St. James. Before he returned, war had been declared by the United States against Great Britain. Captain Jones refitted his ship with all possible despatch, and repaired to sea on a cruise, in which he met with no other luck than the capture of an inconsiderable prize. He again put to sea on the 13th of October, and on the 18th of the month, after a long and heavy gale, he fell in with a number of strongly armed merchantmen, under convoy of the British sloop of war the Frolic, Captain Whinyates.

As this engagement has been one of the most decidedly honourable to the American flag, from the superior force of the enemy; and as the British writers, in endeavouring to account for our successes, and to undervalue our victories, have studiously passed this battle in silence, and seemed anxious to elbow it into oblivion, this occasion is taken to republish a full and particular account of it, which we have every reason to believe is scrupulously correct :—

"A heavy swell was in the sea, and the weather was boisterous. The topgallant-yards of the Wasp were taken down, her topsails were close-reefed, and she was prepared for action. About 11 o'clock, the Frolic showed Spanish colours, and the Wasp immediately displayed the American ensign and pennant. At thirty-two minutes past eleven, the Wasp came down to windward, on her larboard side, within about sixty yards, and hailed. The enemy hauled down the Spanish colours, hoisted the British ensign, and opened a fire of cannon and musketry. This the Wasp instantly returned; and, coming nearer to the enemy, the action became close, and without intermission. In four or five minutes, the maintopmast of the Wasp was shot away, and, falling down with the main-topsail-yard across the larboard fore and fore-topsail braces, rendered her head yards unmanageable during the rest of the action. In two or three minutes more, her gaft and mizen-topgallant-sail were shot away. Still she continued a close and constant fire. The sea was so rough that the muzzles of the Wasp's guns were frequently in the water. The Americans, therefore, fired as the ship's side was going down, so that their shot went either on the enemy's deck or

below it, while the English fired as the vessel rose, and thus her balls chiefly touched the rigging, or were thrown away. The Wasp now shot ahead of the Frolic, raked her, and then resumed her position on the Frolic's larboard bow. Her fire was now obviously attended with such success, and that of the Frolic so slackened, that Captain Jones did not wish to board her, lest the roughness of the sea might endanger both vessels; but in the course of a few minutes more, every brace of the Wasp was shot away, and her rigging so much torn to pieces, that he was afraid that his masts, being unsupported, would go by the board, and the Frolic be able to escape. He thought, therefore, the best chance of securing her was to board, and decide the contest at once. With this view he wore ship, and running down on the enemy, the vessels struck each other, the Wasp's side rubbing along the Frolic's bow, so that her jib-boom came in between the main and mizenrigging of the Wasp, directly over the heads of Captain Jones and the first Lieutenant, Mr. Biddle, who were at that moment standing together near the capstan. The Frolic lay so fair for raking, that they decided not to board until they had given a closing broadside. Whilst they were loading for this, so near were the two vessels, that the rammers of the Wasp were pushed against the Frolic's sides, and two of her guns went through the bow-ports of the Frolic, and swept the whole length of her deck. At this moment John Lang, a seaman of the Wasp, a gallant fellow, who had been once impressed by a British man-of-war, jumped on a gun with his cutlass, and was springing on board the Frolic; Captain Jones, wishing to fire again before boarding, called him down, but his impetuosity could not be restrained, and he was already on the bowsprit of the Frolic; when seeing the ardour and enthusiasm of the Wasp's crew, Lieutenant Biddle mounted on the hammock-cloth to board. At this signal the crew followed, but Lieutenant Biddle's feet became entangled in the rigging of the enemy's bowsprit, and the midshipman, Baker, in his ardour to spring on board, laying hold of his coat, he fell back on the Wasp's deck. He sprung up, and as the next swell of the sea brought the Frolic nearer, he

mounted her bowsprit, where Lang and another seaman were already. He passed them on the forecastle, and was surprised at not seeing a single man alive on the Frolic's deck, excepting the seaman at the wheel, and three officers. The deck was slippery with blood, and strewed with the bodies of the dead. As he went forward, the captain of the Frolic, with two other officers, who were standing on the quarter-deck, threw down their swords, and made an inclination of their bodies, denoting that they had surrendered. At this moment the colours were still flying, as, probably, none of the seamen of the Frolic would dare to go into the rigging for fear of the musketry of the Wasp. Lieutenant Biddle, therefore, jumped into the rigging, and hauled down the British ensign, and possession was taken of the Frolic in forty-three minutes after the first fire. She was in a shocking condition; the berthdeck, particularly, was crowded with the dead, wounded and dying; a small proportion of the Frolic's crew only had escaped. Captain Jones instantly sent on board his surgeon's mate; and all the blankets of the Frolic were brought from her slop-room for the comfort of the wounded. To increase this confusion, both the Frolic's masts soon fell, covering the dead and every thing on deck, and she lay a complete wreck.

