On the Ocean 213 



Peacock published a card expressing in the warmest 

 terms their appreciation of the way they and their 

 men had been treated. Say they : "We ceased to 

 consider ourselves prisoners; and everything that 

 friendship could dictate was adopted by you and 

 the officers of the Hornet to remedy the inconven 

 ience we would otherwise have experienced from 

 the unavoidable loss of the whole of our property 

 and clothes owing to the sudden sinking of the 

 Peacock." 19 This was signed by the first and sec 

 ond lieutenants, the master, surgeon and purser. 



Weight 

 Tonnage Guns Metal Men Loss 



Hornet 480. 10 279 135 3 



Peacock 477 10 210 122 38 



Relative Relative Loss 



Force Inflicted 



Hornet i.oo i.oo 



Peacock .83 .08 



That is, the forces standing nearly as 13 is to n, 

 the relative execution was about as 13 is to i. 



The day after the capture Captain Lawrence re 

 ported 277 souls aboard, including the crew of the 

 English brig Resolution which he had taken, and 

 of the American brig Hunter, prize to the Peacock. 

 As James, very ingeniously, tortures these figures 

 into meaning what they did not, it may be well to 

 show exactly what the 277 included. Of the Hor 

 net's original crew of 150, 8 were absent in a prize, 

 i killed, and 3 drowned, leaving (including 7 sick) 

 138; of the Peacock's original 134, 4 were absent 



18 Quoted in full in Miles' "Register" and Lossing's "Field 

 Book." 



