ij4 Naval War of 1812 



two or three minutes ; he then leaped to his feet and 

 continued as before, when a shot took off the head 

 of the captain of the gun and drove it in his face 

 with such a force as to knock him to the other side 

 of the deck. But after the first broadside not so 

 much injury was done; the guns of the Confiance 

 had been leveled to point-blank range, and as the 

 quoins were loosened by the successive discharges 

 they were not properly replaced, so that her broad 

 sides kept going higher and higher and doing less 

 and less damage. 



Very shortly after the beginning of the action 

 her gallant captain was slain. He was standing 

 behind one of the long guns when a shot from 

 the Saratoga struck it and threw it completely off 

 the carriage against his right groin, killing him 

 almost instantly. His skin was not broken ; a black 

 mark, about the size of a small plate, was the only 

 visible injury. His watch was found flattened, with 

 its hand pointing to the very second at which he 

 received the fatal blow. As the contest went on the 

 fire gradually decreased in weight, the guns being 

 disabled. The inexperience of both crews partly 

 caused this. The American sailors overloaded their 

 carronades so as to very much destroy the effect of 

 their fire ; when the officers became disabled, the men 

 would cram the guns with shot till the last projected 

 from the muzzle. Of course, this lessened the exe- 



