n6 Naval War of 1812 



Essex returned to New York on September 7th, 

 having made 10 prizes, containing 423 men. 14 



The Belvidera, as has been stated, carried the 

 news of the war to Halifax. On July 5th Vice- 

 Admiral Sawyer despatched a squadron to cruise 

 against the United States, commanded by Philip 

 Vere Broke, of the Shannon, 38, having under him 

 the Belvidera, 36, Captain Richard Byron, Africa, 

 64, Captain John Bastard, and ^Eolus, 32, Captain 

 Lord James Townsend. On the 9th, while off Nan- 

 tucket, they were joined by the Guerriere, 38, Cap 

 tain James Richard Dacres. On the i6th the squad 

 ron fell in with and captured the United States brig 

 Nautilus, 14, Lieutenant Crane, which, like all the 

 little brigs, was overloaded with guns and men. She 

 threw her lee guns overboard and made use of every 

 expedient to escape, but to no purpose. At 3 P.M. 

 of the following day, when the British ships were 

 abreast of Barnegat, about four leagues off shore, 

 a strange sail was seen and immediately chased, in 

 the south by east, or windward quarter, standing to 

 the northeast. This was the United States frigate 



14 Before entering New York the Essex fell in with a Brit 

 ish force which, in both Porter's and Farragut's works, is 

 said to have been composed of the Acasta and Shannon, 

 each of fifty guns, and Ringdove, of twenty. James says it 

 was the Shannon, accompanied by a merchant vessel. It is 

 not a point of much importance, as nothing came of the 

 meeting, and the Shannon alone, with her immensely su 

 perior armament, ought to have been a match twice over for 

 the Essex; although, if James is right, as seems probable, it 

 gives rather a comical turn to Porter's account of his "extra 

 ordinary escape." 



