Richard Somers (September 15, 1778 – September 4, 1804) was an officer of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, killed during an assault on Tripoli during the First Barbary War.

Early career

Born at Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey, he attended the

Episcopal Academy The Episcopal Academy, founded in 1785, is a private, co-educational school for grades Pre-K through 12 based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Prior to 2008, the main campus was located in Merion Station and the satellite campus was located in ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

with future naval heroes Stephen Decatur and Charles Stewart. He was appointed midshipman on April 23, 1797, and served in the West Indies during the Quasi-War with

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on the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

''United States'' with Decatur and Stewart, a ship commanded by Captain John Barry. He was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on May 21, 1799. In 1800, Somers fought three duels on the same day with multiple opponents because they accused him of cowardice for failing to challenge Decatur over a joking insult they overheard. Somers was wounded in the first two duels and had to be supported during the third (by Decatur, who was acting as his second). Somers was detached from ''United States'' on June 13, 1801, and ordered to ''Boston'' on July 30, 1801. He served in the latter frigate in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

. After ''Boston'' returned to

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, Somers was furloughed on November 11, 1802, to await orders.

First Barbary War

On May 5, 1803, Somers was ordered to

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, to man, fit out, and command , and when that schooner was ready for sea, to sail her to the Mediterranean. ''Nautilus'' got underway on 30 June, reached

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on July 27, and sailed four days later to

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. He then returned to

to meet Commodore Edward Preble, in ''Constitution'', who was bringing a new squadron for action against the Barbary pirates. ''Nautilus'' sailed with Preble on October 6 to

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

where the display of American naval strength induced the Europeans of

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

to renew the treaty of 1786. Thereafter, Tripoli became the focus of Preble's attention. Somers' service as commanding officer of ''Nautilus'' during operations against Tripoli won him promotion to master commandant on May 18, 1804. In the summer, he commanded a division of gunboats amidst five attacks on Tripoli, during the First Barbary War. On September 4, 1804, Somers assumed command of the fire ship ''Intrepid'', which had been fitted out as a "floating volcano", alongside 12 members of a volunteer crew. ''Intrepid'' was to be sailed into Tripoli harbor and blown up in the midst of the corsair fleet close under the walls of the city. That night, she got underway into the harbor, but she exploded prematurely, killing Somers and his entire crew.

Legacy

News of Somers' death would take some months to arrive to the

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, with newspapers in New York and New Jersey reporting on the assault in January 1805. Some reports suggested the premature detonation to be a deliberate act by Somers to avoid capture by approaching sailors, an account which led to Somers' depiction as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

within the American Navy. However, the true reasons for the explosion remain unclear and no reliable account is known from the ''Intrepid'' final moments. Somers is buried in Tripoli, alongside the bodies of other sailors recovered from the explosion. In 2004, the New Jersey State Assembly passed two resolutions calling for the return of his remains. It was hoped that with the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya in August 2011 that the remains might finally be repatriated, but efforts by diplomatic staff and distant relatives of Somers in the United States remain unsuccessful as of 2015. Since 1804, six ships of the US Navy have successively been named the USS ''Somers'' in his honor. The town of Somers, New York, located in Westchester County is named in his honor. Somers Point, New Jersey, is named after Richard's great-grandfather. Every year there is a Richard Somers Day celebration in Somers Point.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somers, Richard United States Navy officers American military personnel of the Quasi-War American military personnel of the First Barbary War American military personnel killed in action People from Atlantic County, New Jersey 1770s births 1804 deaths Military personnel from New Jersey

Early career

First Barbary War

Legacy

See also

References