122 Naval War of 1812 



("Naval Occurrences," p. 417) ; that is, one to have 

 had 35 men, a long 24, and a 32-pound carronade, 

 the other, 25 men and a 32-pound carronade, we get 

 for Downie's force 16 vessels, of 1,815 tons, with 

 774 men, throwing at a broadside 1,113 Iks. of 

 shot (615 from long guns, 498 from carronades). 

 It must be remembered that so far I have merely 

 corrected James by means of the authorities from 

 which he draws his account the official letters of the 

 British commanders. I have not brought up a sin 

 gle American authority against him, but have only 

 made such alterations as a writer could with noth 

 ing whatever but the accounts of Sir George Pre- 

 vost and Captain Pring before him to compare with 

 James. 



Thus it is seen that according to James him 

 self Downie really had 774 men to Macdonough's 

 882, and threw at a broadside 1,113 Ibs. of shot 

 to Macdonough's 1,194 Ibs. James says ("Naval 

 Occurrences," pp. 410, 413) : "Let it be recollected, 

 no musketry was employed on either side," and "the 

 marines were of no use, as the action was fought out 

 of the range of musketry" ; the 106 additional men 

 on the part of the Americans were thus not of much 

 consequence, the action being fought at anchor, 

 and there being men enough to manage the guns and 

 perform every other duty. So we need only attend 

 to the broadside force. Here, then, Downie could 



