USS Argus (1803)

USS Argus (the third from the right) participating in the bombardment of Tripoli, 3 August 1804, painting by Michele Felice Cornè, 1752-1845

Argus arrived at Tripoli in company with Constitution and Enterprise on 19 June 1804, but left the blockade late in the month to join a neutral ship at Syracuse, Sicily, and escort her back to Tripoli with supplies for the captive officers and crew of the frigate USS Philadelphia which had been taken by the Tripolitans after she had run aground on an uncharted reef off Tripoli in October 1803.

Argus resumed her blockade duties on 7 July 1804. At that point, Preble began preparations for a shore bombardment. Heavy weather, however, postponed the action until early August. On 3 August 1804, the squadron moved in to provide long-range support for the gunboats and mortar boats actually engaged in the bombardment. The bombardment was considerably less damaging to the defensive works protecting Tripoli than hoped for, though the American gunboat crews boarded and carried several of the Tripolitan vessels sent out to engage them. The squadron conducted another ineffectual bombardment of Tripoli on 7 August 1804. Two days later, Commodore Preble embarked in Argus to reconnoiter Tripoli harbor. During that mission, Tripolitan shore batteries fired upon Argus, and she was struck below the waterline by a single shot. Fortunately for her, the shot did not pass all the way through her hull, and she remained on station off Tripoli.

On 28 August 1804, the squadron conducted a third bombardment of the defenses of Tripoli in which its guns inflicted severe damage. A week later, on the night of 4 September 1804, Argus was among the ships that escorted the ill-fated fire ship USS Intrepid to the entrance of Tripoli harbor. When Intrepid blew up prematurely, killing her entire crew, Argus remained there to pick up survivors, but none had appeared by sunrise when she returned to her blockade station.

Through the winter of 1804–1805, Argus alternated between blockade duty off Tripoli and periods in port at Malta and Syracuse. In the spring of 1805, she participated in one of the more celebrated episodes of American naval history, the capture of Derna. During the preceding months, she had made several voyages to Egypt in support of Consul William Eaton's efforts to raise a force of men to take Derna in conjunction with the deposed pasha. After a march of over 600 miles (970 km) across the Libyan Desert in what is now Libya, the polyglot army – there were only 10 Americans in the whole force – arrived at Derna on 25 April 1805. Argus had met the army a day or two earlier at the Gulf of Bomba to provide provisions. Now, she made preparations to provide bombardment assistance for the landward assault.

Eaton's force launched its attack on Derna on 27 April 1805. Argus and the schooner USS Nautilus anchored about half a mile (800 meters) to the eastward of the fortifications. The Tripolitans opened fire almost immediately upon Argus and the sloop-of-war USS Hornet, anchored quite a bit nearer than Argus and Nautilus. By 14:45 that afternoon, gunfire from the ships silenced all of the guns in the city. A desperate charge led by United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon managed to carry the gun batteries by storm and breathed new life into the assault. After hoisting the American flag over the battlements, O'Bannon ordered the already loaded captured guns to be turned on the town. By 16:00 that afternoon, the entire town had fallen to Eaton's army, and the enemy fled to the hinterland. The capture of Derna has been immortalized in the words of the Marines' Hymn ("... to the shores of Tripoli").

After Eaton's and O'Bannon's victory, a Tripolitan army, which had been sent to reinforce the town, arrived and began preparations to retake Derna. Argus remained offshore to provide gunfire support in the defense of the town throughout the occupation of Derna. When the Tripolitans finally assaulted the town on 13 May 1805, Argus joined in the fray and enabled the defensive forces narrowly to beat back the charging enemy troops. Argus's guns wreaked havoc among the enemy forces during their headlong retreat. Between that time and early June 1805, the Tripolitans made a few more half-hearted approaches during which Argus's long 12-pounders (5 kg) came into play. However, things remained relatively quiet, for negotiations with the pasha in power were already underway. On 11 June 1805, orders arrived for Eaton's force to evacuate Derna as negotiations had been concluded. The troops and the deposed pasha were embarked in Constellation that evening, and Argus and the other American ships quit the area.

