MATCHLESS FRIGATES AND THEIR DUELS
It was soon made clear that the impressive victory over the _Guerrière_
was neither a lucky accident nor the result of prowess peculiar to the
_Constitution_ and her crew. Ship for ship, the American navy was better
than the British. This is a truth which was demonstrated with
sensational emphasis by one engagement after another. During the first
eight months of the war there were five such duels, and in every
instance the enemy was compelled to strike his colors. In tavern and
banquet hall revelers were still drinking the health of Captain Isaac
Hull when the thrilling word came that the _Wasp_, an eighteen-gun ship
or sloop, as the type was called in naval parlance, had beaten the
_Frolic_ in a rare fight. The antagonists were so evenly matched in
every respect that there was no room for excuses, and on both sides were
displayed such stubborn hardihood and a seamanship so dauntless as to
make an Anglo-Saxon proud that these foemen were bred of a common stock.
The _Wasp_ had sailed from the Delaware on the 13th of October, heading
southeast to look for British merchantmen in the West India track. Her
commander was Captain Jacob Jones, a name revived in modern days by a
destroyer of the Queenstown fleet in the arduous warfare against the
German submarines. Shattered by a torpedo, the _Jacob Jones_ sank in
seven minutes, and sixty-four of the officers and crew perished, doing
their duty to the last, disciplined, unafraid, so proving themselves
worthy of the American naval service and of the memory of the
unflinching captain of 1812.
The little _Wasp_ ran into a terrific gale which blew her sails away and
washed men overboard. But she made repairs and stood bravely after a
British convoy which was escorted by the eighteen-gun brig _Frolic_,
Captain Thomas Whinyates. The _Frolic_, too, had been battered by the
weather, and the cargo ships had been scattered far and wide. The _Wasp_
sighted several of them in the moonlight but, fearing they might be war
vessels, followed warily until morning revealed on her leeward side the
_Frolic_. Jacob Jones promptly shortened sail, which was the nautical
method of rolling up one's sleeves, and steered close to attack.
It seemed preposterous to try to fight while the seas were still
monstrously swollen and their crests were breaking across the decks of
these vessels of less than five hundred tons burden. Wildly they rolled
and pitched, burying their bows in the roaring combers. The merchant
ships which watched this audacious defiance of wind and wave were having
all they could do to avoid being swept or dismasted. Side by side
wallowed _Wasp_ and _Frolic_, sixty yards between them, while the cannon
rolled their muzzles under water and the gunners were blinded with
spray. Britisher and Yank, each crew could hear the hearty cheers of the
other as they watched the chance to ply rammer and sponge and fire when
the deck lifted clear of the sea.
Somehow the _Wasp_ managed to shoot straight and fast. They were of the
true webfooted breed in this hard-driven sloop-of-war, but there were no
fair-weather mariners aboard the _Frolic_, and they hit the target much
too often for comfort. Within ten minutes they had saved Captain Jacob
Jones the trouble of handling sail, for they shot away his upper masts
and yards and most of his rigging. The _Wasp_ was a wreck aloft but the
_Frolic_ had suffered more vitally, for as usual the American gun
captains aimed for the deck and hull; and they had been carefully
drilled at target practice. The British sailors suffered frightfully
from this storm of grape and chain shot, but those who were left alive
still fought inflexibly. It looked as though the _Frolic_ might get
away, for the masts of the _Wasp_ were in danger of tumbling over the
side. With this mischance in mind, Captain Jacob Jones shifted helm and
closed in for a hand-to-hand finish.
For a few minutes the two ships plunged ahead so near each other that
the rammers of the American sailors struck the side of the _Frolic_ as
they drove the shot down the throats of their guns. It was literally
muzzle to muzzle. Then they crashed together and the _Wasp's_ jib-boom
was thrust between the _Frolic's_ masts. In this position the British
decks were raked by a murderous fire as Jacob Jones trumpeted the order,
"Boarders away!" Jack Lang, a sailor from New Jersey, scrambled out on
the bowsprit, cutlass in his fist, without waiting to see if his
comrades were with him, and dropped to the forecastle of the _Frolic_.
Lieutenant Biddle tried it by jumping on the bulwark and climbing to the
other ship as they crashed together on the next heave of the sea, but a
doughty midshipman, seeking a handy purchase, grabbed him by the coat
tails and they fell back upon their own deck. Another attempt and Biddle
joined Jack Lang by way of the bowsprit. These two thus captured the
_Frolic_, for as they dashed aft the only living men on deck were the
undaunted sailor at the wheel and three officers, including Captain
Whinyates and Lieutenant Wintle, who were so severely wounded that they
could not stand without support. They tottered forward and surrendered
their swords, and Lieutenant Biddle then leaped into the rigging and
hauled the British ensign down.
