketch, beside the
other dangers that abound in a strongly fortified harbor.

Although from the entrance to the place where the frigate lay, was only
three miles, yet, in consequence of the lightness of the wind, they did
not get within hail of her until eleven o'clock. When they had
approached within two hundred yards, they were hailed and ordered to
anchor, or they would be fired into. Lieutenant Decatur ordered a
Maltese pilot, who was on board the ketch, to answer that they had lost
their anchors in a gale of wind on the coast, and, therefore, could not
comply with their request. By this time it had become perfectly calm,
and they were about fifty yards from the frigate. Lieutenant Decatur
ordered a small boat that was alongside of the ketch, to take a rope and
make it fast to the frigate's fore-chains. This being done, they began