86 Naval War of 1812 



Thus the British ship Cyane, captured by the Con 

 stitution, was in reality a small frigate, with a main- 

 deck battery of 22 guns, and 12 guns on the spar- 

 deck ; a few years before she would have been called 

 a 24-gun frigate, but she then ranked merely as a 

 22-gun sloop. Similarly the 50 and 64-gun ships 

 that had fought in the line at the Doggerbank, 

 Camperdown, and even at Aboukir, were now no 

 longer deemed fit for that purpose, and the 74 was 

 the lowest line-of-battle ship. 



The Constitution, President, and States must then 

 be compared with the existing European vessels that 

 were classed as frigates. The French in 1812 had 

 no 24-pounder frigates, for the very good reason 

 that they had all fallen victims to the English 18- 

 pounders ; but in July of that year a Danish frigate, 

 the Nayaden, which carried long 24*5, was destroyed 

 by the English ship Dictator, 64. 



The British frigates were of several rates. The 

 lowest rated 32, carrying in all 40 guns, 26 long 

 I2's on the main-deck and 14 24-pound carronades 

 on the spar-deck a broadside of 324 pounds. 27 

 The 36-gun frigates, like the Phoebe, carried 46 

 guns, 26 long i8's on the gun-deck and 32-pound 

 carronades above. The 38-gun frigates, like the 

 Macedonian, carried 48 or 49 guns, long i8's below 

 and 32-pound carronades above. The 32-gun frig 

 ates, then, presented in broadsides 13 long I2's be 

 low and 7 24-pound carronades above; the 38-gun 



57 In all these vessels there were generally two long 6's or 

 g's substituted for the bow-chase carronades. 



