[429] The middle, where the yard is hung.
[430] Hull's report, Aug. 28, 1812. Captains' Letters, Navy Department MSS.
[431] The spritsail was set on a yard which in ships of that day crossed the bowsprit at its outer end, much as other yards crossed the three upright lower masts. Under some circumstances ships would forge slowly ahead under its impulse. It was a survival from days which knew not jibs.
[432] Dacres' Defence before the Court Martial. Naval Chronicle, vol. xxviii. p. 422.
[433] "Guerrière" Court Martial. MS. British Records Office.
[434] Memoirs of Gen. Winfield Scott, vol. i p. 31.
[435] Ibid., p. 35.
[436] Hull to the War Department, March 6, 1812. Report of Hull's Trial, taken by Lieut. Col. Forbes, 42d U.S. Infantry. Hull's Defence, p. 31.
[437] Armstrong's Notices of the War of 1812, vol. i. p. 237.
[438] The Writings of Madison (ed. 1865), vol. ii. p. 563. See also his letter to Dearborn, Oct. 7, 1812. Ibid., p. 547.