On the Ocean 241 



sneer at the "mighty dollar"; the French at the 

 "eternal guinea/' The former consider Decatur's 

 name as "sunk" to the level of Porter's or Bain- 

 bridge's; the latter assert that the "presumptuous 

 Nelson" was inferior to any of the French admirals 

 of the time preceding the Republic. Says James: 

 "The Americans only fight well when they have 

 the superiority of force on their side;" and Lieu- 

 tenant Rouvier: "Never have the English van- 

 quished us with an undoubted inferiority of force." 



On June 12, 1813, the small cutter Surveyor, of 

 six 12-pound carronades, was lying in York River, 

 in the Chesapeake, under the command of Mr. Wil- 

 liam S. Travis; her crew consisted of but 15 men. 34 

 At nightfall she was attacked by the boats of the 

 Narcissus frigate, containing about 50 men, under 

 the command of Lieutenant John Creerie. 35 None 

 of the carronades could be used; but Mr. Travis 

 made every preparation that he could for defence. 

 The Americans waited till the British were within 

 pistol shot before they opened their fire; the latter 

 dashed gallantly on, however, and at once carried 

 the cutter. But though brief, the struggle was 

 bloody; 5 of the Americans were wounded, and of 

 the British 3 were killed and 7 wounded. Lieu- 

 tenant Creerie considered his opponents to have 

 shown so much bravery that he returned Mr. Travis 



M Letter of W. S. Travis, June 16, 1813. 

 85 James, vi, 334. 



VOL. IX. ii 



