Editing Richard Somers

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}[[File:Stephen Decatur and Richard Somers.jpg|thumb|Stephen Decatur and Richard Somers]]

'''Richard Somers''' (September 15, 1778 &ndash; September 4, 1804) was an [[Commissioned officer|officer]] of the [[United States Navy]], killed during an assault on [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] during the [[First Barbary War]].

==Early career==
Born at Great [[Egg Harbor City, New Jersey|Egg Harbor, New Jersey]], he attended the [[Episcopal Academy]] in [[Philadelphia]] with future naval heroes [[Stephen Decatur]] and [[Charles Stewart (1778-1869)|Charles Stewart]].  He was appointed [[midshipman]] on April 23, 1797, and served in the [[West Indies]] during the [[Quasi-War]] with [[France]] on the [[frigate]] [[USS United States (1797)|''United States'']] with Decatur and Stewart, a ship commanded by Captain [[John Barry (1745-1803)|John Barry]]. He was promoted to [[lieutenant]] on May 21, 1799.

In 1800, Somers fought three [[duel]]s 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).<ref>{{cite book|title=United States Naval Institute Proceedings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z8jAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1163|year=1909|publisher=United States Naval Institute|page=1163}}</ref>

Somers was detached from ''United States'' on June 13, 1801, and ordered to [[USS Boston (1799)|''Boston'']] on July 30, 1801. He served in the latter frigate in the [[Mediterranean]]. After ''Boston'' returned to [[Washington, DC]], Somers was [[furlough]]ed on November 11, 1802, to await orders.

==First Barbary War==
On May 5, 1803, Somers was ordered to [[Baltimore, Maryland]], to man, fit out, and command {{USS|Nautilus|1799|6}}, and when that [[schooner]] was ready for sea, to sail her to the Mediterranean.  ''Nautilus'' got underway on 30 June, reached [[Gibraltar]] on July 27, and sailed four days later to [[Spain]]. He then returned to [[Gibraltar]] to meet Commodore [[Edward Preble]], in [[USS Constitution|''Constitution'']], who was bringing a new squadron for action against the [[Barbary pirates]]. ''Nautilus'' sailed with Preble on October 6 to [[Tangier]] where the display of American naval strength induced the Europeans of [[Morocco]] to renew the treaty of 1786. Thereafter, [[Tripoli, Libya|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.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://ibiblio.org/anrs/docs/E/E3/nd_barbarywars_v04p01.pdf |title=Naval Documents related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers Volume VI Part 1 of 3 April 1804 through September 1804 |pages=107 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |via=Ibiblio |access-date=6 February 2025}}</ref> In the summer, he commanded a division of [[gunboat]]s amidst five attacks on Tripoli, during the [[First Barbary War#Battles|First Barbary War]].

On September 4, 1804, Somers assumed command of the [[fire ship]] [[USS Intrepid (1798)#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 [[Privateer|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.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://primary.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/remains-of-first-navy-seals-lie-in-tripoli/2011/05/24/AG8dpKEH_story.html| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717055318/http://primary.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/remains-of-first-navy-seals-lie-in-tripoli/2011/05/24/AG8dpKEH_story.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=July 17, 2012| title=Remains of 'first Navy Seals' lie in Tripoli| newspaper=The Washington Post| author= Simon Denyer| date=May 29, 2011}}</ref><ref name=EffortUnderWay>{{cite news|first=Edward|last=Colimore|title=Effort under way to bring back U.S. sailors buried in Libya|date=October 25, 2011|newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20111025_Effort_under_way_to_bring_back_U_S__sailors_buried_in_Libya.html|access-date=2011-10-26|quote=[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.}}</ref>

==Legacy==
News of Somers' death would take some months to arrive to the [[United States of America|United States]], 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]] within the American Navy. However, the true reasons for the explosion remain unclear and no reliable account is known from the ''Intrepid''{{'s}} final moments.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cray |first1=Robert |title=Remembering Richard Somers: Naval Martyrdom in the Tripolitan War |journal=The Historian |date=2006 |volume=68 |issue=2 |page=268 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2006.00143.x |jstor=24453316 |s2cid=145380708 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24453316 |access-date=26 September 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Somers is buried in [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]], alongside the bodies of other sailors recovered from the explosion.<ref name=EffortUnderWay/> In 2004, the [[New Jersey State Assembly]] passed two resolutions calling for the return of his remains. It was hoped that with [[2011 Libyan Civil War|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 relatives of Somers in the United States remained unsuccessful as of 2015.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/local/20150126_Fears_for_early_American_Naval_crew_still_buried_in_Libya.html |title=Fears for early American Naval crew still buried in Libya |first=Edward |last=Colimore |newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |location=Somers Point, New Jersey |date=2015-01-26 |access-date=2021-01-25}}</ref>

Since 1804, six ships of the US Navy have successively been named the [[USS Somers|USS ''Somers'']] in his honor.

The town of [[Somers, New York]], located in [[Westchester County, New York|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.

==See also==
*[[Tripoli Monument]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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