The Battle of New Orleans 295 



method I have applied to the Chesapeake. There- 

 fore, adopting the same system that I apply to the 

 American 38-gun frigates, the British 38-gun 

 frigates were of over 1,200, not under 1,100, tons. 



As for the Cyanc, James makes her but 118 ft. 

 and 2 in. long, while the American Peacock he puts 

 at 119 ft. 5 in. But Lieut. Hoffman's official re- 

 port makes the former 123 ft. 3 in., and the plans 

 in the State Department at Washington make the 

 latter 117 ft. n in. in length. I care nothing for 

 the different methods of measuring different vessels ; 

 what I wish to get at is the comparative measure- 

 ment, and this stands as above. The comparative 

 tonnage is thus the very reverse of that indicated by 

 James' figures. 



Finally, as to the brigs, James makes them some 

 ten feet shorter than the American ship-sloops. In 

 the Washington Archives I can find no plan on rec- 

 ord of the measurements of the captured Epervier; 

 but in the Navy Department, volume 10, of the "Let- 

 ters of Masters-Commandant, 1814," under date 

 of May 1 2th, is the statement of the Surveyor of 

 the Port of Charleston that she measured 467 tons 

 (in another place it is given as 477). James makes 

 her 388 ; but as he makes the American Wasp 434. 

 whereas she stands on our list as of 450, the appli- 

 cation of the same rule as with the frigates gives 

 us, even taking his own figures, 400 as her ton- 



