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Copyright © 2009 by Sandecker, RLLLP
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Published simultaneously in Canada
eISBN : 978-1-101-01640-4
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DIRK PITT ® ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER
WITH DIRK CUSSLER
“We ought not to fight them at all unless we determine to fight them forever.”
THE BAY OF TRIPOLI FEBRUARY 1803
Intrepid
Siren
Philadelphia
Six months earlier, the forty-four-gun
had chased a Barbary corsair too close to Tripoli’s notoriously treacherous harbor and grounded in the shallow shoals. At the time, the frigate’s captain, William Baimbridge, had done all he could to save his ship, including heaving her cannons over the side, but she was hard aground, and high tide was hours away. Under threat of a dozen enemy gunboats, Baimbridge had no choice but to strike the colors and surrender the massive warship to the Bashaw of Tripoli. Letters from the Dutch Consul residing in the city reported that Baimbridge and his senior officers were being treated well, but the fate of the
’s crew, like that of most others who fell to the Barbary pirates, was slavery.