This dramatic night time scene depicts the burning of the American frigate Philadelphia in the harbour at Tripoli on 16th February 1804. Flames and smoke billow from the anchored vessel against a background of a walled harbour with sea-wall fort and several minarets towering above flat-roofed houses. A thin crescent moon illuminates the town. On the left of the picture a small vessel, flying the American flag, is sailing out of the harbour, perhaps in a hurry as the crew are also rowing.

The picture represents an incident in the First Barbary War (1801-1805). The US Navy 36-gun frigate Philadelphia ran aground off Tripoli after chasing a pirate ship in late 1803. To prevent the frigate falling into the hands of Pasha Yusef’s forces the crew threw cannon and supplies over board and then holed the hull so she sank. The Pasha’s forces captured the crew and raised the hull, taking it into the harbour at Tripoli. On the night of 16th February 1804, US sailors led by Lieutenant Stephan Decatur, sailed into the harbour in a captured local vessel and set fire to the Philadelphia so that it could not be used by the Pasha.