The telescope. (Columbia, S.C.) 1815-1818, May 21, 1816, Image 1
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tit not c.xrcciliivg fourteen linen
tit* Ant tin* for acvcntv'flve rcnti, wkI " *
ottch ftuWiuent insertion. /sUc> * (o tin
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- 1..IIUL?lJ .'JXI 1 IH)?>
NAVAIn., - "
SWOl'SIS OlK N\VAtv^CTI0N8
Durwg Uie laic n or, brtwtfn Hrltlnh And Ame
rican vtMstls?f rom the DftftttHJVfctvi/ Chron*
icIe?Wltk wmurtcn by thh editor of the Jlm<s
rlcunJVhpal Chronicle.?[Continued.*']
44 Tlic next action was between tlio Frolic
brignnd American ahii> Wasp \ mid took place
on the 18th of October, 1812. Of all the actldns
between us and ttic Americans, this, in weight of
metal, ha? been tho. most equal. Tlie Wasp
(now the Peacock in our service) is certainly a
much finer ship than any sloop of war wo have,
and has her bulwarks nearly as thick as a fri
gate's. But tlio evening previous to tho action,
the Frolic 'carried away her main yard, lost her
topsails, and sprung hor main top mast j* conse
quently wos quite in a disabled state. Then,as
to men, tho substance, finewH, arms, & strength
of war, sho was miserably defective. Her stati
on had been Jamaica, which place sho left (wiU*
a crow partly consisting of invalids, from the na
val hospital) in June preceding, bound to Hon
duras, and thcjice with convoy home. It is sta
ted that 'captain Whinyates, her commander,
was not apprised of tlio war even when he met
tho Wnsp j but for this I cannot vouch. The
Wasp, tho Americans will not now deny, had for
a crew ono hundred and sixty-five of tho best
men captain Jones could procure, and had only
left the Delaware a fortnight previous to the ac
tion. 8he was therefore fully prepared to meet
an enemy's vessel, every way her equal?much
more ono ignorant, perhaps, of the war, disabled
in her spars and rigging, with a crew at least
twenty-five short of her complement, (one hun
dred and twenty-one) and part of thtfo just re
covering from that dreadful West-India malady,
the yellow fever. Captain Whinyates speaks
decidedly of the unmanageable state of the Fro
lic in the action, owing to the loss of her m-.in
Janl, and of tho power it gave tho enemy tonUce
im repeatedly. Here is a comparative view of
the force of the two vestsels.?f&re ovimite co
lumn, J). J
" Tho British official account of this action o
nuia stating the fiumber of killed unil wounded
on either side i only mentioning that not twenty
killed and wounded,* und that only three were
standing on tho deck when thpy boarded. It is
not attempted to bo intinuated'tbat any of our
men had IcfC their quarters that were not ilina
bled i therefore with the exception of tho eight
or ten in the tops, and a few sick in their ham
mocks below, none of the survivors could have
Went ofi*the deck. The American loss in killed
and wounded amounted only to ten J far too
great a disproportion.
44 I have now the painful task of presenting an
enemy's character to view in op very favorable
I ight. Tho Fro! ic, for want of after sails, fell on
boar,d her,opponent, soon after the action com
menced, with her bowsprit 4 betwixt tho Wasp's
main atld mi%en rigging,' and so continued until
tlio conflict ended, 4 unable to Wing a single gun
to bear.* What enemy but an Algcrine, or an
American, seeing tlio helpless state of his brave
adversary, would not havo ceased firing, and
rushed on board to end at once the slaughter and
tho combat ? No \ two motives prevented this:
one, the expected gratification of seeing the Brit
ish haul down their own Aug i the other (doubt
less by far the most powerful ono) their dread of
venturing sword in hand upon tho Frolic's deck.
One of tho Wasp's men, it seems, made a show
of hoarding. 4 Not yet,' says captain Jones,
4 another broadsido first.' Poured into her it
wan, and repeated again and again j no;'did they
dare to board this poor wreck at last, till the
captain and his friend Middle, (now commander
of the Hornet) peeping over tlio gunwale, saw
with Hupriso but * three men standing on the Fro
lic's deck !' Then they illd board in gallant
style,'and Mapping overdesd,dying and wqund
ed, (with which the deck wascovered) received
the Mvord of the. Hritixh commander. He who
needs confirmation of this, may find it in the A
meriran newspapers detailing the action.
