{061}
_The President and the Little Belt--The President and the
Belvidera--Hull's Race--The Constitution and the Guerriere--Effect
of the Victory--The Wasp and the Frolic--The United States and the
Macedonian--The Constitution and the Java--Nelson's Prediction._
|While the year 1812 brought nothing but disaster to the land forces
of the United States, on the ocean it was fruitful of victories that
astonished the world. It is greatly to the credit of President Madison
that he followed the advice of Captains Stewart and Bainbridge, in
opposition to his entire Cabinet, to develop and use the navy, instead
of laying it up. That was not only the wise but the appropriate thing to
do. This was pre-eminently a sailors' war, entered upon chiefly for
the purpose of protecting American seamen from impressment in a foreign
service, and its ultimate result would be a settlement of the question
whether American ships were to be at liberty to sail the high seas at
all, or whether, as a poet of our day puts it, the Atlantic Ocean was to
be considered merely John Bull's back yard. It was the wise thing to do,
because, if a na{062}tion determines to go to war at all, it should do
it in earnest; and the most effective war is made when the earliest and
most persistent blows are directed at the enemy's vital part. Of all
Great Britain's possessions that could be reached by balls or bayonets,
her ships at sea were the most important to her. Canada might be
overrun, or even conquered, and she would hardly feel its loss--or at
least she could exist without it; but anything that weakened her navy
and deranged her commerce would make every Englishman feel the penalties
of war.
A slight foretaste of what American seamanship and gunnery might do had
been afforded by an affair that took place a year before the war
broke out. The American frigate _President_, of forty-four guns, with
Commodore John Rodgers on board, was cruising off Sandy Hook in May,
1811, searching for an English frigate that had taken a sailor from an
American brig, when she sighted a strange craft. In answer to her hail,
the stranger fired a shotted gun, and the shot struck the mainmast. The
_President_ promptly returned the fire, and in a few minutes broadsides
and musketry blazed out from both vessels. As soon as Rodgers perceived
the inferiority of his antagonist, he ordered his gunners to cease
firing; but no sooner were his guns silent than the stranger opened
again. With another broadside or {063}two the _President_ completely
crippled her, and then hailed and got an answer. As darkness now came
on, Rodgers lay to for the night, keeping lights displayed, in case the
stranger should need assistance. In the morning he sent an officer on
board, who learned that she was the British ship Little Belt; that she
was badly damaged, and had lost thirty-one men killed or wounded. But
she declined receiving any assistance. On board the President one
boy had been slightly wounded. Each vessel sailed for home, and each
commander told his own story, the two accounts being widely different.
The version here given is that of the American officers. According
to the English captain, the _President_ began the action by firing a
broadside into the unoffending _Little Belt_. Each government accepted
the statement of its own officers, and there the matter rested.
It was this same vessel, the _President_, that fought the first action
of the war. With news of the declaration came orders to Commodore
Rodgers, then in New York, to sail on a cruise against the enemy. Within
one hour he was ready. The _Hornet_, of eighteen guns, Captain Lawrence,
was ready at the same time, and the _Essex_, of thirty-two guns, Captain
Porter, a few hours later.
Information had been received that a large fleet of English merchantmen
had left Jamaica, under {064}a strong convoy, for England, and on the
21st of June, Rodgers left the port of New York with his squadron, in
search of them. He did not find them; but on the morning of the 23d
a sail appeared in sight, which proved to be the British frigate
_Belvidera_, and the _President_ gave chase. About four o'clock in the
afternoon the vessels were within gunshot, and Rodgers opened fire with
his bow-guns, sighting and discharging the first one himself. The ball
struck the rudder-coat of the _Belvidera_, and passed into the gun-room.
The next shot struck the muzzle of one of her stern-chasers. The third
killed two men and wounded five. At the fourth shot the gun burst,
blowing up the forecastle deck, on which Rodgers was standing, and
hurling him into the air. The explosion also killed or wounded sixteen
men. This caused a lull in the action, and the _Belvidera's_ men went
back to their guns and returned the fire with considerable effect. The
_President_ soon began to forge ahead, when the _Belvidera_ cut loose
her anchors, stove her boats and threw them overboard, started fourteen
tons of water, and thus lightened, managed to escape, and a few days
afterward made the port of Halifax. The total loss of the _President_,
killed and wounded, in this action, was twenty-two; that of the
_Belvidera_, about half as many. {065}An English privateer was captured
by the _Hornet_ on the 9th of July, and subsequently seven merchantmen,
and an American vessel that had been captured by the enemy was retaken.
