176 Naval War of 1812 



in point of size ; but there certainly seems no reason 

 why what ships we have should not be of the very 

 best quality. The effect of a victory is twofold, 

 moral and material. Had we been as roughly han 

 dled on water as we were on land during the first 

 year of the war, such a succession of disasters would 

 have had a most demoralizing effect on the nation 

 at large. As it was, our victorious sea-fights, while 

 they did not inflict any material damage upon the 

 colossal sea-might of England, had the most impor 

 tant results in the feelings they produced at home 

 and even abroad. Of course they were magnified 

 absurdly by most of our writers at the time; but 

 they do not need to be magnified, for as they are any 

 American can look back upon them with the keenest 

 national pride. For a hundred and thirty years 

 England had had no equal on the sea; and now she 

 suddenly found one in the untried navy of an al 

 most unknown power. 



BRITISH VESSELS CAPTURED OR DESTROYED IN 1812 



Name Guns Tonnage Remarks 



Guerriere 49 I i34 



Macedonian 49 i ,325 



Java 49 1,340 



Jprohc 19 477 Recaptured 



Alert 20 325 



186 4,807 



19 477 Deducting Frolic 



167 4,330 



AMERICAN VESSELS CAPTURED OR DESTROYED 



Name Guns Tonnage 



IV asp 1 8 450 



Nautilus 14 185 



Vixen 14 185 



46 820 



