$8 Naval War of 1812 



had no desire to shirk a conflict with any foe, and 

 having tried their bravery in actual service, they 

 made it doubly formidable by cool, wary skill. Even 

 the younger men, who had never been in action, had 

 been so well trained by the tried veterans over them 

 that the lack of experience was not sensibly felt. 



The sailors comprising the crews of our ships 

 were well worthy of their leaders. There was no bet 

 ter seaman in the world than the American Jack ; he 

 had been bred to his work from infancy, and had 

 been off in a fishing dory almost as soon as he could 

 walk. When he grew older, he shipped on a mer 

 chantman or whaler, and in those warlike times, 

 when our large merchant-marine was compelled to 

 rely pretty much on itself for protection, each craft 

 had to be well handled ; all who were not were soon 

 weeded out by a process of natural selection, of 

 which the agents were French picaroons, Spanish 

 buccaneers, and Malay pirates. It was a rough 

 school, but it taught Jack to be both skilful and self- 

 reliant ; and he was all the better fitted to become a 

 man-of-war's man, because he knew more about fire 

 arms than most of his kind in foreign lands. At 

 home he had used his ponderous ducking gun with 

 good effect on the flocks of canvasbacks in the reedy 

 flats of the Chesapeake, or among the sea-coots in 

 the rough water off the New England cliffs; and 

 when he went on a sailing voyage the chances were 

 even that there would be some use for the long guns 

 before he returned, for the American merchant 

 sailor could trust to no armed escort. 



