Jonathon Thorn served in the Navy during the Tripolitan War and volunteered to take part in the hazardous expedition to destroy the captured frigate Philadelphia, which was moored beneath the guns of the defended Tripoli harbor.

On 16 February 1804, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a party of these volunteers in the ketch Intrepid into Tripoli and burned the American ship so it could not be used by the enemy.

"A junior officer Thorn's position at the navy yard and his independence of action were hampered by his rank and a somewhat suspicious and inflexible nature.

Thorn's tenure in Brooklyn though was brief; his few surviving letters disclose a young man plagued by doubts, suffering poor physical and possibly mental health.

[4] The crew stopped off in the Kingdom of Hawaii to gather additional labor and resources, arriving at the mouth of the Columbia River on 22 March 1811.

Mutually satisfactory terms could not be settled upon, and Thorn slapped the elder appointed to represent the indigenous interests with a fur in the face.

In particular Gabriel Franchère stated that: He was a strict disciplinarian, of a quick and passionate temper, accustomed to exact obedience, considering nothing but duty, and giving himself no trouble about the murmurs of his crew, taking council of nobody, and following Mr. Astor's instructions to the letter.

His haughty manners, his rough and overbearing disposition, had lost him the affection of most of the crew and all the passengers: he knew it, and in consequence, sought every opportunity to mortify us... [9]Alexander Ross recounted: ...for the captain, in his frantic fits of passion, was capable of going any lengths, and would rather have destroyed the expedition, the ship, and everyone on board, than be thwarted in what he considered as ship discipline or his nautical duties.