66 Naval War of 1812 



cruise, and they proved that they had not forgotten 

 their early experience, for they got out the boats to 

 tow, and employed their time so well that by sunrise 

 the frigate was two leagues astern. After 18 hours' 

 more chase the Adams dropped her. But in a day 

 or two she ran across a couple more, one of which, 

 an old bluff-bows, was soon thrown out; but the 

 other was very fast, and kept close on the corvette's 

 heels. As before, the frigate was to leeward. The 

 Adams had been built by contract ; one side was let 

 to a sub-contractor of economical instincts, and ac 

 cordingly turned out rather shorter than the other; 

 the result was, the ship sailed a good deal faster on 

 one tack than on the other. In this chase she finally 

 got on her good tack in the night, and so escaped. 54 

 Capt. Morris now turned homeward. During his 

 two cruises he had made but 10 prizes (manned by 

 161 men), none of very great value. His luck grew 

 worse and worse. The continual cold and damp 

 produced scurvy, and soon half of his crew were 

 prostrated by the disease; and the weather kept on 

 foggy as ever. Off the Maine coast a brig-sloop 

 (the Rifleman, Capt. Pearce) was discovered and 



M "Autobiography of Commodore Morris," Annapolis, 1880, 

 p. 172. 



54 This statement is somewhat traditional ; I have also seen 

 it made about the John Adams. But some old officers have 

 told me positively that it occurred to the Adams on this 

 cruise. 