When the _Belvidera_ carried into Halifax the news of the declaration
of war, and that the American cruisers were out, a squadron of five
vessels, under Captain Vere Broke in the _Shannon_, was sent out to
destroy Rodgers. They did not find him, but they captured several
American merchantmen off the port of New York, and also took, after a
smart chase, the little brig-of-war _Nautilus_.
The Essex, which had left port a little later than the _President_ and
_Hornet_, took several prizes, one of them being a transport filled with
soldiers. She was chased by the _Alert_, of twenty guns, and fired upon.
The _Essex_ was armed with carronades, guns not intended for work
at long distances. Waiting till the enemy had come pretty near, she
suddenly opened her broadside, and in eight minutes the _Alert_ struck
her colors.
The great war-game on the ocean began in earnest when Captain Isaac Hull
sailed from the Chesapeake in July, in the _Constitution_, a frigate
of forty-four guns. On the 17th he came in sight of five vessels, which
proved to be Broke's squadron, and the next day he was surrounded by
them. As the wind was {066}very light, he resorted to "kedging" to keep
out of reach of them. This consisted in sending a boat ahead for perhaps
half a mile, with a kedge anchor and lines. The kedge was then dropped,
and the lines carried back to the ship. These being fastened to the
windlass, the crew, by turning it and winding them up, pulled the vessel
up to the anchor. While this was being done, the boat was going ahead
with another kedge and lines, to repeat the operation and make it
continuous. The flagship of the British squadron was pretty close in
chase when the American frigate was thus seen to be walking away from
it. The enemy soon found out how the mysterious movement was made, and
resorted to the same expedient. But it was not possible to approach very
near by this means, as it would have brought his boat under the fire
of the American's stern-guns. Captain Hull had cut away some of the
woodwork and run two twenty-four pounders out at his cabin windows, and
also mounted a long gun on his spar deck as a stern-chaser. Whenever
there was a little wind, every vessel set every stitch of canvas she
could carry, and all the nicest arts of seamanship were resorted to to
gain the slightest advantage. Eleven ships were in sight most of the
time, all participating in the contest. An American merchantman appeared
to windward, and the British vessels, {067}not wishing to leave the
chase, displayed an American ensign to decoy her within reach of their
guns. Thereupon the _Constitution_ hoisted an English flag, to warn her
off. This exciting race was kept up for three days. In the evening of
the second day, it was evident that a heavy squall was coming up. Just
before it struck the _Constitution_, all the light canvas was furled,
and the ship was brought under short sail in a few minutes. When the
pursuing vessels observed this, they began at once to let go and haul
down without waiting for the wind. Presently the squall came, and with
it a rainstorm that hid the vessels from one another. As soon as this
happened, the _Constitution_ sheeted home and hoisted her fore and main
topgallant sails, and while her pursuers were steering in different
directions to avoid the force of the squall, and believed her to be
borne down by the pressure of the wind, she was sailing straight away
from them at the rate of eleven knots an hour. When the squall was over,
the nearest vessel of the British squadron was seen to be a long way
astern, and to have fallen off two points to leeward, while the slowest
ones were so far behind as to be almost out of sight. The chase was kept
up during the night, but in the morning was found to be so hopeless that
it was abandoned.
This contest, though a mere race, attended with {068}no fighting, no
damage of any kind, and only a negative result, is famous in the annals
of the ocean. It was a fine instance of that superior seamanship
which stood the American sailor in good stead throughout the war, and
contributed quite as much as his valor to the brilliant victories that
rendered Great Britain no longer the mistress of the seas.
Hull made sail for Boston, and after a short stay in that port sailed
again on the 2d of August. He cruised along eastward as far as the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, where he captured and burned two small prizes, and then
stood southward. In the afternoon of the 19th a sail was descried from
the masthead, and the _Constitution_ at once gave chase. Within an hour
and a half she was near enough to the stranger to see that she was a
frigate; and a little later she laid her maintopsail aback and waited
for the _Constitution_, evidently anxious for a contest.
