With great difficulty the two vessels were separated, for the Frolic had locked her antagonist, as it were, in a dying embrace; and no sooner were they clear than both of the prize’s masts fell (one bringing down the other), covering the dead and wounded, and hampering all the efforts of Lieutenant Biddle and his crew to clear the decks.
All this time three great white topsails had been pushing up above the horizon, and soon it was made out that a large ship of some kind was bearing down, carrying all the canvas she safely could in the sharp blow.
Jones, thinking that it might be one of the convoy returning to seek the Frolic, called his tired crew to quarters, instructing Lieutenant Biddle to fit a jury rig and to make with his charge for some Southern port. It was not to be, however, and the gallant victory was to have a different termination.
The lookout on the foremast called down something that changed the complexion of matters entirely.
“A seventy-four carrying the English flag!” he shouted. That was all. The men at the Wasp’s guns put out their matches. There was nothing to do but wait and be taken. Any resistance would be worse than foolish.
As the great battle-ship came bowling along she passed so close that the faces could be seen looking through her three tiers of great open ports. She disdained to hail, fired one gun over the little Wasp, and swept on. Captain Jones hauled down his flag, and read the word Poictiers under the Britisher’s galleries. In a minute or two the latter retook the Frolic, and, lowering her boats, placed prize crews on board both her and the Yankee sloop. After some repairing, she set sail and carried her captives to Bermuda.
As in all the separate engagements of the time, comparisons were made between the armaments and crews of the fighters, and the press of Great Britain and America began the customary argument. Probably the Wasp had a few more men, but to quote:
“The Frolic mounted sixteen 32-pound carronades, four 12-pounders on the main-deck and two 12-pound carronades. She was, therefore, superior to the Wasp by exactly four 12-pounders. The number of men on board, as stated by the officers of the Frolic, was 110. The number of seamen on the Wasp was 102. But it could not be ascertained whether in this 110 were included marines and officers, for the Wasp had, besides her 102 seamen, officers and marines, making the whole crew about 135. What, however, is decisive as to their comparative force is that the officers of the Frolic acknowledged that they had as many men as they knew what to do with, and, in fact, the Wasp could have spared fifteen men.... The exact number of killed and wounded on board the Frolic could not be determined, but from the observations of our officers and the declarations of those of the Frolic the number could not be less than about thirty killed, including two officers, and of the wounded between forty and fifty, the captain and lieutenant being of the number. The Wasp had five killed and five slightly wounded.”
Captain Jones in his report speaks of the bravery of his officers, the gallantry of his adversary, Captain Whinyates, and makes little mention of himself. Upon his exchange and return to the United States he was received with every honor belonging to a victor, and the sum of $25,000 was voted by Congress to be divided as prize money among his crew. The Wasp soon flew the British flag, but was lost at sea. Strange to relate, this was also the fate of the second Wasp that was soon afloat in the American service, and that had a career which was surpassed by none of the smaller vessels of the day.