Of the _Frolic's_ crew of one hundred and ten men only twenty were
unhurt, and these had fled below to escape the dreadful fire from the
_Wasp_. The gun deck was strewn with bodies, and the waves which broke
over the ship swirled them to and fro, the dead and the wounded
together. Not an officer had escaped death or injury. The _Wasp_ was
more or less of a tangle aloft but her hull was sound and only five of
her men had been killed and five wounded. No sailors could have fought
more bravely than Captain Whinyates and his British crew, but they had
been overwhelmed in three-quarters of an hour by greater skill,
coolness, and judgment.
No sea battle of the war was more brilliant than this, but Captain Jacob
Jones was delayed in sailing home to receive the plaudits due him. His
prize crew was aboard the _Frolic_, cleaning up the horrid mess and
fitting the beaten ship for the voyage to Charleston, and the _Wasp_ was
standing by when there loomed in sight a towering three-decker--a
British ship of the line--the _Poictiers_. The _Wasp_ shook out her
sails to make a run for it, but they had been cut to ribbons and she was
soon overhauled. Now an eighteen-gun ship could not argue with a
majestic seventy-four. Captain Jacob Jones submitted with as much grace
as he could muster, and _Wasp_ and _Frolic_ were carried to Bermuda. The
American crew was soon exchanged, and Congress applied balm to the
injured feelings of these fine sailormen by filling their pockets to the
amount of twenty-five thousand dollars in prize money.
It was only a week later that the navy vouchsafed an encore to a
delighted nation. This time the sport royal was played between stately
frigates. On the 8th of October Commodore Rodgers had taken his squadron
out of Boston for a second cruise. After four days at sea the _United
States_ was detached, and Captain Stephen Decatur ranged off to the
eastward in quest of diversion. A fortnight of monotony was ended by a
strange sail which proved to be the British thirty-eight-gun frigate
_Macedonian_, newly built. Her commander, Captain Carden, had the
highest opinion of his ship and crew, and one of his officers testified
that "the state of discipline on board was excellent; in no British ship
was more attention paid to gunnery. Before this cruise the ship had been
engaged almost every day with the enemy; and in time of peace the crew
were constantly exercised at the great guns."
The _United States_ was a sister frigate of the _Constitution_, built
from the same designs and therefore more formidable than her British
opponent as three is to two. Captain Carden had no misgivings, however,
and instantly set out in chase of the American frigate. But he was
unfortunate enough to pit himself against one of the ablest officers
afloat, and his own talent was mediocre. The result was partly
determined by this personal equation in an action in which the
_Macedonian_ was outgeneraled as well as outfought. And again gunnery
was a decisive factor. Observers said that the broadsides of the
_United States_ flamed with such rapidity that the ship looked as though
she were on fire.
Early in the fight Captain Carden bungled an opportunity to pass close
ahead of the _United States_ and so rake her with a destructive attack.
Then rashly coming to close quarters, the _Macedonian_ was swept by the
heavy guns of the American frigate and reduced to wreckage in ninety
minutes. The weather was favorable for the Yankee gun crews, and the war
offered no more dramatic proof of their superbly intelligent training.
The _Macedonian_ had received more than one hundred shot in her hull,
several below the water line, one mast had been cut in two, and the
others were useless. More than a hundred of her officers and men were
dead or injured. The _United States_ was almost undamaged, a few ropes
and small spars were shot away, and only twelve of her men were on the
casualty list. Captain Decatur rightfully boasted that he had as fine a
crew as ever walked a deck, American sailors who had been schooled for
the task with the greatest care. English opinion went so far as to
concede this much: "As a display of courage the character of our service
was nobly upheld, but we would be deceiving ourselves were we to admit
that the comparative expertness of the crews in gunnery was equally
satisfactory. Now taking the difference of effect as given by Captain
Carden, we must draw this conclusion--that the comparative loss in
killed and wounded, together with the dreadful account he gives of the
condition of his own ship, while he admits that the enemy's vessel was
in comparatively good order, must have arisen from inferiority in
gunnery as well as in force."
Decatur sent the _Macedonian_ to Newport as a trophy of war and
forwarded her battle flag to Washington. It arrived just when a great
naval ball was in progress to celebrate the capture of the _Guerrière_,
whose ensign was already displayed from the wall. It was a great moment
for the young lieutenant of the _United States_, who had been assigned
this duty, when he announced his mission and, amid the cheers of the
President, the Cabinet, and other distinguished guests, proudly
exhibited the flag of another British frigate to decorate the ballroom!
Meanwhile the _Constitution_ had returned to sea to spread her royals to
the South Atlantic trades and hunt for lumbering British East-Indiamen.
