Naval War of 1812 87 



frigates, 14 long i8's below and 10 32-pound car- 

 ronades above; so that a 44-gun frigate would nat 

 urally present 15 long 24'$ below and 12 42-pound 

 carronades above, as the United States did at first. 

 The rate was perfectly proper, for French, British, 

 and Danes already possessed 24-pounder frigates; 

 and there was really less disparity between the force 

 and rate of a 44 that carried 54 guns, than there was 

 in a 38 that carried 49, or, like the Shannon, 52. 

 Nor was this all. Two of our three victories were 

 won by the Constitution, which only carried 32- 

 pound carronades, and once 54 and once 52 guns; 

 and as two-thirds of the work was thus done by this 

 vessel, I shall now compare her with the largest 

 British frigates. Her broadside force consisted of 

 15 long 24's on the main-deck, and on the spar- 

 deck one long 24, and in one case 10, in the other 

 1 1 32-pound carronades a broadside of 704 or 736 

 pounds. 28 There was then in the British navy the 

 Acasta, 40, carrying in broadside 15 long i8's and 

 1 1 32-pound carronades ; when the spar-deck bat 

 teries are equal, the addition of 90 pounds to the 

 main-deck broadside (which is all the superiority 

 of the Constitution over the Acasta) is certainly not 

 enough to make the distinction between a frigate 

 and a disguised 74. But not considering the Acasta, 

 there were in the British navy three 24-pounder 

 frigates, the Cornwallis, Indefatigable, and Endy- 

 mion. We only came in contact with the latter in 



88 Nominally ; in reality about 7 per cent less on account of 

 the short weight in metal. 