Hull immediately put his vessel in complete trim for a fight, cleared
for action, and beat to quarters. At five o'clock the English frigate,
which proved to be the _Guerriere_, of thirty-eight guns, Captain
Dacres, hoisted three ensigns and opened fire. The _Constitution_
approached cautiously, so as to avoid being raked, firing occasionally,
but reserving most of her guns for close action.
After an hour of this, the _Guerriere_ indicated her {069}readiness for
a square fight, yard-arm to yard-arm, and the _Constitution_ set her
sails to draw alongside. The fire from both ships became gradually
heavier, and in ten minutes the mizzen-mast of the _Guerriere_ was shot
away. The _Constitution_ then passed slowly ahead, keeping up a constant
fire, her guns being double shotted with grape and round shot, and
attempted to get a position across the bows of the enemy and rake her.
But in trying to avoid being herself raked while gaining this position,
she luffed short, and fell foul of her enemy. At this moment the cabin
of the _Constitution_ took fire from the flash of the _Guerriere's_
guns, and for a while it looked as if she would fare hardly. But by
the energy and skill of Lieutenant B. V. Hoffman, who commanded in the
cabin, the fire was extinguished, confusion prevented, and a gun of the
_Guerriere_ that might have repeated the mischief disabled.
The instant the vessels came together, each attempted to board the
other; but a close and deadly fire of musketry prevented. On the
American side, Lieutenant Morris, Master Alwyn, and Mr. Bush, Lieutenant
of Marines, sprang to the taffrail to lead their men, when they were all
shot down. Finding it impossible to board, the _Constitution_ filled
her sails and shot ahead, and a moment later the _Guerriere's_ foremast
fell, and carried the mainmast, with it. This {070}reduced her to a
wreck, and as a heavy sea was on she was helpless. The _Constitution_
hauled off a short distance, repaired damages, and at seven o'clock wore
round and took a position for raking. An ensign that had been hoisted
on the stump of the mizzen-mast was at once hauled down in token of
surrender, and the prize was won. A lieutenant sent on board returned
with the news that she was one of the squadron that had so lately chased
the _Constitution_.
The victor kept near her prize through the night, and at daylight the
officer in charge reported that the _Guerriere_ had four feet of
water in the hold and was in danger of sinking. Captain Hull therefore
transferred the prisoners to his own vessel, recalled the prize crew,
and set the wreck on fire. In fifteen minutes the flames reached the
magazine, and the hulk that still remained of the proud English frigate
was blown to pieces.
In this battle the _Constitution_ lost seven men killed and seven
wounded. Her rigging suffered considerably, but her hull was only
very slightly damaged. The _Guerriere_ lost seventy-nine men killed
or wounded. The location of this battle may be found by drawing a line
directly east from the point of Cape Cod, and another directly south
from Cape Race; the point of intersection will be very near the
bat{071}tle-ground. It is a little south of the track of steamers
between New York and Liverpool.
The news of this victory was a startling revelation, on both sides of
the Atlantic. In expressing their contempt for the American navy, the
English journals had especially ridiculed the _Constitution_, as "a
bunch of pine boards, under a bit of striped bunting." This bunch of
boards had now outsailed a squadron of eleven British war-vessels, and
in a fight of half an hour had reduced one of their frigates to a wreck
and made her strike her colors. It was true that the American ship was
slightly superior in number of men and guns; but this would not account
for the superiority of seamanship, the better gun-practice, and the
enormous difference in losses. Captain Dacres, who was afterward put on
trial for losing his ship, asserted that he had sent away a considerable
number of his men in prizes; that he had several Americans in his crew
who refused to fight against their countrymen, and that he permitted
them to go below. But all allowances that could be made did not change
the essential character of the victory. Only a short time before, the
London Courier had said, "There is not a frigate in the American navy
able to cope with the _Guerriere_."
