CONTENTS

PAGE
[Introduction]1
[I]
The United States frigate Constitution, on July 17th, 1812, falls in with a British squadron, but escapes, owing to the masterly seamanship of Captain Isaac Hull23
[II]
The Constitution, under command of Captain Hull, captures the British frigate Guerrière, under command of Captain Richard Dacres, August 19th, 181235
[III]
The United States sloop of war Wasp, Captain Jacob Jones, captures the English sloop of war Frolic, October 18th, 1812; both vessels taken on the same day by the English seventy-four Poictiers47
[IV]
October 25th, 1812, the British frigate Macedonian, commanded by John S. Carden, is captured by the United States frigate, under command of Stephen Decatur; the prize is brought to port59
[V]
Captain Wm. Bainbridge, in the Constitution, captures the British frigate Java off the coast of Brazil, December 29th, 1812; the Java is set fire to and blows up73
[VI]
Gallant action of the privateer schooner Comet, of 14 guns, against three English vessels and one Portuguese, January 14th, 181391
[VII]
The United States sloop of war Hornet, Captain James Lawrence, takes the British brig Peacock; the latter sinks after the action, February 24th, 1813103
[VIII]
The United States frigate Chesapeake is captured by the English frigate Shannon after a gallant defence, June 1st, 1813113
[IX]
The United States brig Enterprise, commanded by William Burrows, captures H. B. M. sloop of war Boxer, September 5th, 1813; Burrows killed during the action129
[X]
On September 10th, 1813, the American fleet on Lake Erie, under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry, captures the entire English naval force under Commodore Barclay139
[XI]
The American privateer brig General Armstrong, of 9 guns and 90 men, repulses a boat attack in the harbor of Fayal, the British suffering a terrific loss, September 27th, 1813159
[XII]
March 28th, 1814, the United States frigate Essex, under Captain David Porter, is captured by two English vessels, the Phoebe and the Cherub, in the harbor of Valparaiso171
[XIII]
The United States sloop of war Peacock, commanded by Captain Warrington, takes the British sloop of war L’Epervier on April 29th, 1814191
[XIV]
The United States sloop of war Wasp, under command of Captain Blakeley, captures the British sloop of war Reindeer, June 28th, 1814. The Wasp engages the British sloop of war Avon on the 1st of September; the English vessel sinks after the Wasp is driven off by a superior fore199
[XV]
September 11th, the American forces on Lake Champlain, under Captain Macdonough, capture the English squadron, under Captain Downey, causing the evacuation of New York State by the British209
[XVI]
The United States frigate President, under command of Captain Decatur, is taken by a British squadron after a long chase, during which the President completely disabled one of her antagonists, January 15th, 1815219
[XVII]
February 20th, 1815, the Constitution, under Captain Stewart, engages and captures two English vessels that prove to be the Cyane and the Levant; one of her prizes is retaken, and the Constitution again has a narrow escape231
[XVIII]
The British brig of war Penguin surrenders to the United States brig Hornet, commanded by Captain James Biddle; the Penguin sinks immediately after the accident, March 23d, 1815245
[XIX]
The chase of the Hornet, sloop of war, by the Cornwallis, a British line-of-battle ship255

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE SURRENDER OF THE “GUERRIÈRE”[Frontispiece]
Facing p.
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN ISAAC HULL[22]
THE “CONSTITUTION” TOWING AND KEDGING[26]
THE “WASP” RAKING THE “FROLIC”[50]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN STEPHEN DECATUR[58]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE[72]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN JAMES LAWRENCE[102]
THE “PEACOCK” AND “HORNET” AT CLOSE QUARTERS[106]
THE “CHESAPEAKE” LEAVING THE HARBOR[116]
MEMORIAL MEDAL IN HONOR OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM BURROWS[128]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO LIEUTENANT EDWARD R. McCALL[128]
THE “ENTERPRISE” HULLING THE “BOXER”[132]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN OLIVER HAZARD PERRY[138]
THE “NIAGARA” BREAKS THE ENGLISH LINE[148]
THE “ESSEX” BEING CUT TO PIECES[184]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN LEWIS WARRINGTON[190]
THE “PEACOCK” CAPTURES THE “EPERVIER”[192]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN JOHNSTON BLAKELEY[198]
THE “WASP’S” FIGHT WITH THE “AVON”[204]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN THOMAS MACDONOUGH[208]
THE “PRESIDENT” ENDEAVORING TO ESCAPE[222]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN CHARLES STEWART[230]
THE “CONSTITUTION” TAKING THE “CYANE”[236]
MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN JAMES BIDDLE[244]
THE “PENGUIN” STRIKES TO THE “HORNET”[252]

INTRODUCTION

To study the condition of affairs that led up to the declaration of the second war against Great Britain we have but to turn to the sea. Although England, it must be confessed, had plenty of fighting on her hands and troubles enough at home, she had not forgotten the chagrin and disappointments caused by the loss of the American colonies through a mistaken enforcement of high-handedness. And it was this same tendency that brought to her vaunted and successful navy as great an overthrow as their arms had received on land some thirty-seven years previously.

The impressment of American seamen into the English service had been continued despite remonstrances from our government, until the hatred for the sight of the cross of St. George that stirred the hearts of Yankee sailor men had passed all bounds. America under these conditions developed a type of patriot seafarer, and this fact may account for his manners under fire and his courage in all circumstances.

The United States was an outboard country, so to speak. We had no great interstate traffic, no huge, developed West to draw upon, to exchange and barter with. Our people thronged the sea-coast, and vessels made of American pine and live-oak were manned by American men. They had sought their calling by choice, and not by compulsion. They had not been driven from crowded cities because they could not live there. They had not been taken from peaceful homes and wives and children by press-gangs, as was the English custom, to slave on board the great vessels that Great Britain kept afloat by such means, and such alone. But of his own free-will the Yankee sailor sought the sea, and of his own free-will he served his country. It would be useless to deny that the greater liberty, the higher pay, the large chance for reward, tempted many foreigners and many ex-servants of the king to cast their lot with us. But when we think that there were kept unwillingly on English vessels of war almost as many American seamen as were giving voluntary service to their country in our little navy, we can see on which side the great proportion lies.