Concluding Operations 151 



ing that Napoleon's defeat by Wellington and 

 Blucher "sunk" him to the level of Hannibal. For 

 the account of the American crew and loss, James 

 relies on the statements made in the Bermuda pa 

 pers, of whose subsequent forced retraction he takes 

 no notice, and of course largely overestimates both. 

 On the same authority he states that the President's 

 fire was "silenced," Commodore Decatur stating the 

 exact reverse. The point is fortunately settled by 

 the log of the Pomone, which distinctly says that 

 the last shot was fired by the President. His last 

 resort is to state that the loss of the President was 

 fourfold (in reality threefold) that of the Endym 

 ion. Now we have seen that the President lost "a 

 considerable number" of men from the fire of the 

 Pomone. Estimating these at only nineteen, we 

 have a loss of sixty caused by the Endymion, and 

 as most of this was caused during the first half 

 hour, when the President was not firing, it follows 

 that while the two vessels were both fighting, broad 

 side and broadside, the loss inflicted was about 

 equal; or, the President, aiming at her adversary's 

 rigging, succeeded in completely disabling her, and 

 incidentally killed 25 men, while the Endymion, did 

 not hurt the President's rigging at all, and, aiming 

 at her hull, where, of course, the slaughter ought to 

 have been far greater than when the fire was di 

 rected aloft, only killed about the same number of 



