104 Naval War of 1812 



the American did. With an inferior force he won a 

 partial victory over his opponent off Niagara, and 

 then kept him in check for six weeks ; while Chauncy, 

 with his superior force, was not only partially de 

 feated once, but, when he did gain a partial victory, 

 failed to take advantage of it. 



In commenting upon the timid and dilatory tac 

 tics of the two commanders on Ontario, however, it 

 must be remembered that the indecisive nature of 

 the results attained had been often paralleled by the 

 numerous similar encounters that took place on the 

 ocean during the wars of the preceding century. In 

 the War of the American Revolution, the English 

 fought some 19 fleet actions with the French, Dutch, 

 and Spaniards; one victory was gained over the 

 French, and one over the Spaniards, while the 

 17 others were all indecisive, both sides claim 

 ing the victory, and neither winning it. Of course, 

 some of them, though indecisive as regards loss 

 and damages, were strategetical victories: thus, 

 Admiral Arbuthnot beat back Admiral Barras off 

 the Chesapeake, in March of 1781 ; and near the 

 same place in September of the same year the French 

 had their revenge in the victory (one at least in 

 its results) of the Conte de Grasse over Sir Thomas 

 Graves. In the five desperate and bloody combats 

 which De Suffrein waged with Sir Edward Hughes 

 in the East Indies, the laurels were very evenly di- 