Captain Hull, who was now in his thirty-eighth year, had entered the
navy at the age of twenty{072}three, and had gained distinction in the
war with Tripoli. When he landed in Boston with his prisoners, nearly
the whole population of the town turned out to greet him. Flags and
streamers were displayed on every hand, decorated arches spanned the
streets, and a banquet was spread for him and his crew. He made a sort
of triumphal progress to New York and Philadelphia, where similar honors
were paid him, and handsome swords and snuffboxes presented to him.
Congress voted him a gold medal, to each of his commissioned officers a
silver medal, and fifty thousand dollars to the crew as prize money.
In his official report the Captain said: "It gives me great pleasure to
say that, from the smallest boy in the ship to the oldest seaman, not
a look of fear was seen. They all went into action giving three cheers,
and requesting to be laid close alongside the enemy." The London _Times_
said: "It is not merely that an English frigate has been taken, after
what we are free to confess may be called a brave resistance, but
that it has been taken by a new enemy, an enemy unaccustomed to such
triumphs, and likely to be rendered insolent and confident by them.
He must be a weak politician who does not see how important the first
triumph is, in giving a tone and character to the war. Never before
in the {073}history of the world did an English frigate strike to
an American; and though we cannot say that Captain Dacres, under all
circumstances, is punishable for this act, yet we do say there are
commanders in the English navy who would a thousand times have rather
gone down with their colors flying than have set their brother officers
so fatal an example."
The next naval contest, in the order of time, was that of the _Wasp_ and
the _Frolic_, one of the bloodiest of the war. The _Wasp_, an American
sloop-of-war, of eighteen guns, commanded by Captain Jacob Jones, was a
very fast sailer, and had gone to Europe with despatches, when the war
broke out. On her return she was refitted with all haste and sent out
on a cruise. In the night of October 17th, about five hundred miles
off Cape Hatteras, she sighted a fleet of six English merchantmen under
convoy of the _Frolic_, a brig, of twenty-two guns, Captain Whinyates.
Four of the merchantmen were armed.
The next morning, the sea being somewhat rough, the _Wasp_ was put under
short canvas and got into fighting trim, and then bore down upon the
_Frolic_, which kept herself between her convoy and the enemy. She also
was under short canvas, and her main-yard was on deck. About half past
eleven o'clock the _Wasp_ came up close on the starboard side of the
_Frolic_, and broadsides were exchanged at {074}the distance of only
sixty yards. The fire of the Englishman was the more rapid, but that
of the American was the more deliberate and effective. In a little
over four minutes the _Wasp's_ maintopmast was shot off and with the
maintopsail-yard fell across the braces, rendering the head-yards
unmanageable. A few minutes later her gaff and mizzen-topgallant-mast
were shot down; and before the action was over, every brace and most of
the rigging was carried away. The shot of the _Wasp_ was directed mainly
at her enemy's hull, and the firing on both sides was kept up with great
spirit, little or no attempt being made to manoeuvre, and the vessels
gradually approaching each other. At last they were so near that the
American gunners touched the side of the _Frolic_ with their rammers,
her bowsprit passed over the _Wasp's_ quarterdeck, and the latter was
brought directly across the Englishman's bows, in position for raking.
Captain Jones ordered a broadside; and when it was fired, the muzzles of
two of the guns were actually in the bow ports of the _Frolic_, and the
discharge swept her from stem to stern.
As no sign of submission had come from the enemy, Captain Jones was
about to repeat the raking, but was prevented by the impetuosity of his
crew. A sailor named John Lang, who had once {075}been impressed on a
British man-of-war, hot for revenge, sprang upon the bowsprit of the
_Frolic_, cutlass in hand, and was followed by Lieutenant Biddle and an
impromptu boarding-party. They met no opposition. Two or three officers,
wounded and bleeding, were standing on the after-part of the deck; there
was a cool-headed old seaman at the wheel; and dead and wounded sailors
were lying about in all directions. The officers threw down their
swords, and Lieutenant Biddle sprang into the rigging and hauled down
the British flag. The battle had lasted forty-three minutes. On board
the _Wasp_, five men had been killed and five wounded. The loss on
the _Frolic_ has never been ascertained, it was at least seventy-five.
Captain Whinyates, in his official report, said that not twenty of his
men escaped injury.
