On the Ocean 1 17 



Constitution, 44, Captain Isaac Hull. 15 When the 

 war broke out he was in the Chesapeake River get 

 ting a new crew aboard. Having shipped over 450 

 men (counting officers), he put out of harbor on 

 the 1 2th of July. His crew was entirely new, drafts 

 of men coming on board up to the last moment. 16 

 On the 1 7th, at 2 P.M., Hull discovered four sail, 

 in the northern board, heading to the westward. 

 At 3, the wind being very light, the Constitution 

 made sail and tacked, in 18^/2 fathoms. At 4, in 

 the N.E., a fifth sail appeared, which afterward 

 proved to be the Guerridre. The first four ships 

 bore N.N.W., and were all on the starboard tack; 

 while by 6 o'clock the fifth bore E.N.E. At 6.15 

 the wind shifted and blew lightly from the south, 

 bringing the American ship to windward. She then 

 wore round with her head to the eastward, set her 

 light studding-sails and stay-sails, and at 7.30 beat 

 to action, intending to speak the nearest vessel, the 

 Guerrttre. The two frigates neared one another 

 gradually and at 10 the Constitution began making 

 signals, which she continued for over an hour. At 



15 For the ensuing chase I have relied mainly on Cooper; 

 see also "Memoir of Admiral Broke," p. 240; James, vi, 133; 

 and Marshall's "Naval Biography" (London, 1825), ii, 625. 



16 In a letter to the Secretary of the Navy ("Captains' Let 

 ters," 1812, ii, No. 85), Hull, after speaking of the way his 

 men were arriving, says: "The crew are as yet unacquainted 

 with a ship of war, as many have but lately joined and have 

 never been on an armed ship before. . . . We are doing all 

 that we can to make them acquainted with their duty, and 

 in a few days we shall have nothing to fear from any single 

 decked ship." 



