96 Naval War of 1812 



quarter-deck were mounted carronades, and on the 

 forecastle also carronades, with two long bow- 

 chasers. 



Where two ships of similar armament fought one 

 another, it is easy to get the comparative force by 

 simply comparing the weight in broadsides, each 

 side presenting very nearly the same proportion of 

 long guns to carronades. For such a broadside we 

 take half the guns mounted in the ordinary way; 

 and all guns mounted on pivots or shifting. Thus 

 Perry's force in guns was 54 to Barclay's 63; yet 

 each presented 34 in broadside. Again, each of the 

 British brig-sloops mounted 19 guns, presenting 10 

 in broadside. Besides these, some ships mounted 

 bow-chasers run through the bridle-ports, or stern- 

 chasers, neither of which could be used in broad 

 sides. Nevertheless, I include them, both because it 

 works in about an equal number of cases against each 

 navy, and because they were sometimes terribly ef 

 fective. James excludes the Guerriere's bow-chaser ; 

 in reality he ought to have included both it and its 

 fellow, as they worked more damage than all the 

 broadside guns put together. Again, he excludes 

 the Endymion's bow-chasers, though in her action 

 they proved invaluable. Yet he includes those of 

 the Enterprise and Argus, though the former's were 

 probably not fired. So I shall take the half of the 

 fixed, plus all the movable, guns aboard, in compar 

 ing broadside force. 



But the chief difficulty appears when guns of one 

 style are matched against those of another. If a 



