It was worse still for the ships at sea. Nobody then had ever dreamed of a telegraph without wires to send word out over the waste of waters, or even of a telegraph with wires. Thus it was that the last battle of the old Constitution was fought nearly two months after the war was over.
The good old ship was then on the other side of the ocean, and was sailing along near the island of Madeira, which lies off the coast of Africa. For a year she had done nothing except to take a few small prizes, and her stalwart crew were tired of that sort of work. They wanted a real, big fight, with plenty of glory.
One evening Captain Stewart heard some of the officers talking about their bad luck, and wishing they could only meet with a fellow of their own size. They were tired of fishing for minnows when there were whales to be caught.
"I can tell you this, gentlemen," said the captain, "you will soon get what you want. Before the sun rises and sets again you will have a good old-fashioned fight, and it will not be with a single ship, either."
I do not know what the officers said after the captain turned away. Very likely some of them wondered how he came to be a prophet and could tell what was going to take place. I doubt very much whether they believed what he had said.
At any rate, about one o'clock the next day, February 20, 1815, when the ship was gliding along before a light breeze, a sail was seen far away in front. An hour later a second sail was made out, close by the first. And when the Constitution got nearer it was seen that they were both ships-of-war. It began to look as if Captain Stewart was a good prophet, after all.
It turned out that the first of these was the small British frigate Cyane. The second was the sloop-of-war Levant. Neither was a match by itself for the Constitution, but both together they thought themselves a very good match.
It was five o'clock before the Yankee ship came up within gunshot. The two British ships had closed together so as to help one another, and now they all stripped off their extra sails, as a man takes off his coat and vest for a fight.
Six o'clock passed before the battle began. Then for fifteen minutes the three ships hurled their iron balls as fast as the men could load and fire. By that time the smoke was so thick that they had to stop firing to find out where the two fighting ships were. The Constitution now found herself opposite the Levant and poured a broadside into her hull. Then she sailed backward—a queer thing to do, but Captain Stewart knew how to move his ship stern foremost—and poured her iron hail into the Cyane. Next she pushed ahead again and pounded the Levant till that lively little craft turned and ran. It had enough of the Constitution's iron dumplings to last a while.
This was great sailing and great firing, but Captain Stewart was one of those seamen who know how to handle a ship, and his men knew how to handle their guns. There were never better seamen than those of the Old Ironsides.