Captain Isaac Hull had gracefully given up the command in favor of
Captain William Bainbridge, who was one of the oldest and most respected
officers of his rank and who deserved an opportunity to win distinction.
Bainbridge had behaved heroically at Tripoli and was logically in line
to take over one of the crack frigates. The sailors of the
_Constitution_ grumbled a bit at losing Isaac Hull but soon regained
their alert and willing spirit as they comprehended that they had
another first-rate "old man" in William Bainbridge. Henry Adams has
pointed out that the average age of Bainbridge, Hull, Rodgers, and
Decatur was thirty-seven, while that of the four generals most
conspicuous in the disappointments of the army, Dearborn, Wilkinson,
William Hull, and Wade Hampton, was fifty-eight. The difference is
notable and is mentioned for what it may be worth.
Through the autumn of 1812 the frigate cruised beneath tropic suns, much
of the time off the coast of Brazil. Today the health and comfort of the
bluejacket are so scrupulously provided for in every possible way that a
battleship is the standard of perfection for efficiency in organization.
It is amazing that in such a ship as the _Constitution_ four hundred men
could be cheerful and ready to fight after weeks and even months at sea.
They were crowded below the water line, without proper heat, plumbing,
lighting, or ventilation, each man being allowed only twenty-eight
inches by eight feet of space in which to sling his hammock against the
beams overhead. Scurvy and other diseases were rampant. As many as
seventy of the crew of the _Constitution_ were on the sick list shortly
before she fought the _Guerrière_. The food was wholesome for rugged
men, but it was limited solely to salt beef, hard bread, dried peas,
cheese, pork, and spirits.
Such conditions, however, had not destroyed the vigor of those hardy
seamen of the _Constitution_ when, on the 29th of December and within
sight of the Brazilian coast, the lookout at the masthead sang out to
Captain Bainbridge that a heavy ship was coming up under easy canvas. It
turned out to be His Britannic Majesty's frigate _Java_, Captain Henry
Lambert, who, like Carden, made the mistake of insisting upon a combat.
His reasons were sounder than those of Dacres or Carden, however, for
the _Java_ was only a shade inferior to the _Constitution_ in guns and
carried as many men. In every respect they were so evenly matched that
the test of battle could have no aftermath of extenuation.
The _Java_ at once hastened in pursuit of the American ship which drew
off the coast as though in flight, the real purpose being to get clear
of the neutral Brazilian waters. The _Constitution_ must have been a
picture to stir the heart and kindle the imagination, her black hull
heeling to the pressure of the tall canvas, the long rows of guns
frowning from the open ports, while her bunting rippled a glorious
defiance, with a commodore's pennant at the mainmast-head, the Stars and
Stripes streaming from the mizzen peak and main-topgallant mast, and a
Union Jack at the fore. The _Java_ was adorned as bravely, and Captain
Lambert had lashed an ensign in the rigging on the chance that his other
colors might be shot away.
The two ships began the fray at what they called long range, which would
be about a mile, and then swept onward to pass on opposite tacks. It was
the favorite maneuver of trying to gain the weather gage, and while they
were edging to windward a round shot smashed the wheel of the
_Constitution_ which so hampered her for the moment that Captain
Lambert, handsomely taking advantage of the mishap, let the _Java_ run
past his enemy's stern and poured in a broadside which hit several of
the American seamen. Both commanders displayed, in a high degree, the
art of handling ships under sail as they luffed or wore and tenaciously
jockeyed for position, while the gunners fought in the smoke that
drifted between the frigates.
At length Captain Lambert became convinced that he had met his master at
this agile style of warfare and determined to come to close quarters
before the _Java_ was fatally damaged. Her masts and yards were crashing
to the deck and the slaughter among the crew was already appalling.
Marines and seamen gathered in the gangways and upon the forecastle head
to spring aboard the _Constitution_, but Captain Bainbridge drove his
ship clear very shortly after the collision and continued to pound the
_Java_ to kindling-wood with his broadsides. The fate of the action was
no longer in doubt. The British frigate was on fire, Captain Lambert was
mortally wounded, and all her guns had been silenced. The _Constitution_
hauled off to repair damages and stood back an hour later to administer
the final blow. But the flag of the _Java_ fluttered down, and the
lieutenant in command surrendered.
The _Constitution_ had again crushed the enemy with so little damage to
herself that she was ready to continue her cruise, with a loss of only
nine killed and twenty-five wounded. The _Java_ was a fine ship utterly
destroyed, a sinking, dismasted hulk, with a hundred and twenty-four of
her men dead or suffering from wounds. It is significant to learn that
during six weeks at sea they had fired but six practice broadsides, of
blank cartridges, although there were many raw hands in the crew, while
the men of the _Constitution_ had been incessantly drilled in firing
until their team play was like that of a football eleven. There was no
shooting at random. Under Hull and Bainbridge they had been taught their
trade, which was to lay the gun on the target and shoot as rapidly as
possible.
