218 Naval War of 1812 



Then he crowded sail to the northeast after a 

 Jamaica fleet of which he had received news, but 

 which he failed to overtake, and on June I3th, in 

 lat. 46, long. 28, he gave up the chase and shaped 

 his course toward the North Sea, still without any 

 good luck befalling him. On June 27th he put into 

 North Bergen in the Shetlands for water, and thence 

 passed the Orkneys and stretched toward the North 

 Cape, hoping to intercept the Archangel fleet. On 

 July i Qth, when off the North Cape, in lat. 71 

 52' N., long. 20 18' E., he fell in with two sails 

 of the enemy, who made chase; after four days' 

 pursuit the commodore ran his opponents out of 

 sight. According to his letter the two sail were 

 a line-of-battle ship and a frigate; according to 

 James they were the 12-pounder frigate Alexandria, 

 Captain Carthcart, and Spitfire, 16, Captain Ellis. 

 James quotes from the logs of the two British ships, 

 and it would seem that he is correct, as it would not 

 be possible for him to falsify the logs so utterly. In 

 case he is true, it was certainly carrying caution to 

 an excessive degree for the commodore to retreat 

 before getting some idea of what his antagonists 

 really were. His mistaking them for so much 

 heavier ships was a precisely similar error to that 

 made by Sir George Collier and Lord Stuart at a 

 later date about the Cyane and Levant. James 

 wishes to prove that each party perceived the force 

 of the other, and draws a contrast (p. 312) between 

 the "gallantry of one party and pusillanimity of 

 the other." This is nonsense, and, as in similar 



