Richard Somers Jr (1778 - 1804)

Born 15 Sep 1778 in Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey, United States

Ancestors

Died 4 Sep 1804 at age 25 in Tripoli, Libya

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Doug Lockwood [send private message]

Biography

Richard Somers Jr is Notable.

[[1]] Richard Somers Video

[[2]]Video

"Richard Somers son of Richard & Sophia Somers / Born the 15 day of September 1778"^[1]

The name and fame of Richard Somers will always be of tender and regretful interest. His gentle and lovable character, his quiet, undaunted courage, the daring enterprise in which he lost his life at the early age of twenty-four. It is said that his father was a firm friend and supporter of General Washington from the beginning of his command of the Continental army, and that Washington bestowed "much kindly notice" upon young Somers. The boy went to a "dame's school" in Philadelphia with Stephen Decatur; and there began that devoted friendship which lasted through Somers's life.

There is no record of Somers having gone to sea before he received his appointment as midshipman, of the same date as Decatur's, 1798. But a number of circumstances indicate that he was already a capable seaman when he got his midshipman's warrant to the United States, frigate of forty-four guns. The US soon began to have trouble with pirates along the Barbary Coast resulting in Congress' decision to send a force out, under Commodore Preble, to crush Tripoli. Somers got the command of the Nautilus, one of the four small vessels that were built and sent out, Stewart getting another, and Decatur a third.

During the Battle of Tripoli in 1804, Somers was killed in action commanding his ship the Intrepid. Commander Preble ordered an “Inferno” attack to break the blockade of captured ships used by the Barbary pirates in Tripoli, Libya. The US ship, Intrepid, was converted into an “Inferno” with its bow packed with powder, shells, and an 11-minute fuse that was to give the crew time to escape. On September 4, 1804, the all-volunteer crew of thirteen, including Master Commandant Richard Somers and Acting Lieutenant Henry Wadsworth, uncle of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, sailed the Intrepid into the Tripoli Harbor during darkness getting close to the pirate fleet. That night, she got underway into the harbor, but she was exploded prematurely by the crew, killing Somers and his entire crew of volunteers. The mission was successful, burning captured vessels in the harbor, blocking any escape by the pirates.

He is buried in Tripoli Square. His death was taken very hard by his closest friend, Stephen DeCatur. Somers had volunteered to blow up the pirates’ coastal stronghold in Tripoli, Libya. Instead it was Somers and his crew that went up in smoke, while Decatur watched helplessly from the deck of his own vessel. Prior to the fatal mission, Somers had given Decatur a gold ring, which the aggrieved seaman wore for the rest of his life.

Efforts to repatriate the remains of the city’s namesake and U.S. Naval hero — killed with his crew aboard the USS Intrepid in 1804 in Tripoli Harbor during the First Barbary War — date to the 1840s. Two US Navy ships have been named the USS Somers in his honor.

[Harry Wadsworth]Henry Wadsworth

excerpt from: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4267084.html

When Richard III left for what became a suicide mission in Tripoli, he left one of his prized possessions, Washington's Ring. This ring was given to Richard Somers the early in his career. In the setting of the ring is a lock of President Washington's hair, surrounded by 13 pearls. Each pearl represented each of the 13 states. It is said that President Washington encouraged Richard to join the Navy.

There is a a portrait in Somers Mansion that depicts the destruction of the Intrepid in Tripoli Harbor in 1804, the place where Master Commandant Richard Somers III died. He was part of the crew of the Intrepid, a crew of 13 volunteers that fought in America's first foreign war.

The following is an excerpt from an article written in the Atlantic City Press on September 29, 1983:

"In 1804, the Americans devised a desperate plan for a desperate situation. The United States, still a newborn country, was scrapping with a scruffy group of pirates off the Barbary Coast of Africa in the Mediterranean Sea. For hundreds of years, the pirates had a standing deal with helpless cargo ships: pay or be raided, plundered and pillaged. When the pirates declared war against the United States to get even more money, President Thomas Jefferson sent a squadron of ships across the Atlantic to put an end to the demands (and the pirates). The squadron soon cornered the pirate fleet in Tripoli Harbor, off the coast of Tripoli, now called Libya. It was a standoff. The pirates couldn't move; the Americans couldn't come in. An attack through the narrow harbor would be costly. The plan: turn the Intrepid into a floating mine, sail it into the harbor, ram the pirate ships. The crew had little chance of surviving. If they were very lucky, they would be able to set their fuses and row back to the US fleet before being killed by the explosion or enemy fire. A dozen men were needed, 13 volunteered. They were lead by Richard Somers, a sea captain and descendant of John Somers, the man who in 1695 bought 1,500 acres in a bayside Atlantic County area that became Somers Point. The Intrepid, with a deck covered with oil-soaked wood chips, sailed in under the cover of darkness. It blew at 9:47 pm---before it reached the pirates. It may have been enemy fire that caused the premature explosion. The crew may have blown the ship to prevent it from falling in to enemy hands. Perhaps there was a problem with the fuses. The bodies of all 13 crew members were recovered. Five were identifiable. All were buried on the shores of the harbor."

