Concluding Operations 199 



Wasp with the Reindeer, and that of the Enterprise 

 with the Boxer), the honors were nearly even, and 

 in the other eight the superiority of the Americans 

 was very manifest. In three actions (those with the 

 Penguin, Frolic, and Shannon) the combatants 

 were about equal in strength, the Americans having 

 slightly the advantage ; in all the others but two, the 

 victors combined superiority of force with superior 

 ity of skill. In but two cases, those of the Argus 

 and Epervier, could any lack of courage be im 

 puted to the vanquished. The second year alone 

 showed to the advantage of the British ; the various 

 encounters otherwise were as creditable to the 

 Americans at the end as at the beginning of the war. 

 This is worth attending to, because many authors 

 speak as if the successes of the Americans were con 

 fined to the first year. It is true that no frigate was 

 taken after the first year, but this was partly be 

 cause the strictness of the blockade kept the Ameri 

 can frigates more in port, while the sloops put out 

 to sea at pleasure, and partly because after that year 

 the British i8-pounder frigates either cruised in 

 couples, or, when single, invariably refused, by 

 order of the Board of Admiralty, an encounter with 

 a 24-pounder; and though much of the American 

 success was unquestionably to be attributed to more 

 men and heavier guns, yet much of it was not. 

 The war itself gives us two instances in which de- 



