BAINBRIDGE, WILLIAM commodore in the United States Navy, was born on May 7, 1774, in Princeton (N.J.). At 54 he went to sea in the merchant service and was in command of a trading schooner at an early age. When the United States Navy was organized in 1798 he was included in the corps of naval officers and appointed to the schooner "Retalia tion." When the United States found that bribing the pirate Barbary States did not stop their capture of its merchant ships in the Mediterranean, and was constrained at last to use force, he served against Algiers and Tunis. His ship, the "Philadelphia," ran aground on the Tunisian coast and he was for a time im prisoned. On his release he returned to the merchant service in order to make good the pecuniary loss caused by his captivity. But when the war of 1812 broke out between Great Britain and the United States, Bainbridge was appointed to command the United States frigate "Constitution" (44), in succession to Cap tain Isaac Hull (q.v.), and sent to cruise in the South Atlantic. On Dec. 29, 1812, he fell in with H.M.S. "Java," a vessel of 5,073 tons, formerly the French frigate "Renommee" (40). She was on her way to the East Indies, carrying the newly appointed lieutenant-governor of Bombay. She had a very raw crew, includ ing few real seamen, and her men had only had one day's gunnery drill. The United States Navy paid great attention to its gun nery, but the British navy, misled by its easy victories over the French, had neglected its own. In those conditions the fate of the "Java" was soon sealed. She was cut to pieces and forced to surrender, after suffering heavy loss and inflicting very little on the "Constitution." At the conclusion of the war with Great Britain, Bainbridge served against the Barbary pirates once more. During his later years he served on the board of navy commis sioners. He died on July 28, (D. H.)