Tripoli 101: The Three Anchors
By: Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Julian Moorefield
Below the eagle, hanging just under the crossed Kentucky long-rifles, sits three gold anchors on the USS Tripoli’s crest. These anchors represent the three ships USS Hornet, USS Argus, and USS Nautilus which aided William Eaton and Marine Corps 1st Lt. Presley O’Bannon during the First Barbary War, most notably in the Battle of Derna on April 27, 1805.
Formerly a merchant vessel named Traveler of Massachusetts, the single-masted sloop-of-war, USS Hornet, was purchased by the United States in Malta and became the second U.S. naval vessel to carry that namesake. Captained by Lt. Samuel Evans, the Hornet joined U.S. naval forces in April of 1805 aiding in a blockade the Tripolitan coast. Before long, the Hornet would join the Argus and Nautilus during the assault on the Tripolitan city of Derna by Eaton and O'Bannon's ground forces during the Battle of Derna.
The USS Argus, originally commissioned as the USS Merrimack on September 6, 1803, was largest of the three ships to aid Eaton and O’Bannon’s mission. Arriving in Tripolitan waters in June of 1804, Argus helped establish a blockade of Tripoli with the USS Constitution and USS Enterprise.
From fall of 1804 to the spring of 1805, Argus participated in bombardments of Tripoli forces ashore where it sustained a single blow below its waterline. Though struck, the Argus was able to stay on station due to the single shot not passing all the way through its hull. Argus spent much of the winter alternating between blockade duty and port calls in Malta and Syracuse before the Battle of Derna.
The third ship to aid Eaton and O’Bannon in the Battle of Derna was the USS Nautilus. First of its name, Nautilus was launched in 1799 as a merchant vessel and was purchased by the U.S. Navy in May of 1803, and later commissioned on June 24, 1803.
From the winter of 1803 to May of 1804, the Nautilus assisted the USS Intrepid in operations off the coast of Tripoli and Tunis, even aiding Lt. Stephen Decatur in his scuttling of the captured USS Philadelphia. Nautilus spent the remainder of the year alternating between operations and ports in the Mediterranean, seeing action in five separate general attacks during the siege of Tripoli.
On April 27, 1805, the USS Hornet, USS Argus and USS Nautilus came together to begin their bombardment of Tripolitan forces in the Battle of Derna. While Eaton and O'Bannon led ground forces attempting to take Derna, the Hornet and Argus being anchored the closest, drew enemy fire almost immediately and returned fire of the cities cannons. At 2:45 p.m. after the capture had begun, the three ships had silenced all of the city’s cannons allowing O’Bannon to charge the gun batteries with his forces turning them on the city after raising the American flag. One hour after the ships had silenced the Tripolitan guns, Eaton’s army led by O’Bannon had captured the city, sending the enemy fleeing.