Introduction

An American sailor who saw Richard Somers and the Intrepid sail into Tripoli Harbor that fateful night made a sketch of the ship.

Glory, at Last! A Narrative of the Naval Career of Master Commandant Richard Somers 1778-1804 (Barbara E. Noebel, 1993, ACHS)

Young Richard

The ketch INTREPID, Master Commandant Richard Somers commanding, slipped into Tripoli Harbor during the evening of September 4, 1804. Within seconds the sky was illuminated by soaring rockets and exploding bombs. It was the mission of Somers’ expedition to destroy the shipping in the port, hoping to force the Bashaw of Tripoli to released the many American prisoners being held for ransom. Somers, his two lieutenants, and a crew of ten gave their lives in a cause of vital importance to them, but one which many of us know nothing about. What kind of man would risk so many lives for love of country and fellow man?

Richard Somers, Junior, was born on September 15, 1778, son of Colonel Richrd and Sophia Somers, in Somers Point, New Jersey, had an older brother Constant, and an older sister, Sarah. His father was active in the Revolutionary War, serving as a Colonel in the country militia and promoting privateering. He kept meticulous records of transactions of selling gunpower for the militia and outfitting privateers. So, young Richard entered a world of challenge and excitement. 1.

Somers Point is located on the southern coastline of New Jersey and was a thorn in the side of the British during the Revolutionary War. Many of their vessels were captured by privateers and taken via Somers Point up the Great Egg Harbor River to Mays Landing for safekeeping and sale by vendue.

There was a small fort of four cannon overlooking the Great Egg Harbor Bay which discouraged British landings and scavenging for food. Colonel Richard was in the middle of all of this. It became so dangerous at his homestead that he moved his family to the relative safety of Philadelphia in March, 1881. 2. Thus, young Richard was to spend nine of his formative years in the city, becoming a sophisticated young man when his family moved back to New Jersey in 1790.

The docks at Front Street in Philadelphia.

According to the Colonel’s ledger and account books, they first lived on Vine Street, then Front Street and finally, in 1785, in Captain William Graydon’s house at Callowhill and Front. Somers was a storekeeper, renting three stores in Philadelphia from William Miller. He also maintained a store at Job’s Point, near Somers Point, in New Jersey, which his elder brother Constant ran for him. There were many transactions of goods sent to and merchandise...

1.

received from Job’s Point. This was all done via sloop, so young Richards was well acquainted with the wharves and coasting trade. 3.

Richard’s formal schooling probably began in 1785 when his father’s ledger showed an account with “Mr. Yerkees for tuition for Richard,” 4. Yerkess had a single school at this time. Such a school is described as “making their scholars good writers, good arithmeticians, good readers, and intelligent grammarians; and then…they were qualified by their own separate exertions, to improve themselves at home. 5. Later entries mentioned tuition to Mr. Simmerman and Mr. Ely, both of whom are identified as “School Master.” 6. I have been unable to identify these men with a specific school.

Sever biographies of Stephen Decatur state that he, with Richard Somers, Charles Stewart and Richard Rush, attended the Episcopal Academy of Dr. Abercrombie “where the discipline was strict, and the educational standards low, and the code of conduct derived from that of the court of Louis XVI….They lived much out of doors, boating, swimming, fishing. Somers was the strongest of the four, but Decatur was the best skater, very quick at repartee and a clever mimic. All were high spirited as eagles, and they were involved in not a few fisticuff ‘duels’ settled in the old Quaker burying-ground.” 7.

In a letter to Mrs. Decatur in 1846, Richard Russ remarks about the Academy: “….The Elite of the town went to that school….” 8. All of this is possible but there is no mention of the Academy in the accounts of Richard’s father…..

A ledger contains an entry dated October 1791, stating “Left my son Richards at Woodbuary….to go to Mr. Hunter school.” Savage (Stillwell) and Richard, Junior were enrolled in Andrew Hunter’s academy at Woodbury, New Jersey, for further education. Although there are entries indicating that Savage took courses in bookkeeping and Navigation and Surveying, there is no mention of specific studies for young Richard. 10. However, there is a small notebook identified as “Richard Somers His Book,” dated 1792, with notes on navigation, so he was familiar with it. 11. Commencement was on September 20, 1792, so they were in Hunter’s school for at least a year….

On October 22, 1794, Col. Richard Somers died. His estate was equally divided among his three children, with assurance that his mother would be taken care of. Richard, Junior inherited the homestead and other lands. He now emerges as the carbon copy of his father, supervising the cutting of timber, shipping it in local vessels to be sold at other ports, and taking care of the property….

Sophia Somers, Richard’s mother, died on February 3, 1797; 15. his brother Constant died on June 22, 1799; 16 his sister had married William Jonas Keen and they lived in Philadelphia. There was no reason for Richard to settle in Somers Point by himself, so he made his home with the Keens and made trips to New Jersey to manage his property there…..

So, Richard grew up and considered himself a young gentleman, not a farmer!....

The official profile sketch accepted by the U.S. Navy is again only his head

(James F.) Cooper interviewed his fellow officers and spoke to his next of kin, his sister Sarah, and described him:

In person, Somers was a man of middle stature – rather below than above it – but stout of frame; exceedingly active and muscular. His nose was inclining to the acquiline, his eyes and hair were dark, and his whole face bore marks of the cross of the French blood that was said to run in his veins. He was mild, amiable, and affectionate, both in disposition and deportment, though of singularly chivalrous notions of duty and honor. 20