In 1977 an article about the sad state of the cemetery site in the American Legion Magazine sparked a movement to repatriate the remains of the men of the Intrepid in Tripoli.

In 1988 the US Congress passed a resolution reserving space for the remains of the men of the Intrepid at Arlington National Cemetery.

In 2004, the New Jersey State Legislature passed a resolution calling for the repatriation of the remains of Master Commandant Richard Somers and the men of the USS Intrepid.

In 2011, Rep. Mike Rogers (R. Mich) introduced a bill in the Congress "to direct the Secretary of Defense to take whatever steps that may be necessary to exhume and transfer the remains of certain deceased members of the Armed Forces buried in Tripoli, Libya, and for other purposes."

[Thanks to Sally Hastings, President of the Somers Point Historical Socity for some of the facts used here] Posted by Bill Kelly at 7:29 AM http://remembertheintrepid.blogspot.com/2011/04/master-commandant-richard-somers.html

1604. Richard Somers

Poem By Barrett Eastman

M.C. Richard Somers. Given Name: M.C. Richard. Surname: Somers.

Richard Somers. Given Name: Richard. Surname: Somers. Suffix: III r155. Found multiple versions of name. Using M.C. Richard Somers.

Born 1778 15 SEP 1778. Egg Harbor City, Atlantic, New Jersey, United States. ^[2][3] Found multiple copies of birth date. Using 1778

Died 4 SEP 1804. Tripoli, Tarabulus, Libya. ^[4][5][6] 1850 Found multiple copies of death date. Using 4 SEP 1804

Buried Tripoli, Tarabulus, Libya. ^[7][8]

Event: http:/www.somerspointhistory.orgrichard-somers.html. Web Address. Somers Point, Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA.

File Format: com/rd?f=image&guid=078dd6e7-46a4-4a03-8dae-ba22b8dbcd77&tid=1198764&pid=4439. Lt. Richard Somers. PHOTO Scrapbook: Y. Format: com/rd?f=image&guid=91ab4b54-05f0-4996-84a8-5e2d55c73057&tid=1198764&pid=4439. Richard Somers. PHOTO Scrapbook: Y.

Sources

1. ↑ Koedel, Barbara. "Richard Somers Family". The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey. volume 57, no. 1 (Jan 1982), page 38. Citing the "Philadelphia & Great Egg Harbor Journal & Ledger of Richard Somers, held by Atlantic County Historical Society
2. ↑ Source: #S216 Page
3. ↑ Source: #S246 Page
4. ↑ Source: #S216 Page
5. ↑ Source: #S246 Page
6. ↑ Source: #S430 Page
7. ↑ Source: #S216 Page
8. ↑ Source: #S246 Page

• Find A Grave: Memorial #7561274 accessed on 04 Aug 2020
• http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s/somers.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Somers

United States Naval Institute Proceedings. United States Naval Institute. 1909. p. 1163.

• Simon Denyer (May 29, 2011). "Remains of ‘first Navy Seals’ lie in Tripoli". The Washington Post.
• Colimore, Edward (October 25, 2011). "Effort under way to bring back U.S. sailors buried in Libya". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2011-10-26. "[E]ight of the 13 sailors [are] interred beneath Green Square in Tripoli .... Nearby are the graves of five more, ... at a tiny, walled cemetery that overlooks the harbor."
• Officers of the Continental and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-1900

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Death, Residence

• U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Death

• U.S., Seamen's Protection Certificates, 1792-1869

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Birth, Residence

• http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/intrepid.htm
• http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/barb-war/burn-phl.htm
• http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/usa/barbarywars1801.html
• http://www.bartleby.com/248/1604.html

Notes

• There are three published biographies of Richard Somers - by James F. Cooper, Dr. J. B. Somers, M.D. and Barbara E. Koedel

• Source: S216 Ancestry.com, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) rations, Inc. TID 0 Footnote Ancestry.com, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) ShortFootnote Ancestry.com, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Bibliography Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Repository: #R2 Page

• Source: S246 Ancestry.com, Global, Find A Grave Index for Non-Burials, Burials at Sea, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) a, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current a, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. TID 0 Footnote Ancestry.com, Global, Find A Grave Index for Non-Burials, Burials at Sea, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) ShortFootnote Ancestry.com, Global, Find A Grave Index for Non-Burials, Burials at Sea, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current Bibliography Ancestry.com. Global, Find A Grave Index for Non-Burials, Burials at Sea, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Repository: #R2 Page

• Source: S430 Ancestry.com, U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941 (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) ations, Inc. TID 0 Footnote Ancestry.com, U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941 (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) ShortFootnote Ancestry.com, U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941 Bibliography Ancestry.com. U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Repository: #R2 Page