200 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
“Procrastination is to us a great evil, as I never witnessed such 
enthusiasm as there is in every ship in the squadron............... 
Your Excellency may rest assured that no opportunity shall be lost 
of bringing them to action ’”! 
For the next twenty-four hours the wind continued light and 
changeable. On the evening of the 10th the British squadron was 
becalmed off Twelve Mile Creek when Chauncey bore down toward it 
with a fine fresh breeze from the east. At sunset a breeze came 
off the land which suddenly gave Yeo the wind and he instantly made 
for his enemy, who then stood away with as much sail as his schooners 
could carry for the purpose of keeping up with his ships. He had 
formed his squadron in two lines abreast with his light schooners to 
windward and the heavy ones with the square-rigged vessels to leeward, 
each being a cable’s length behind that in the lead. Those in the 
weather line were directed to open fire as soon as their shot would take 
effect and when the enemy came too close to bear away and pass 
through the intervals of the other line and again form line to leeward 
of it. This was an ingenious plan to entrap a heedless adversary 
and bring him under the formidable battery of Chauncey’s flagship. 
At eleven o'clock firing began at long range but the American squadron 
was moving with such speed that more than an hour elapsed before the 
Wolfe succeeded in overhauling the windward line of schooners. All 
of them obeyed orders, bore up and passed to leeward except the 
Julia and Growler which were in the lead. These two hauled their 
wind and shot ahead to windward. Chauncey reported that he 
“filled the maintopsail and edged away two points to lead the enemy 
down, not only to engage him with more advantage but to lead him 
from the Julia and Growler.”’ Yeo said that ‘on coming up with the 
Madison and Pike they put before the wind and made sail, firing their 
stern-chase guns.’’ This is corroborated by a private letter from an 
officer of the Madison, published in a contemporary newspaper. 
“Every gun was pointed, every match ready in hand,” he wrote, 
“and the red British ensign plainly to be descried by the light of the 
moon, when to our utter astonishment, the Commodore wore and stood 
south-east.” 
When this occurred, all the other vessels of the British squadron 
were from two to three miles astern of the Wolfe, which easily cut off 
and compelled the two schooners still remaining to windward to haul 
down their colours after sustaining some damage to masts and rigging 
from her fire. Yeo then concluded that it would be inadvisable to 

1 Yeo to Prevost, off York, August 9, 11.30 a.m. 
2 Letter in the United States Gazette of Philadelphia, Sept. 6, 1813. 
