i88 Naval War of 1812 



letter published in the "London Naval Chronicle," 3 

 gives her over 300 ; more than that number of dead 

 and prisoners were taken out of her. He misstates 

 the calibre of her guns, and counts out two of them 

 because they were used through the bow-ports; 

 whereas, from the method in which she made her 

 attack, these would have been peculiarly effec 

 tive. The guns are given accurately by Cooper, 

 on the authority of an officer, 4 who was on board 

 the Constitution within 15 minutes after the Linnet 

 struck, and who was in charge of her for two 

 months. 



Then James states that there were but 10 British 

 galleys, while Sir George Prevost's official account, 

 as well as all the American authorities, state the 

 number to be 12. He says that the Finch grounded 

 opposite an American battery before the engagement 

 began, while in reality it was an hour afterward, 

 and because she had been disabled by the shot of . the 

 American "fleet The galleys were largely manned 

 by Canadians, and James, anxious to put the blame 

 on these rather than the British, says that they 

 acted in the most cowardly way, whereas in reality 

 they caused the Americans more trouble than Dow- 

 nie's smaller sailing vessels did. His account of the 

 armament of these vessels differs widely from the 

 official reports. He gives the Linnet and Chubb a 

 smaller number of men than the number of prisoners 



3 Vol. xxxii, p. 272. The letter also says that hardly five 

 of her men remained unhurt. 



4 Lieutenant E. A. F. Lavallette. 