"It now appeared that the Frolic mounted sixteen thirtytwo pound carronades, four twelve-pounders on the maindeck, and two twelve-pound carronades. She was, therefore, superior to the Wasp by exactly four twelve-pounders. The number of men on board, as stated by the officers of the Frolic, was one hundred and ten-the number of seamen on board the Wasp was one hundred and two; but it could not be ascertained, whether in this one hundred and ten were included the marines and officers; for the Wasp had, besides her one hundred and two men, officers and marines, making the whole crew about one hundred and thirty-five. What is, however, decisive as to their comparative force, is, that the officers of the Frolic acknowledged that they had as many men as they knew what to do with, and in fact the Wasp could have spared fifteen men. There was, therefore, on the most favourable view, at least an equality of men, and an

inequality of four guns. The disparity of loss was much greater. The exact number of killed and wounded on board the Frolic could not be precisely determined; but from the observations of our officers, and the declarations of those of the Frolic, the number could not be less than about thirty killed, including two officers; and of the wounded, between forty and fifty, the captain and second-lieutenant being of the number. The Wasp had five men killed and five slightly wounded.

"All hands were now employed in clearing the deck, burying the dead, and taking care of the wounded, when Captain Jones sent orders to Lieutenant Biddle to proceed to Charleston, or any other southern port of the United States; and, as a suspicious sail was seen to windward, the Wasp would continue her cruise. The ships then parted. The suspicious sail was now coming down very fast. At first it was supposed that she was one of the convoy, who had all fled during the engagement, and who now came for the purpose of attacking the prize. The guns of the Frolic were therefore loaded, and the ship cleared for action; but the enemy, as she advanced, proved to be a seventy-four, the Poictiers, Captain Beresford. She fired a shot over the Frolic; passed her; overtook the Wasp, the disabled state of whose rigging prevented her from escaping; and then returned to the Frolic, which could, of course, make no resistance. The Wasp and Frolic were carried into Bermuda.

"On the return of Captain Jones to the United States, he was everywhere received with the utmost demonstrations of gratitude and admiration. Brilliant entertainments were given him in the cities through which he passed. The Legislature of his native State appointed a committee to wait on him with their thanks, and to express the "pride and pleasure" they felt in recognising him as a native of their State. In the same resolution, they voted him an elegant piece of plate, with appropriate engravings. The Congress of the United States, on motion of Mr. J. A. Bayard, of Delaware, appropriated $25,000, as a compensation to Captain Jones and his crew, for the loss they sustained by the recapture of

the Frolic. They also ordered a gold medal to be presented to the captain, and a silver one to each of his officers."

Various other marks of honour were paid by the legislatures and citizens of different States; but the most substantial testimony of approbation which he received, was the appointment to the command of the frigate Macedonian, captured from the British.

CHAPTER VI.

The Frigate United States captures the Macedonian-Battle fought-Generosity of the Americans to the Enemy-Story of an Eye-Witness.

"Look here, upon this picture, and on this.”—Hamlet.

"This was the noblest Roman of them all."-Julius Cæsar.

If any doubt could still have been entertained of the ability IF of the republican navy to contend successfully with that of England, it was removed by the result of another engagement, which took place no long time afterwards, between two vessels of similar forcee to the Constitution and Guerriere. The frigate United States, Captain Decatur, sailed from Boston on the 8th of October, in company with the President, Congress, and Argus, and separated from them on the 13th. On the 25th, being in the vicinity of the Western Islands, she fell in with the British frigate Macedonian, of forty-nine guns and three hundred men; a vessel newly built, and in a perfect state of equipment. Being to windward, the latter had the advantage of choosing her distance; and, as the United States was, in a great part, armed with carronades, she was thus prevented from making use of a considerable portion of her force. In consequence of this circumstance, the action lasted an hour and a half; but when the American frigate was enabled to bring her opponent to close quarters, the engagement was soon terminated. The mizenmast and most of the spars of the Macedonian being shot away, she surrendered, with the loss of thirty-six killed, and sixty-eight wounded. That of the United States was only four killed and seven