Naval War of 1812 71 



old, and the rest of James's statement is avowedly 

 mere conjecture. It was asserted positively in the 

 American newspapers that the Wasp, which sailed 

 from Portsmouth, was manned exclusively by New 

 Englanders, except a small draft of men from a 

 Baltimore privateer, and that there was not a for 

 eigner in her crew. Of the Hornet James states 

 that "some of her men were natives of the United 

 Kingdom" ; but he gives no authority, and the men 

 he refers to were in all probability those spoken of 

 in the journal of one of the Hornet's officers, which 

 says that "many of our men [Americans] had been 

 impressed in the British service." As regards the 

 gunboats, James asserts that they were commanded 

 by "Commodore Joshua Barney, a native of Ire 

 land." This officer, however, was born at Baltimore 

 on July 6, 1759. As to the Constitution, Brenton, 

 as already mentioned, supposes the number of Brit 

 ish sailors in her crew to have been 200; James 

 makes it less, or about 150. Respecting this, the 

 only definite statements I can find in British works 

 are the following: In the "Naval Chronicle," Vol. 

 XXIX, p. 452, an officer of the Java states that most 

 of the Constitution's men were British, many being 

 from the Gucrrierc; which should be read in con 

 nection with James's statement (Vol. VI, p. 156) 

 that but eight of the Gucrrierc's crew deserted, and 

 but two shipped on board the Constitution. More 

 over, as a matter of fact, these eight men were all 

 impressed Americans. In the "Naval Chronicle" it 

 is also said that the Chesapeake' s surgeon was an 



