312 Naval War of 1812 



As, amid light and rather baffling winds, the 

 American squadron approached the enemy, Perry's 

 straggling line formed an angle of about fifteen de- 

 grees with the more compact one of his foes. A* 

 11.45 the Detroit opened the action by a shot from 

 her long 24, which fell short; at 11.50 she fired a 

 second which went crashing through the Lawrence, 

 and was replied to by the Scorpion's long 32. At 

 11.55 tne Lawrence, having shifted her port bow- 

 chaser, opened with both the long i2's, and at me- 

 ridian began with her carronades, but the shot from 

 the latter all fell short. At the same time the action 

 became general on both sides, though the rearmost 

 American vessels were almost beyond the range of 

 their own guns, and quite out of range of the guns 

 of their antagonists. Meanwhile the Lawrence was 

 already suffering considerably as she bore down on 

 the enemy. It was twenty minutes before she suc- 

 ceeded in getting within good carronade range, and 

 during that time the action at the head of the line 

 was between the long guns of the Chippeway and 

 Detroit, throwing 123 pounds, and those of the 

 Scorpion, Ariel, and Lawrence, throwing 104 



generosity. Letter of Captain R. H. Barclay to Sir James, 

 Sept. 2, 1813; of Lieutenant Inglis to Captain Barclay, Sept. 

 loth ; of Captain Perry to the Secretary of the Navy, Sept. 

 loth and Sept. isth, and to General Harrison, Sept. nth and 

 Sept. i3th. I have relied mainly on Lossing's "Field-Book 

 of the War of 1812" (especially for the diagrams furnished 

 him by Commodore Champlin), on Commander Ward's 

 "Naval Tactics," p. 76, and on Cooper's "Naval History." 

 Extracts from the court-martial on Captain Barclay are 

 given in James' "Naval Occurrences," Ixxxiii. 



