76 Naval War of 1812 



Thus, Maryland furnished, both absolutely and 

 proportionately, the greatest number of officers, 

 Virginia, then the most populous of all the States, 

 coming next ; four-fifths of the remainder came from 

 the Northern States. 



It is more difficult to get at the birthplaces of the 

 sailors. Something can be inferred from the num 

 ber of privateers and letters of marque fitted out. 

 Here Baltimore again headed the list; following 

 closely came New York, Philadelphia, and the New 

 England coast towns, with, alone among the South 

 ern ports, Charleston, S. C. A more accurate idea 

 of the quotas of sailors furnished by the different 

 sections can be arrived at by comparing the total 

 amount of tonnage the country possessed at the out 

 break of the war. Speaking roughly, 44 per cent 

 of it belonged to New England, 32 per cent to the 

 Middle States, and 1 1 per cent to Maryland. This 

 makes it probable (but of course not certain) that 

 three-fourths of the common sailors hailed from the 

 Northern States, half the remainder from Maryland, 

 and the rest chiefly from Virginia and South 

 Carolina. 



Having thus discussed somewhat at length the 

 character of our officers and crews, it will now be 

 necessary to present some statistical tables to give 

 a more accurate idea of the composition of the navy, 

 the tonnage, complements, and armaments of the 

 ships, etc. 



At the beginning of the war the Government pos- 



