On the Lakes 273 



Another disadvantage that Chauncy had to contend 

 with, was the difference in the speed of the various 

 vessels. The Pike and Madison were fast, weatherly 

 ships; but the Oneida was a perfect slug, even going 

 free and could hardly be persuaded to beat to wind- 

 ward at all. In this respect Yeo was much better 

 off; his six ships were regular men-of-war with 

 quarters, all of them seaworthy, and fast enough 

 to be able to act with uniformity, and not needing 

 to pay much regard to the weather. His force 

 could act as a unit ; but Chauncy's could not. 

 Enough wind to make a good working breeze for 

 his larger vessels put all his smaller ones hors dc 

 combat; and in weather that suited the latter, the 

 former could not move about at all. When speed 

 became necessary the two ships left the brig hope- 

 lessly behind, and either had to do without her, or 

 else perhaps let the critical moment slip by while 

 waiting for her to come up. Some of the schooners 

 sailed quite as slowly; and finally it was found out 

 that the only way to get all the vessels into action 

 at once was to have one half the fleet tow the other 

 half. It was certainly difficult to keep the com- 

 mand of the lake when, if it came on to blow, the 

 commodore had to put into port under penalty of 

 seeing a quarter of his fleet founder before his 

 eyes. These conflicting considerations render it 

 hard to pass judgment; but on the whole it would 

 seem as if Chauncy was the superior in force, for 

 even if his schooners were not counted, his three 

 square-rigged vessels were at least a match for 



