\ 



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On June 12, 1813, under cover of night 

 and fog, three barges from the British man- 

 of-war Ncirc/ssus tried to, take the 75-ton 

 cutter Sz/rveyor by surprise in the York 

 River, Va. Though outnumbered 50 to 15, 

 the cutter crew wounded seven and killed 

 three of the enemy before the Surveyor 

 was captured. British Capt. John Crerie 

 was so impressed by "the determined way 

 in which her deck was disputed, inch by 

 inch," in hand-to-hand fighting, that he 

 returned to Capt. William Travis of the 

 cutter "the sword you had so nobly used." 

 Another lively battle ensued when the 

 6-gun cutter Eagle encountered the 18-gun 



The cutter Madison, 1813. 



brig Dispatch, raiding shipping off Long 

 Island. The cutter crew ran its ship 

 aground on an island and then dragged 

 her 4-pounders to the top of a bluff where 

 they had the drop on the enemy. When 

 ammunition ran low, five of the crew re- 

 turned to the Eagle for more, but only 

 three of them made the round trip. Aboard 

 the ship, they replaced the ensign that had 

 been shot away. The British fired a whole 

 broadside at them, and the Americans sal- 

 vaged the small shot that riddled the hull. 

 Back on the bluff, they made cartridges of 

 bits of cloth and pages from the cutter's 

 log and fired the shot back at the British. 

 So telling was this fire that the enemy, un- 

 able to land to take the bluff, was forced to 

 withdraw. Later, the cutter was refloated, 

 but as she limped toward port the war- 

 ship returned to the battle and captured 

 her easily. Incidentally, today's cadets train 

 aboard a modern Eagle. 



^The capture of the French privateer 

 Mehifable and her prize Nancy by the 

 cutter Eagle. 



7 



