64 Naval War of 1812 



Britain and America, whose people spoke the same 

 tongue and wore the same aspect. When chance 

 drifted the American into Liverpool or London, 

 he was ready enough to ship in an Indiaman or 

 whaler, caring little for the fact that he served under 

 the British flag; and the Briton, in turn, who found 

 himself in New York or Philadelphia, willingly 

 sailed in one of the clipper-built barks, whether it 

 floated the Stars and Stripes or not. When Cap 

 tain Porter wrought such havoc among the British 

 whalers in the South Seas, he found that no incon 

 siderable portion of their crews consisted of Ameri 

 cans, some of whom enlisted on board his own ves 

 sel ; and among the crews of the American whalers 

 were many British. In fact, though the skipper 

 of each ship might brag loudly of his nationality, 

 yet in practical life he knew well enough that there 

 was very little to choose between a Yankee and a 

 Briton. 4 Both were bold and hardy, cool and in- 



4 What choice there was, was in favor of the American. 

 In point of courage there was no difference whatever. The 

 Essex and the Lawrence, as well as the Frolic and the Rein 

 deer, were defended with the same stubborn, desperate, cool 

 bravery that marks the English race on both sides of the At 

 lantic. But the American was a free citizen, any one's equal, 

 a voter with a personal interest in his country's welfare, and, 

 above all, without having perpetually before his eyes the de 

 grading fear of the press-gang. In consequence, he was 

 more tractable than the Englishman, more self-reliant, and 

 possessed greater judgment. In the fight between the Wasp 

 and the Frolic, the latter's crew had apparently been well 

 trained at the guns, for they aimed well ; but they fired at 

 the wrong time, and never corrected the error ; while their 

 antagonists, delivering their broadsides far more slowly, by 



