The Battle of New Orleans 267 



1,286. Out of the twelve single-ship actions of the 

 war, four were fought with 38-gun frigates like 

 the Macedonian, and seven with i8-gun brig sloops 

 of the Epervier's class ; and as the Macedonian and 

 Epervier were both regularly rated in our navy, we 

 get a very exact idea of our antagonists in those 

 eleven cases. The twelfth was the fight between 

 the Enterprise and the Boxer, in which the latter 

 was captured ; the Enterprise was apparently a little 

 smaller than her foe, but had two more guns, which 

 she carried in her bridle ports. 



As my purpose in giving the tonnage is to get it 

 comparatively, and not absolutely, I have given it 

 throughout for both sides as estimated by the 

 American method of that day. The tonnage of the 

 vessels on the lakes has been already noticed. 



APPENDIX B 



PREVIOUS HISTORY OF UNITED STATES NAVY 



VERY few students of naval history will deny that 

 in 1812 the average American ship was superior to 

 the average British ship of the same strength; and 

 that the latter was in turn superior to the average 

 French ship. The explanation given by the victor is 

 in each case the same; the American writer ascribes 



