296 Naval War of 1812 



nage, when measured as our ships were. But the 

 measurements of the Surveyor of the Port who ex- 

 amined the Eperuier are corroborated by the state- 

 ments of Captain Biddle, who captured her sister 

 brig-, the Penguin. Biddle reported that the latter 

 was two feet shorter and a little broader than his 

 own ship, the Hornet, which was of 480 tons. This 

 would correspond almost exactly with the Surveyor's 

 estimate. 



It still seems impossible to reconcile all these con- 

 flicting statements; but I am inclined to think that, 

 on the whole, in the sea (not the lake) vessels I 

 have put the British tonnage too high. On the scale 

 I have adopted for the American 44-gun and 38- 

 gun frigates and i8-gun sloops like the Hornet and 

 Wasp, the British 38-gun frigates ought to be put 

 down as of a little over 1,200, and the British 18- 

 gun sloops as of between 400 and 450, tons. In 

 other words, of the twelve single-ship actions of the 

 war five, those of the Chesapeake and Shannon, En- 

 terprise and Boxer, Wasp and Frolic, Hornet and 

 Peacock, Hornet and Penguin, were between vessels 

 of nearly equal size; in six the American was the 

 superior about in the proportion of five to four 

 (rather more in the case of the frigates, rather less 

 in the case of the brigs) ; and in one, that of the 

 Argus and Pelican, the British sloop was the big- 

 ger, in a somewhat similar ratio. 



