204 Naval War of 1812 



and Captain Lambert. The American prepared 

 himself in every possible way; the Briton tried to 

 cope with courage alone against courage united to 

 skill. His bad gunnery had not been felt in con 

 tending with European foes 92 as unskilful as him 

 self. Says Lord Howard Douglas (p. 3) : "We 

 entered with too much confidence into a war with 

 a marine much more expert than any of our Eu 

 ropean enemies . . . there was inferiority of 

 gunnery as well as of force," etc. Admiral Cod- 

 rington, commenting on the Epervier's loss, says, 

 as before quoted, that, owing to his being chosen 

 purely for merit, the American captain was an over 

 match for the British, unless "he encountered our 

 best officers on equal terms." 



The best criticism on the war is that given by 

 Capitaine Jurien de la Graviere. 98 After speaking 

 of the heavier metal and greater number of men of 

 the American ships, he continues: "And yet only 

 an enormous superiority in the precision and rapid 

 ity of their fire can explain the difference in the 

 losses sustained by the combatants. . . . Nor 

 was the skill of their gunners the' only cause to 

 which the Americans owed their success. Their 

 ships were faster; the crews, composed of chosen 



M Lord Howard Douglas; he seems to think that in 1812 

 the British had fallen off absolutely, though not relatively, to 

 their European foes. 



98 "Guerres Maritimes," ii, pp. 269, 272, 274 (Paris, 1847). 



