Concluding Operations 205 



men, manoeuvred with uniformity and precision; 

 their captains had that practical knowledge which 

 is only to be acquired by long experience of the 

 sea; and it is not to be wondered at that the Con 

 stitution, when chased during three days by a squad 

 ron of five English frigates, succeeded in escaping, 

 by surpassing them in manoeuvring, and by availing 

 herself of every ingenious resource and skilful ex 

 pedient that maritime science could suggest. . . . 

 To a marine exalted by success, but rendered negli 

 gent by the very habit of victory, the Congress only 

 opposed the best of vessels and most formidable of 

 armaments." 94 



It is interesting to compare the results of this 

 inter-Anglian warfare, waged between the Insular 

 and the Continental English, with the results of the 

 contest that the former were at the same time carry 

 ing on with their Gallo-Roman neighbors across the 

 Channel. For this purpose I shall rely on Troude's 

 "Batailles Navales," which would certainly not give 

 the English more than their due. His account of 

 the comparative force in each case can be supple- 



94 The praise should be given to the individual captains 

 and not to Congress, however ; and none of the American 

 ships had picked crews. During the war the Shannon had 

 the only crew which could with any fairness be termed 

 "picked," for her men had been together seven years, and 

 all of her "boys" must have been well-grown young men, 

 much older than the boys on her antagonist. 



