Note 2 — BAINBRIDGE.

There already exists some disagreement as to the question on which of the two principal portions of this reef, the eastern or the western, the Philadelphia ran. Captain Bainbridge, in his official letter, says that the harbor of Tripoli was distant three or four miles, when his ship struck. But the harbor of Tripoli extends more than a mile to the eastward of the town. Fort English lies properly near the mouth of the harbor, and it is considerably more than a mile east of the castle; which, itself, stands at the southeastern angle of the town. Com. Porter, in his testimony before the court of inquiry, thought the ship struck about three miles and a half from the town of Tripoli, and one and a half from the nearest point of land, which bore south. By the chart, the western margin of the western reef is about 4000 yards from the nearest point in the town, and the western margin of the eastern reef, about 6000. Three miles and a half would be just 6110 yards. This reef, too, lies as near as may be, a mile and a half north of the nearest land; thus agreeing perfectly with Com. Porter’s testimony. In addition, the western portion of the reef could not have been reached without passing into five fathoms water, and Capt. Bainbridge deemed it prudent to haul off when he found himself in eight. All the soundings show, as well as the distances, that the frigate struck as stated in the text, on the eastern half of the Kaliusa Reef; which might well be named the Philadelphia Reef. It may be added, that the nearest land would bear nearer southeast, than south, from the western half of these shoals.