The first USS Argus, originally named USS Merrimack, was a brig in the United States Navy commissioned in 1803. She enforced the Embargo Act of 1807 and fought in the First Barbary War – taking part in the blockade of Tripoli and the capture of Derna – and the War of 1812. During the latter conflict, she had been audaciously raiding British merchant shipping in British home waters for a month, when the heavier British intercepted her. After a sharp fight during which Arguss captain, Master Commandant William Henry Allen, was mortally wounded, Argus surrendered when the crew of Pelican were about to board. Construction and commissioning The United States Congress authorized construction of the brig, originally named USS Merrimack, the second U.S. Navy ship of that name, on 23 February 1803, and on 29 April 1803 the U.S. Navy contracted with the shipyard of Edmund Hartt at Boston, Massachusetts, to construct the ship. Edmund Hartts brother, Joseph Hartt, drafted the plans for the brig, designed with a flush deck and fine lines to optimize her for sailing conditions in the Mediterranean Sea. Captain Edward Preble was appointed superintendent of her construction, and her keel was laid down at Hartts yard on 12 May 1803. On 14 May 1803, two days after Merrimacks keel was laid, United States Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith assigned Preble to duty as commanding officer of the frigate , then at Boston, in addition to his duties related to Merrimacks construction. Smith informed Preble on 21 May 1803 that Preble was to take command of the U.S. Navys Mediterranean Squadron, which was to include Constitution and Merrimack, and on 27 May ordered Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, Jr. to take command of Merrimack and supervise her construction to allow Preble to focus on preparing Constitution for Mediterranean service. Smith found that U.S. Navy officers disliked the name Merrimack for the new brig, and he directed that she be renamed Argus, the first U.S. Navy ship of that name, on 4 June 1803. Although work on her construction proceeded quickly at first, Decatur reported on 11 July 1803 soon after arriving to take command that her construction had fallen behind schedule, although her builders assured him that she would be launched before the end of July. Decatur recruited her crew and procured her armament from Providence, Rhode Island, but by the beginning of August 1803 heavy and