On the Ocean 219 



cases, James overreaches himself by proving too 

 much. If he had made an i8-pounder frigate like 

 the Congress flee from another i8-pounder, his 

 narrative would be within the bounds of possibility 

 and would need serious examination. But the lit 

 tle 12-pounder Alexandria, and the ship-sloop with 

 her 1 8-pound carronades, would not have stood the 

 ghost of a chance in the contest. Any man who 

 would have been afraid of them would also have 

 been afraid of the Little Belt, the sloop Rodgers cap 

 tured before the war. As for Captains Cathcart 

 and Ellis, had they known the force of the President, 

 and chased her with a view of attacking her, their 

 conduct would have only been explicable on the 

 ground that they were afflicted with emotional 

 insanity. 



The President now steered southward and got 

 into the mouth of the Irish Channel ; on August 2d 

 she shifted her berth and almost circled Ireland; 

 then steered across to Newfoundland, and worked 

 south along the coast. On September 23(1, a little 

 south of Nantucket, she decoyed under her guns and 

 captured the British schooner Highflyer, 6, Lieut. 

 William Hutchinson, and 45 men; and went into 

 Newport on the 27th of the same month, having 

 made some 12 prizes. 



On May 24th Commodore Decatur in the United 

 States, which had sent ashore six carronades, and 

 now mounted but 48 guns, accompanied by Captain 

 Jones in the Macedonian, 38, and Captain Biddle in 

 the Wasp, 20, left New York, passing through Hell 