For the diminutive American navy, the year of 1812 came to its close
with a record of success so illustrious as to seem almost incredible. It
is more dignified to refrain from extolling our own exploits and to
recall the effects of these sea duels upon the minds of the people, the
statesmen, and the press of the England of that period. Their outbursts
of wrathful humiliation were those of a maritime race which cared little
or nothing about the course of the American war by land. Theirs was the
salty tradition, virile and perpetual, which a century later and in a
friendlier guise was to create a Grand Fleet which should keep watch and
ward in the misty Orkneys and hold the Seven Seas safe against the
naval power of Imperial Germany. Then, as now, the English nation
believed that its armed ships were its salvation.
It is easier to understand, bearing this in mind, why after the fight of
the _Guerrière_ the London _Times_ indulged in such frenzied
lamentations as these:
We witnessed the gloom which that event cast over high and
honorable minds.... Never before in the 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 rather have gone down with their colors
flying than to have set their fellow sailors so fatal an example.
Good God! that a few short months should have so altered the tone
of British sentiments! Is it true, or is it not, that our navy was
accustomed to hold the Americans in utter contempt? Is it true, or
is it not, that the _Guerrière_ sailed up and down the American
coast with her name painted in large characters on her sails in
boyish defiance of Commodore Rodgers? Would any captain, however
young, have indulged such a foolish piece of vain-boasting if he
had not been carried forward by the almost unanimous feeling of his
associates?
We have since sent out more line-of-battle ships and heavier
frigates. Surely we must now mean to smother the American navy. A
very short time before the capture of the _Guerrière_ an American
frigate was an object of ridicule to our honest tars. Now the
prejudice is actually setting the other way and great pains seems
to be taken by the friends of ministers to prepare the public for
the surrender of a British seventy-four to an opponent lately so
much contemned.
It was when the news reached England that the _Java_ had been destroyed
by the _Constitution_ that indignation found a climax in the outcry of
the _Pilot_, a foremost naval authority:
The public will learn, with sentiments which we shall not presume
to anticipate, that a third British frigate has struck to an
American. This is an occurrence that calls for serious
reflection,--this, and the fact stated in our paper of yesterday,
that Lloyd's list contains notices of upwards of five hundred
British vessels captured in seven months by the Americans. Five
hundred merchantmen and three frigates! Can these statements be
true; and can the English people hear them unmoved? Any one who
would have predicted such a result of an American war this time
last year would have been treated as a madman or a traitor. He
would have been told, if his opponents had condescended to argue
with him, that long ere seven months had elapsed the American flag
would have been swept from the seas, the contemptible navy of the
United States annihilated, and their maritime arsenals rendered a
heap of ruins. Yet down to this moment not a single American
frigate has struck her flag. They insult and laugh at our want of
enterprise and vigor. They leave their ports when they please and
return to them when it suits their convenience; they traverse the
Atlantic; they beset the West India Islands; they advance to the
very chops of the Channel; they parade along the coasts of South
America; nothing chases, nothing intercepts, nothing engages them
but to yield them triumph.
It was to be taken for granted that England would do something more than
scold about the audacity of the American navy. Even after the
declaration of war her most influential men hoped that the repeal of the
obnoxious Orders-in-Council might yet avert a solution of the American
problem by means of the sword. There was hesitation to apply the utmost
military and naval pressure, and New England was regarded with feelings
almost friendly because of its opposition to an offensive warfare
against Great Britain and an invasion of Canada.
Absorbed in the greater issue against Napoleon, England was nevertheless
aroused to more vigorous action against the United States and devised
strong blockading measures for the spring of 1813. Unable to operate
against the enemy's ships in force or to escape from ports which were
sealed by vigilant squadrons, the American navy to a large extent was
condemned to inactivity for the remainder of the war. Occasional actions
were fought and merit was justly won, but there was nothing like the
glory of 1812, which shone undimmed by defeat and which gave to the
annals of the nation one of its great chapters of heroic and masterful
achievement. It was singularly apt that the noble and victorious
American frigates should have been called the _Constitution_ and the
_United States_. They inspired a new respect for the flag with the
stripes and the stars and for all that it symbolized.
[Illustration: _ISAAC HULL_
Painting by J. W. Jarvis. In the City Hall, New York, owned by the
Corporation.]
[Illustration: _WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE_
Painting by J. W. Jarvis. In the City Hall, New York, owned by the
Corporation.]