66 Naval War of 1812 



In the American navy, unlike the British, there 

 was no impressment ; the sailor was a volunteer, and 

 he shipped in whatever craft his fancy selected. 

 Throughout the war there were no "picked crews" 

 on the American side, 5 excepting on the last two 

 cruises of the Constitution. In fact (as seen by the 

 letter of Captains Stewart and Bainbridge to Secre 

 tary Hamilton), there was often much difficulty in 

 getting enough men. 6 Many sailors preferred to 

 serve in the innumerable privateers, and the two 



5 James' statements to the contrary being in every case ut 

 terly without foundation. He Is also wrong in his assertion 

 that the American ships had no boys; they had nearly as 

 many in proportion as the British. The Constitution had 

 31, the Adams 15, etc. So, when he states that our midship 

 men were generally masters and mates of merchantmen ; they 

 were generally from eleven to seventeen years old at the be 

 ginning of the war, and, besides, had rarely or never been in 

 the merchant marine. 



6 Reading through the volumes of official letters about this 

 war, which are preserved in the office of the Secretary of the 

 Navy, one of the most noticeable things is the continual com 

 plaints about the difficulty of getting men. The Adams at 

 one time had a crew of but nineteen men "fourteen of whom 

 are marines," adds the aggrieved commander. A log-book of 

 one of the gun-boats records the fact that after much difficulty 

 two men were enlisted from the jail, with a parenthetical 

 memorandum to the effect that they were both very drunk. 

 British ships were much more easily manned, as they could 

 always have recourse to impressment. 



The Constitution on starting out on her last cruises had an 

 extraordinary number of able seamen aboard, viz., 218, with 

 but 92 ordinary seamen, 12 boys, and 44 marines, making, 

 with the officers, a total of 440 men. (See letter of Captain 

 Bainbridge, Oct. 16, 1814; it is letter No. 51, in the fortieth 

 volume of "Captains' Letters," in the clerk's office of the 

 Secretary of the Navy.) 



