Then rouse ye brave freemen, and heed no alarms,
Your dear native country now calls you to arms,
Away to the battle, and count not the cost
Till the glory you gain, which so basely was lost.
Chorus
For if treason still dwell on Columbia's fair shore,
By our fathers we swear it shall dwell here no more.
The fury which the news of this disaster aroused was tempered by rejoicing for a remarkable victory on the ocean. Anxious to meet some of the famous British frigates, Captain Isaac Hull put out from Boston with the Constitution on August 2. He sailed without orders, and had the cruise resulted disastrously, he would probably have been court-martialed and shot. On the afternoon of August 19, a sail was sighted off Halifax and proved to be the British frigate Guerrière. Hull at once attacked, and soon reduced the enemy to a "perfect wreck." The Constitution sustained little injury and got safely back to port.
THE CONSTITUTION AND THE GUERRIÈRE
[August 19, 1812]
I often have been told
That the British seamen bold
Could beat the tars of France neat and handy O;
But they never found their match,
Till the Yankees did them catch,
For the Yankee tars for fighting are the dandy O.
O, the Guerrière so bold
On the foaming ocean rolled,
[Commanded by Dacres the grandee O];
For the choice of British crew
That a rammer ever drew
Could beat the Frenchmen two to one quite handy O.
When the frigate hove in view,
"O," said Dacres to his crew,
"Prepare ye for action and be handy O;
On the weather-gauge we'll get her."
And to make his men fight better,
He gave to them gunpowder and good brandy O.
Now this boasting Briton cries,
"Make that Yankee ship your prize,
You can in thirty minutes do it handy O,
Or twenty-five, I'm sure
You'll do it in a score,
I will give you a double share of good brandy O.