Before midnight Stewart had manned both his prizes, repaired his rigging, shifted his sails, and had his vessel in as good condition as before the encounter.
The Cyane was a ship that had made a reputation for herself in the war with France. She was one of the crack sloops of war in the English service. Only a year before she had engaged a French 44-gun frigate, and kept her at bay until help came in the shape of a seventy-four. Her commander was so crestfallen at having to surrender that when he came aboard a prisoner he hardly recognized Stewart’s courteous greetings and compliments.
Down in the cabin of the Constitution a little scene was enacted that must have been dramatic. Captain Douglass and Captain Falcon were treated as honored guests by Captain Stewart, and over their wine at dinner the day after the capture the two Englishmen indulged in a dispute, each placing the responsibility for the defeat upon the other’s shoulders.
Stewart listened without comment for some minutes, and then rising, gravely said, “Gentlemen, there is only one way that I see to decide this question—to put you both on your ships again, give you back your crews, and try it over.”
Either the humor or the force of this remark must have struck each one of his late antagonists, for they ceased their bickering at once.
An anecdote is related showing the spirit of the men on board the Constitution at the time. As she forged down upon the waiting English vessels grog was issued, as was customary, to the crews standing at the guns. An old quartermaster, noting with anger the eagerness of the men to claim a double share, as there were two vessels to fight, walked down the deck and kicked over two buckets of the spirits into the scuppers, exclaiming, “Shame, messmates; we need no Dutch courage on board this ship!”
This little incident, while it might not have dampened the crew’s ardor, may have accounted for the lack of cheers.
It is to be noticed that the weight of shot fired by the British vessels was heavier than the Constitution’s by ninety pounds.
In the action with the Guerrière the Constitution had been hulled three times, and in that with the Java four times. In this engagement thirteen shots reached her hull.
Only one of the prizes was destined to reach the United States—the Cyane—and the reason for this makes a separate story in itself.