84 Naval War of 1812 



Among the stock accusations against our navy 

 of 1812 were, and are, statements that our vessels 

 were rated at less than their real force, and in par 

 ticular that our large frigates were "disguised line- 

 of-battle ships." As regards the ratings, most vessels 

 of that time carried more guns than they rated ; the 

 disparity was less in the French than in either the 

 British or American navies. Our 38-gun frigates 

 carried 48 guns, the exact number the British 38's 

 possessed. The worst case of underrating in our 

 navy was the Essex, which rated 32, and carried 

 46 guns, so that her real was 44 per cent in excess 

 of her nominal force; but this was not as bad as 

 the British sloop Cyane, which was rated at 20 or 

 22, and carried 34 guns, so that she had either 55 

 or 70 per cent greater real than nominal force. At 

 the beginning of the war we owned two i8-gun 

 ship-sloops, one mounting 18 and the other 20 guns; 

 the i8-gun brig-sloops they captured mounted each 

 19 guns, so the average was the same. Later we 

 built sloops that rated 18 and mounted 22 guns, 

 but when one was captured it was also put down 

 in the British navy list as an i8-gun ship-sloop. 

 During all the combats of the war there were but 

 four vessels that carried as few guns as they rated. 

 Two were British, the Epervier and Levant, and 

 two American, the Wasp and Adams. One navy 



477 tons. Warrington, her captor, however, says: "The 

 surveyor of the port has just measured the Epervier, and 

 reports her 467 tons." (In the Navy Archives, "Masters- 

 Commandant's Letters," 1814, I, No. 125.) 



For a full discussion of tonnage, see Appendix A. 



