The hope was that Lieutenant Somers and his companions had fired the fuse and then rowed away in their boats, but as minute followed minute without the sound of muffled oars from the hollow night reaching the straining ears, suspense gave way to sickening dread.  The vessels moved to and fro about the entrance, as if the inanimate things shared in the anxiety that would not allow them to remain still.  At intervals a gun was fired or a rocket sent up to guide the missing ones, but none appeared.  Every man had been killed by the explosion of the ketch.

Investigations made afterward seemed to establish that Somers was attacked by three gunboats, and, finding escape impossible, it was he who ran along the deck, lighted lantern in hand, and deliberately blew up the Intrepid, destroying not only himself and companions, but many of the enemy.  The mangled remains of several bodies were found some days later and given burial on shore, but not one could be recognized.  Captain Bainbridge and some of his brother officers, who were prisoners in Tripoli, were allowed to view them.  He said:  “From the whole of them being so disfigured, it was impossible to recognize any feature known to us, or even to distinguish an officer from a seaman.”

In November, Commodore Samuel Barron arrived, and succeeded Captain Preble in command of the American squadron.  He brought with him the President and Constellation, thereby increasing the force to ten vessels, carrying two hundred and sixty-four guns.

Having failed to bring the Bashaw to terms by force of arms, the Americans now resorted to what may be termed diplomacy.  The reigning Bashaw of Tripoli was a usurper, having displaced his elder brother, who had fled to Upper Egypt.  He had a good many friends, who, if they dared, would have been glad to replace him on his throne.  The American consul, who understood all the particulars, proposed to our government to use the deposed ruler as an instrument to compel the usurper to make terms.  The Government authorized the consul to go ahead.

Accordingly, he made his way to Alexandria, sought out the banished ruler, proposed his plan, and it was eagerly accepted.  He furnished the consul with a cavalry escort, enlisted a number of Greek soldiers, the party marched a thousand miles across the flaming Barcan desert, and in April appeared before Derne, one of the seaports of the reigning monarch, who was also advancing upon the place.  With the help of the American fleet, the town was captured, and, for the first time in its history, the Stars and Stripes were given to the breeze above a fortification on the eastern side of the Atlantic.

By the enlistment of the mongrel population of the neighborhood, the American consul gathered a formidable force, with which the enemy were again defeated.  Then they boldly set out for Tripoli.

Meanwhile the usurper was shivering with fear, and was more than ready to make a treaty of peace with the terrible barbarians from the other side of the ocean.  The treaty was signed on June 2, 1805.  The Bashaw, who had demanded a princely sum for the release of his American prisoners, was now glad to set them free for $60,000.  It was agreed, furthermore, that no more tribute should be paid, and thus ended all our troubles with Tripoli.