On the Ocean 223 



pends in a great measure the true aim and destruct 

 ive effect of the shot ; this was attended to by Captain 

 Broke in person. By draughts from other ships, 

 and the usual means to which a British man-of- 

 war is obliged to resort, the Shannon got together a 

 crew; and in the course of a year or two, by the 

 paternal care and excellent regulations of Captain 

 Broke, the ship's company became as pleasant to 

 command as it was dangerous to meet." The 

 Shannon's guns were all carefully sighted, and, 

 moreover, "every day, for about an hour and a half 

 in the forenoon, when not prevented by chase or the 

 state of the weather, the men were exercised at 

 training the guns, and for the same time in the after 

 noon in the use of the broadsword, pike, musket, 

 etc. Twice a week the crew fired at targets, both 

 with great guns and musketry; and Captain Broke, 

 as an additional stimulus beyond the emulation ex 

 cited, gave a pound of tobacco to every man that 

 put a shot through the bull's eye." He would fre 

 quently have a cask thrown overboard and suddenly 

 order some one gun to be manned to sink the cask. 

 In short, the Shannon was very greatly superior, 

 thanks to her careful training, to the average Brit 

 ish frigate of her rate, while the Chesapeake, owing 

 to her having a raw and inexperienced crew, was 

 decidedly inferior to the average American frigate . 

 of the same strength. 



In force the two frigates compared pretty 

 equally, 26 the American being the superior in just 



M Taking each commander's account for his own force. 



