258 Naval War of 1812 



set of men. Bad powder would not account for the 

 surrender of the Argus when so little damaged. It 

 really seems as if the men must have been drunk or 

 over-fatigued, as has been so often asserted. Of 

 course drunkenness would account for the defeat, al- 

 though not in the least altering its humiliating 

 character. 



"Et tu quoque" is not much of an argument ; still 

 it may be as well to call to mind here two engage- 

 ments in which British sloops suffered much more 

 discreditable defeats than the Argus did. The fig- 

 ures are taken from James ; as given by the French 

 historians they make even a worse showing for the 

 British. 



A short time before our war the British brig 

 Carnation, 18, had been captured, by boarding, by 

 the French brig Palinure, 16, and the British brig 

 Alacrity, 18, had been captured, also by boarding, 

 by the corvette Abeille, 20. 



The following was the comparative force, etc., 

 of the combatants : 



Weight Metal No. Crew Loss 



Carnation 262 217 40 



Palinure 174 100 20 



Alacrity 262 100 18 



Abeille 260 130 19 



In spite of the pride the British take in their hand- 

 to-hand prowess both of these ships were captured 

 by boarding. TheCarnation was captured by a much 

 smaller force, instead of by a much larger one, as 

 in the case of the Argus; and if the Argus gave up 

 before she had suffered greatly, the Alacrity sur- 



