378 LETTERS OF A FRIEND TO THE NAVY. 



to have been the condition of those vessels, and afterward forget 

 to alter it ? How else could you venture to tell the president, and, 

 through him, Congress and the whole country, that the frigate was 

 finished and equipped, and was receiving her men, when the fact 

 was, that the frigate, at that time, was not finished, not equipped, 

 nor was she receiving her crew ; so far from it, she had not a 

 bulkhead up or a yarn over the masthead ; and it was not until 

 June, six months after this official statement, that she was com- 

 pleted, and in a condition to receive her complement of men ! ! /" 



One would suppose, from this flourish and bluster, that some 

 terrible deception had been practised upon the world. 



Commodore Warrington reported to the secretary that the Ma- 

 cedonian was launched on the 1st of November. As this was the 

 flag-ship of the squadron, Captain Jones was ordered on the fifth of 

 that month to report to Commodore Warrington for duty, as com- 

 mander of this squadron. He had before reported on the 3d of 

 October, that, up to the 26th of September, one hundred arid nine 

 able seamen, ordinary seamen, and boys, had been recruited for 

 the exploring expedition ; and that Captain Armstrong stated that, 

 as the service was popular, he looked for much better success. 

 There was no doubt of the zeal of Captain Jones in putting his 

 flag-ship in a condition to receive her crew. One month after this 

 time, when the secretary made his report, he was justified in be- 

 lieving that the Macedonian, as well as the Relief, were so far 

 finished and equipped as to be receiving their crews, and so stated 

 in his report to the president of the 3d of December. It seems 

 the Relief was so far finished as to be receiving her crew, but 

 that the frigate was not. Commodore Jones, on receiving this re- 

 port, would have stated the error had he deemed it of immediate 

 importance, and on the 31st of January he reported to the secre- 

 tary that the Macedonian was launched in October from the 

 Navy Yard at Gosport ; that, from the latest information, she is 

 not yet ready to receive her crew, though she probably will be by 

 the time the scientific corps can be ready to embark, and a suffi- 

 cient number of men obtained, for which prospects are becoming 

 more favourable. This information was communicated to the 

 president, and, through him, to Congress and the whole country. 



This differs, however, very much from the statement of the 

 " Citizen," that the frigate was not in a situation to receive her 



