270 Naval War of 1812 



carronades on the quarterdeck; and, I believe, 6 

 long I2's on the forecastle, with a crew of 310 men. 

 Thus armed, she encountered and fought a drawn 

 battle with La Vengeance. Troude (Vol. Ill, pp. 

 201 and 216) describes the armament of the latter 

 as 26 long i8's, 10 long 8's, and 4 36-pound car- 

 ronades. On board of her was an American pris- 

 oner, James Howe, who swore she had 52 guns and 

 400 men (see Cooper, I, 306). The French and 

 American accounts thus radically disagree. The 

 point is settled definitely by the report of the British 

 captain Milne, who, in the Seine frigate, captured 

 La Vengeance in the same year, and then reported 

 her armament as being 28 long i6's, 16 long 12*5, 

 and 8 36-pound carronades, with 326 men. As the 

 American and British accounts, written entirely in- 

 dependently of one another, tally almost exactly, 

 it is evident that Troude was very greatly mistaken. 

 He blunders very much over the Constellation's 

 armament. 



Thus in this action the American frigate fought 

 a draw with an antagonist nearly as much superior 

 to herself as an American 44 was to a British 38. 

 In November, 1800, the "28-gun frigate," Boston, 

 of 530 tons, 200 men, carrying 24 long Q'S on the 

 maindeck, and on the spardeck 8 long 6's (or possi- 

 bly 12-pound carronades), captured, after two 

 hours' action, the French corvette Berceau, of 24 



