174 Naval War of 1812 



being taken of him by the enemy beyond an ineffect 

 ual broadside from the sternmost frigate. At 2 .35 

 he was out of sight of all the ships and shaped his 

 course for America, which he reached on April 

 ioth. C8 At i .45 the Newcastle opened on the Con 

 stitution, firing by divisions, but the shot all fell 

 short, according to the American statements, about 

 200 yards, while the British accounts (as given in 

 Marshall's "Naval Biography") make the distance 

 much greater; at any rate, the vessels were so near 

 that from the Constitution the officers of the New 

 castle could be seen standing on the hammock net 

 tings. But, very strangely, both the 5O-gun ships 

 apparently still mistook the Levant, though a low, 

 flush-decked sloop like the Hornet, for the "Presi 

 dent, Congress, or Macedonian," Captain Collier be 

 lieving that the Constitution had sailed with two 

 other frigates in company. 69 By three o'clock the 

 Levant had lagged so as to be in the same position 

 from which the Cyane had just been rescued; ac 

 cordingly Captain Stewart signaled to her to tack, 

 which she did, and immediately afterward all three 

 British ships tacked in pursuit. Before they did so, 

 it must be remembered the Acasta had weathered on 

 the Constitution, though left considerably astern, 

 while the Newcastle and Leander had about kept 



68 Letter of Lieutenant Hoffman, April 10, 1815. 

 " Marshall, ii, 533. 



