Naval War of 1812 81 



put him at the mercy of any ordinary antagonist 

 who could choose his distance; accordingly he pe 

 titioned several times, but always without success, 

 to have his long i2's returned to him. 



The American 38'$ were about the size of the 

 British frigates of the same rate, and armed almost 

 exactly in the same way, each having 28 long i8's 

 on the main-deck and 20 32-pound carronades on 

 the spar-deck. The proper complement was 300 

 men, but each carried from 40 to 80 more. 21 



Our three 44-gun ships were the finest frigates 

 then afloat (although the British possessed some 

 as heavy, such as the Egyptienne, 44). They were 

 beautifully modeled, with very thick scantling, ex 

 tremely stout masts, and heavy cannon. Each car 

 ried on her main-deck thirty long 24*5, and on her 

 spar-deck two long bow-chasers, and twenty or 

 twenty-two carronades 42-pounders on the Presi- 



11 The Chesapeake, by some curious mistake, was frequently 

 rated as a 44. and this drew in its train a number of attend 

 ant errors. When she was captured, James says that in one 

 of her lockers was found a letter, dated in February, 1811, 

 from Robert Smith, the Secretary of War, to Captain Evans, 

 at Boston, directing him to open houses of rendezvous for 

 manning the Chesapeake, and enumerating her crew at a 

 total of 443. Naturally this gave British historians the idea 

 that such was the ordinary complement of our 38-gun frig 

 ates. But the ordering so large a crew was merely a mis 

 take, as may be seen by a letter from Captain Bainbridge to 

 the Secretary of the Navy, which is given in full in the "Cap 

 tains' Letters," Vol. XXV, No. 19 (Navy Archives). In it he 

 mentions the extraordinary number of men ordered for the 

 Chesapeake, as it equals in number the crews of our 44-gun 

 frigates, whereas the Chesapeake is of the class of the Con 

 gress and Constellation. 



