In the long and bloody conflict of Plattsburg the Saratoga had twenty-eight killed and twenty-nine wounded; or more than one-fourth of all on board. The Eagle had thirteen killed and twenty wounded; about the same proportionate loss. The Ticonderoga had six killed and six wounded. The Preble had two killed. The Saratoga was hulled fifty-five times, and the Eagle thirty-nine times.
After the first destructive fire of the broadside of the Confiance, her fire became less formidable, the shot passing higher at each discharge. By her second broadside nearly all the hammocks in the Saratoga’s nettings were cut to pieces; and it was seen, as the battle advanced, that the English shot cut the standing rigging further and further from the deck.
Few men were hurt, after the first fire, by anything but grape, or by the shot of the well-fought Linnet. This was a curious fact, considering the smooth water, and the ships being always at the same distance. The American officers came to the conclusion that the enemy had levelled his guns to point blank range, and that the quoins were not properly replaced, after each discharge had loosened them.
When the Confiance made her abortive attempt to wind, her decks were in great confusion, and after the battle, when the charges of her guns were drawn, one gun was found with a canvas bag, holding two round-shot, rammed home and wadded, without any powder; another with two cartridges and no shot; and a third with a wad below the cartridge.
According to the report of the Captain of the Linnet, dated September 12th, the Confiance lost forty-one killed and forty wounded. At a later date the English themselves stated the number of her wounded at 83. This included the slightly hurt, no doubt; and would make her total loss one hundred and twenty-four; and that number was thought to be short of the truth.
The Linnet is reported to have had ten killed and fourteen wounded; the Chubb six killed and ten wounded; while the Finch was reported by the English to have had but two men wounded. No American official report of the casualties on board the English vessels was ever given, or at least published, nor was any report, of any kind, given, of the loss in the English galleys, which were well up, during the action, and must have suffered severely.
As soon as the Linnet struck a Lieutenant was sent to take possession of the Confiance. She was found to be in a much worse condition than her special opponent, the Saratoga. The Confiance had been hulled one hundred and five times, had nearly if not quite half her people killed and wounded, and her battery entirely disabled.
As the boarding officer was passing along the deck of the prize he accidentally ran against a lock-string, and thereby fired one of the Confiance’s starboard guns, which sent its shot towards Cumberland Head. Up to this moment the English galleys had been slowly drifting to leeward, with their colors down, apparently waiting to be taken possession of; but at the discharge of the gun, which they appear to have understood as a signal, one or two of them began to move slowly off, and were soon after followed by the others, each pulling very few sweeps. It appears that they did not hoist their colors again.
Captain McDonough made signal for the American galleys to follow; but it was found that their men were needed at the pumps of the larger vessels, to keep them from sinking, the water being found over the berth-deck of the Linnet. The signal to chase was then revoked.
As there was not a mast among the larger vessels which would bear any canvas, the English galleys escaped, going off, at first, slowly and irregularly, as if distrusting their own liberty.