ISOB USS Intrepid Sailors
Details:
In the Old Protestant Cemetery Isolated Burial The isolated burial of five American sailors of the USS Intrepid who died on September 4, 1804 in the ships explosion. They are the first Americans killed in combat and buried abroad.
The USS Intrepid, formally the Mastico under the Turkish flag, was captured on December 23, 1803 by Lt. Stephen Decatur. Lt. Richard Somers assumed command of the ship in a mission to have it explode in the Harbor in Tripoli damaging the ships of the Tripolitan fleet. Volunteers for the mission also included Henry Wadsworth and ten sea men. At 8:30 on September 4, 1804, before the USS Intrepid could get to its final position, it prematurely exploded. The remains of the 13 sailors on the ship washed ashore the next day and were buried in unmarked graves. Five of these sailors are buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery.
Monument Text:
Commemorates:
Units:
U.S.S. Intrepid
United States Navy
Wars:
Barbary Wars (First and Second)