The two vessels were separated, and in a few minutes both masts of the
_Frolic_ fell. Arrangements were made for sending her into Charleston
with a prize crew, while the Wasp should repair damages and continue
her cruise. But before this plan could even be fairly entered upon, the
British ship-of-the-line _Poictiers_, carrying seventy-four guns, hove
in sight, and speedily made prize of both vessels and took them to
Bermuda.
On the same day when this action took place. {076}Commodore Stephen
Decatur, cruising in the frigate _United States_, captured the British
packet _Swallow_, which had on board a large quantity of specie. He
continued his cruise eastward, and only a week later (October 25th),
at a point about midway between the Azores and the Cape Verd Islands,
sighted a large vessel to windward, which proved to be the English
frigate _Macedonian_, carrying forty-nine guns, Captain Carden. She was
somewhat smaller than the _United States,_ and had fewer men. Decatur
made up to the stranger; but she had the advantage of the wind, and for
some time managed to keep out of reach. At length, after considerable
manoeuvring, the distance was shortened, and both vessels opened fire
with their long guns. The gunnery of the American was superior, and
while sustaining little injury herself she inflicted serious damage upon
her antagonist. At the end of half an hour, the distance had been
still more diminished, so that the carronades were brought into use. A
carronade is a short gun, throwing a comparatively large ball with not
very great velocity. The size of the ball and its slower motion cause
it to splinter and tear a ragged hole in the side of a ship, where
a smaller shot with a greater velocity would pass through and make a
smooth round hole, which could easily be plugged up again. {077}As the
_Macedonian_ became disabled, she fell off to leeward, while the United
States passed ahead and to windward, and then tacked and came up under
her lee. The firing, which had been entirely with artillery, now ceased
on both sides. The _Macedonian's_ mizzen-mast was gone, her main and
foretopmasts carried away, her main-yard cut in two, and her ensign had
disappeared. The _United States_ hailed her, and was answered that she
had struck her colors. She had received a hundred shot in her hull, most
of them in the waist. She went into the action with three hundred men,
of whom she lost thirty-six killed and sixty-eight wounded. On board
were seven impressed American sailors, two of whom were killed. On the
_United States_ five men were killed and seven wounded. Her rigging was
considerably cut, but otherwise she received very little injury.
Decatur took his prize to New York, going in by way of Long Island
Sound, where he arrived on New Year's day, 1813. He was received with a
great ovation, and there were banquets, orations; and public rejoicings
unlimited. Congress, following the precedent set in the case of Hull,
voted a gold medal to the commander, and a silver one to each of his
commissioned officers.
A member of the British Parliament, making a {078}speech concerning this
affair, said he "lamented that, with the navy of Great Britain against
that of America, which consisted of only four frigates and two sloops,
two of our finest frigates were now in their possession, captured
by only two of theirs. This was a reverse which English officers
and English sailors had not before been used to, and from such a
contemptible navy as that of America had always been held, no one could
suppose such an event could have taken place."
And the London _Independent Whig_ was constrained to say: "A powerful
and rival nation is now rapidly rising in the west, whose remonstrances
we have hitherto derided, but whose resentment we shall soon be taught
to feel; who for our follies or our crimes seems destined to retaliate
on us the miseries we have inflicted on defenceless and oppressed
states, to share with us the fertile products of the ocean, and snatch
from our feeble and decrepit hands the imperial trident of the main."
But the cup of English humiliation was not yet full. The Americans had
another able commander, with a stanch ship and a fearless crew, who now
came in for his turn. This was Commodore William Bainbridge, who sailed
from Boston late in October, on board the _Constitution_, the same
vessel with which Hull had conquered the _Guerriere_. In com{079}pany
with her sailed the brig _Hornet_, of eighteen guns, commanded by
Captain James Lawrence.
They cruised southward, and in December the _Hornet_ was left at San
Salvador, or Bahia, Brazil, to blockade an English brig that was on the
point of sailing with a large amount of specie on board. Lawrence had
sent in a challenge to fight the two brigs, on even terms, just outside
the harbor, but the English captain declined.
