The Battle of New Orleans 269 



her number of men as nearly four hundred. Thus 

 in actual 1 (not nominal) weight of shot the Constel- 

 lation was superior by about 80 pounds, and was 

 inferior in crew by from 50 to 100 men. This 

 would make the vessels apparently nearly equal in 

 force; but of course the long 24/5 of the Constella- 

 tion made it impossible that I'Insurgente, armed only 

 with long I2's, should contend with her. As al- 

 ready said, a superiority in number of men makes 

 very little difference, provided each vessel has ample 

 to handle the guns, repair damages, work the sails, 

 etc. Troude goes more into details than any other 

 French historian; but I think his details are gener- 

 ally wrong. In this case he gives the Constellation 

 I2's, instead of the 24*5 she really carried; and also 

 supplies her with 10 32-pound carronades of -which 

 species of ordnance there was then not one piece in 

 our navy. The first carronades we ever had were 

 those carried by the same frigate on hef next voy- 

 age. She had completely changed her armament, 

 having 28 long i8's on the maindeck, ten 24-pound 



1 French shot was really very much heavier than the nom- 

 inally corresponding English shot, as the following table 

 taken from Captain T. L. Simmons' work on "Heavy Ord- 

 nance" (London, 1837, p. 62) will show: 



Nominal French Weight Actual Weight of Same Shot in 



of Shot English Pounds 



36 Ibs. 43 Ibs. 4 oz. 



24 " 28 " 8% " 



18 " 21 " 4% " 



12 " 14 " 7 " 



