On the Ocean 9 



James' Americans would not be guilty of so stupid 

 an action. Of course neither Capt. Stewart nor 

 any one else supposed for an instant that a 36-gun 

 frigate was armed with 24-pounders. 



It is worth while mentioning as an instance of 

 how utterly untrustworthy James is in dealing with 

 American affairs, that he says (p. 476) the Con 

 stitution had now "what the Americans would call 

 a bad crew," whereas, in her previous battles, all 

 her men had been "picked." Curiously enough, 

 this is the exact reverse of the truth. In no case 

 was an American ship manned with a "picked" 

 crew, but the nearest approach to such was the crew 

 the Constitution carried in this and the next cruise, 

 when "she probably possessed as fine a crew as ever 

 manned a frigate. They were principally New Eng 

 land men, and it has been said of them that they 

 were almost qualified to fight the ship without her 

 officers." 9 The statement that such men, command 

 ed by one of the bravest and most skilful captains 

 of our navy, would shrink from attacking a greatly 

 inferior foe, is hardly worth while denying; and, 

 fortunately, such denial is needless, Captain Stew 

 art's account being fully corroborated in the "Memoir 

 of Admiral Durham," written by his nephew, Cap 

 tain Murray, London, 1846. 



The Constitution arrived off the port of Marble- 



* Cooper, ii, 463. 



