234 Naval War of 1812 



about the same. This is not true, and even if it 

 was, would not affect the question. The heavy loss 

 on board the Shannon did not confuse or terrify 

 the thoroughly trained men with their implicit re 

 liance on their leaders; and the experienced officers 

 were ready to defend any point that was menaced. 

 Aq equal or greater amount of loss aboard the 

 Chesapeake disheartened and confused the raw 

 crew, who simply had not had the time or chance 

 to become well disciplined. Many of the old hands, 

 of course, kept their wits and their pluck, but the 

 novices and the disaffected did not. Similarly with 

 the officers; some, as the Court of Inquiry found, 

 had not kept to their posts, and all being new to 

 each other and the ship, could not show to their 

 best. There is no doubt that the Chesapeake was 

 beaten at the guns before she was boarded. Had 

 the ships not come together, the fight would have 

 been longer, the loss greater, and more nearly equal ; 

 but the result would have been the same. Cooper 

 says that the enemy entered with great caution, and 

 so slowly that twenty resolute men could have re 

 pulsed him. It was no proof of caution for Cap 

 tain Broke and his few followers to leap on board, 

 unsupported, and then they only waited for the 

 main body to come up; and no twenty men could 

 have repulsed such boarders as followed Broke. 

 The fight was another lesson, with the parties re 

 versed, to the effect that want of training and disci 

 pline is a bad handicap. Had the Chesapeake's 

 crew been in service as many months as the Shan- 