Under the command of Master Commandant William Henry Allen, Argus broke out of New York Harbor on 18 June 1813, eluding the British blockade. Her mission was not warlike to begin with; it was to deliver William H. Crawford to his post as Minister to the First French Empire. Argus arrived at Lorient in Brittany, France, on 11 July 1813, disembarked Crawford, and put out to sea again three days later to begin raiding British shipping in the English Channel and Irish Sea. During the next month, she captured nineteen merchant ships. Rather than weaken his crew by sending the captured ships to American, French, or neutral ports under prize crews, Allen set most of the captured ships on fire. The intense operations exhausted Argus's crew.[4][5]

The shipping losses soon caused insurance rates for merchant shipping to increase greatly. The cargo on the sunken ships was worth about two million dollars.[6] The British Admiralty sent orders to all available ships to hunt down Argus. The British brig-sloop HMS Pelican had just arrived in Cork Harbour in Ireland, having escorted a convoy from the West Indies, and immediately put to sea again on 10 August 1813. Pelican's captain was Commander John Fordyce Maple, an officer who had joined the Royal Navy when twelve years old in 1782, two years before William Henry Allen was born.[4][7]

On 13 August, Argus took two final prizes. One of them was from Oporto, Portugal, and was carrying wine. Both American[5] and British[8] historians have suggested that Argus's crew looted some of the cargo, and that their debauched state affected their performance during the coming battle with Pelican. As with Argus's previous captures, the Americans set fire to the prize; unfortunately for them, Pelican was near enough to sight the smoke from the burning vessel and make for it.

At 05:00 on the morning of 14 August 1813, Argus and Pelican sighted each other five leagues (about 15 miles) west of St David's Head. Argus was the faster but more lightly armed vessel, with eighteen 24-pounder carronades and a 12-pounder chase gun against the Pelican's sixteen 32-pounder carronades, one 12-pounder long gun, and two 6-pounder long guns.[9] Allen could have used Argus's greater speed to escape. Instead, he accepted battle. Allen's decision to accept battle against a heavier opponent stemmed from confidence gained while he was the first lieutenant of the frigate USS United States when she captured the British frigate HMS Macedonian on 25 October 1812; following his promotion he had said that he could "take any British 22-gun sloop-of-war in ten minutes."[4][10]

The wind was from the south, giving Pelican the weather gauge (i.e. the windward position). Allen sailed westward on the port tack (i.e., with the wind to port) and opposed his port side battery to Pelican's starboard battery.[5]

The British prepare to board Argus

Four minutes after the ships exchanged their first broadsides, Allen lost a leg. His first lieutenant was also badly wounded, and Argus's rigging was badly cut up. Pelican tried to cross Argus's stern to deliver raking fire but Argus's second lieutenant, William Howard Allen (not related to the commanding officer), threw his sails aback to slow the American brig and instead raked Pelican.[5] This did not fatally cripple the British vessel, and the two brigs continued to exchange broadsides, with Pelican now to leeward. After four more minutes, Argus's rigging was too badly damaged for the Americans to prevent Pelican from crossing Argus's stern and delivering several raking broadsides.

Finally, three-quarters of an hour after the action began, the two vessels came into contact, Argus's bow against Pelican's quarter. As British boarding parties mustered but before they could board Argus, the Americans surrendered.

Unusually for the War of 1812, the American gunnery in this engagement was comparatively ineffective, although Pelican's sides were "filled with grapeshot" and two of Pelican's carronades had been dismounted.[9] British gunnery was "at least of the standard which had brought victory in a hundred victories against the French."[11]

Pelican and the captured Argus went in to Plymouth, England. Allen died there of his wounds a week after the battle. He was buried with full military honors. The rest of the crew, including sailing master Uriah P. Levy, were held as prisoners of war in England for the duration of the war.

In 1813, construction commenced for a replacement 18-gun brig Argus at the Washington Naval Yard — but the ship was destroyed in the burning of Washington the following year before it could be launched.[12]