The _Constitution_ continued her cruise, and on the 29th, off
the Brazilian coast, sighted the English frigate _Java_, carrying
thirty-eight guns, Captain Lambert. Bainbridge tacked and drew the
stranger off the land, which was not more than thirty miles distant, and
when far enough away stood toward him. The enemy seemed quite as anxious
for a contest, and about two o'clock it began. The firing was heavy and
continuous. The _Java_ had the advantage of the wind, and attempted to
cross the _Constitution's_ bow, to rake her. But the latter wore, and
avoided it. This manoeuvre was repeated several times, and at length the
_Constitution_, though her wheel had been shot away, making it difficult
to manage the steering-gear, succeeded in getting the coveted position,
and raked her antagonist.
The Java, which had been badly damaged, ran down Upon the _Constitution_
with the intention of {080}boarding. But her jibboom became entangled
in the _Constitution's_ mizzen-rigging, and she was held there and raked
mercilessly. At this time her bowsprit and foremast were shot away.
The two vessels now separated, and after considerable manoeuvring came
together again, yard-arm and yard-arm, and reopened their broadsides.
Now the _Java's_ mizzen-mast tumbled, and her main-mast was the only
stick left standing. The _Constitution_ then hauled off, and spent an
hour in repairing damages, at the end of which time she wore round and
stood across her antagonist's bow, when the English colors were struck.
The action had lasted an hour and fifty-five minutes. The _Constitution_
had lost nine men killed and twenty-five wounded, Commodore Bainbridge
being slightly wounded. The loss on board the _Java_ was variously
stated; the lowest estimate made it twenty-two killed and one hundred
and one wounded. Bainbridge said that sixty were killed. Captain Lambert
was mortally wounded. The whole number on board was four hundred,
including General Hislop and his staff and other officers, who were on
their way to the East Indies.
The _Java_ was a complete wreck, and after a day or two it was
determined to blow her up, which was done after all the prisoners and
wounded had been {081}carefully removed. She might have been towed into
Bahia; but Brazil was friendly to Great Britain, and Bainbridge did not
want to trust his prize in a Brazilian harbor. He, however, landed his
prisoners there, and paroled them.
The _Constitution_--which received the name of "_Old Ironsides_," on
account of escaping serious damage in this action--arrived at Boston in
February. Here the same welcome that had been given to Hull and Decatur
was extended to Bainbridge. The cities of New York and Albany gave
him gold snuff-boxes, Philadelphia gave him a service of silver, and
Congress voted the usual medals, with fifty thousand dollars of prize
money for the crew.
In the first six months of the war, the little American navy, for which
Congress had done nothing, and from which nothing had been expected, had
six encounters with English cruisers, and in every one was victorious.
These defeats were a sore trouble to English naval historians, who have
ever since been laboring to explain them away. They have invented
all sorts of ingenious theories to account for them; but it has never
occurred to them to adopt the simple explanation that they _were_
defeats, brought about by superior seamanship and gunnery, backed up
by the consciousness of a just cause, on the part of the Americans. The
favorite explanation {082}has been, that the American so-called frigates
were seventy-four-gun ships in disguise; that the English crews were all
green hands, and their numbers were not full at that. A few years later,
General Scott met at a dinner in London a young British naval officer,
who superciliously inquired, "whether the Americans continued to build
line-of-battle ships, and to call them frigates."
"We have borrowed a great many excellent things from the mother
country," answered Scott, "and some that discredit both parties. Among
the latter is the practice in question. Thus when you took from France
the _Guerrière_, she mounted forty-nine guns, and you instantly rated
her on your list a thirty-six-gun frigate; but when we captured her from
you, we found on board the same number, forty-nine guns!"
During this same half year, nearly three hundred British merchantmen had
been captured and brought into American ports. In this work the little
navy had been assisted by a large number of privateers, which had
sailed from our ports, under letters of marque, and had not only helped
themselves to the rich spoils of British commerce, but had occasionally
fought with armed cruisers.
These disasters were no more than had been predicted by Lord Nelson, the
greatest of English admirals. After watching the evolutions of an
Ameri{083}can squadron commanded by Commodore Richard Dale, in the bay of
Gibraltar, he is reported to have said to an American gentleman who was
on board his flagship that "there was in those transatlantic ships a
nucleus of trouble for the maritime power of Great Britain. We have
nothing to fear from anything on this side of the Atlantic; but the
manner in which those ships are handled makes me think that there may be
a time when we shall have trouble from the other."