Show Reuben James Forgotten WHEN HEN the radio flashed word recently that a ship of the United States navy had been torpedoed torpedoed torpedoed tor tor- tor- tor and sunk by a German submarine submarine submarine sub sub- marine it rescued from the h H. H JH which had nau engulfed It 11 n for lor more than a century the name of one of Americas America's forgotten heroes and gave it world-wide world fame For the destroyer which now rests on the bottom of the Atlantic with its crew of nearly officers and men victims victims victims vic vic- tims of the modern pirates was named in honor of Reuben James common seaman who once distinguished distinguished distinguished dis dis- dis- dis himself by an act of gallantry gallantry gallantry gal gal- lantry and self-sacrifice self in in a battle with the pirates of another era in inthe inthe inthe the annals of the sea That was away back in the early days of the republic when we were at war with the Barbary pirates of the north coast of Africa who had been preying upon American commerce for years On August 3 1804 young Captain Stephen Decatur Decatur Decatur Deca- Deca tur led his command of three gunboats gunboats gunboats gun gun- boats into the harbor of Tripoli to attack some of the pirate ships which had taken refuge there Out to meet him came six enemy boats all of them manned and armed twice as heavily as the American craft Undaunted by the odds against him Decatur urged his crews to grapple with the pirates pirates pirates pi pi- pi- pi rates and board their boats The battle immediately resolved itself into a desperate to hand-to-hand 7 t Y iI f t ll 1 I Reuben James saves the life of Capt Stephen Decatur Drawn I from the famous painting by Chap- Chap pel gle in which the pikes axes and cutlasses of the Americans were i pitted against the scimitars and daggers of the corsairs Within a short time Decatur and the crew of the gunboat which he commanded personally had cleared the deck of the pirate ship But bad luck had overtaken the captains captain's younger brother James Decatur The leader of the pirate boat which he boarded had pretended to I surrender then had shot James Decatur through the heart Seeing I this Captain Decatur mad with rage shouted to some of his men to come with him in pursuit of the mur mur- derer Another officer and 10 men reI responded responded re re- re- re I to his call and within a few minutes they overtook the enemy's I I ship Led by Decatur they sprang I aboard and cut their way through the corsairs toward their leader I The captain a giant of a man I swung savagely at the young American American American Amer Amer- ican with a pike which he was using as a broadsword Decatur trying to cut the blade of the pike from the shaft snapped his cutlass at the hilt Dropping his useless weapon he closed in seized the pirate captain around the waist and heeled back-heeled him for a heavy fall As the two struggling men went down on deck one of the pirates rushed forward and raised his scimitar scimitar scimitar itar to deal the American captain a death blow But before the weapon could descend Reuben James although badly wounded sprang forward forward forward for for- ward and threw himself across Decatur's shoulders The keen blade of the long curved sword slashed across James' James head inflicting inflicting inflicting inflict inflict- ing a terrible wound But he had saved his commanders commander's life James eventually recovered Later when asked to name his own reward reward reward re re- ward he is said to have scratched his scarred and battered head and murmured bashfully If its it's all the same to you let somebody else give out the hammicks Its It's a business I dont don't like And with that classic remark Reuben James steps off the page of history his name to tobe tobe tobe be all but forgotten until years later when a German torpedo sent his namesake to its watery grave In a certain sense Reuben James' James heroic self-sacrifice self was in vain True he saved Stephen Decatur for even greater service to his country later But it is also true that he saved his commanders commander's l life e only to have him lose it as a victim to the code duello which Decatur hated but which he was not brave enough to disobey So in 1820 when his erstwhile erstwhile erstwhile erst erst- while friend Commodore James Barron Barren who believed that Decatur had slandered him challenged him to a duel Decatur met him on the field of honor and died from the wound received there |