44 Them are many instances where ship* of
ours have captured very mi per ior enemy's von
scIm, after the. latter had been disabled in their
spars and ringing. Often have our 18 gun bri^s
attacked, ^nglv,enomv\ frigates of the largest
clans, when similarly circumstanced. And wuh
it not the littlo Terpsichore -V2 that some yearn
(ilayed i huihI, a:id Hrcil into, repeatedly,
t.?at imiiienso three decker, the Sunti-tsimit Tri
nadn, af'vf sjie had been dismasted in earl St.
Vincent's action ? I.et the Aow-t icun-t then take
the credit of ono victory, obtained, after a long
action, over a Htitifch vessel die same force in
{[iins, hut in h crippled state, and with a crew,
eeble as it wn<. of little more than half ihc nuin
her opiiosed to them.
44 *1 n? next battle was another frigate one,
fought on tlio of the same October, between
the Macedonian ami tho I'nitcd UtatcN. Our
ship, in this jnstonee, had even a greater lorce to
contend against than the liuerriero had, lor the
United. States, like the President,' carries forty
two pounders on her upper doc^. Tlio Consti
tution. the Americans say, Ih a stronger and fi?
ner shin than either) yet, according to the offi
cial letters ot'hoth captain Dacresatid lieutenant
Chads, carries carronadta ten pounds lighter j
whether of Frriurh of Knglish caliber is not men
turned, hut believed to be the former.
* Telcscofae, So. 19.
Captaiji Decatur states the riumb?f/of*the
H?c?lonftw?? gun* to have been fortpjine, In
jyjM^h'wm hec ftfH-fompletociit Oapt. Ci
is totally ?lleot on this/subject, but gives th*
"~Mn guns, of his formidable oppoftifit, pre
crow ?fyit hundred
Well. On tlut point nothing has been said by
i!? ^Hcins, cither in coiiHrmation or denial |
therefore we may presume captain Csrden wan
correctly informed. For weight of metsl of the
Macedonian, (oxclusiVo of tho two brass twelve
pounders, since retaken on board the Afgusbrig)
I must refer to the regular estnblUhmeat for ves
sels of her claw* As to the number of then & boys
with which she went into action, I am compelled
to refer to CAptain Decatur's letter, although ra
ther ambiguously worded, as to whether three
hundred men meant the complement allowed her,
or the actual number sho then had on board.?
iho following will be found a tolerable estimate
of the force engaged in thiti action.?[H.]
?>5
? The fcwon Ixwrd an AMerkan ship of*sr, thati
empfoycdlnoul^cr'v'if?- #*Our Boy ",oU n
?WqpijHWtsec^ <lon? in thi?
action tVns sflM'moro disproportionate than tl(e
former 0110, standing thus.?Hritish killed aid
wounded, 104, American ditto. IS. For this*
can account, in mmo degree, OxclusWe of
disparity of force, by the novel manner in wi
the action ,was fought. Our st?i|? had the wef
guago t but captain Cardcn, not knowing
haps thot the weight of metal of his.cautiou/iMl*
versary was superior to his own, kept at long
ball*, till all hm top masts were thot away, and
his Miip become an unmanageable wreck, while
the United States, lying beyond the range of the
Macedonian's shot, received little or no injury.
Crippled as the Macedonian was, and having so
wide an extent of ocean to pasa over, is it notsur#
prising that she should4iave reached an Ameri
can port ? Thero she it however, snug and se
em*, although the little town of New-London
ought long ago to have been burnt to the ground,
if nothing leu would have restored to us (out of
three that hfcvo been captured) the pnly. British
frigate in the hand5~oTlnrAmericans.t'>
Remark* on the fiyiiopnis of JWtvcl Actium, ?c.
Whoever is tolerably conversant with Knglish
literature, must well recollect how often the
writers of that couutry have made themselves,
merry with the credulity of the people, who,
however, by tho way, seem to oelieve all ou one
side, anil are quite paralitic of belief on the other.
Any thing strange, unnatural, or monstrous, is
pretty sure to obtain full credit among them, whe
ther 'it be the supernatural abstinence of Ann
Moore, the existence of the lady with the pig's
face, tho immaculate conception of Joanna
Houthe.ote, or tlio enormous size of an American
frigate. Hut their astonishing credulity on one
hand is singularly contrasted with their scepti
cism on the other j for while they give full and
and entire credit to the relations of victories that
they never gained, with a most preposterous in*
consistency they refuse their assent to defeats
thataro notorious to all the world. It is there
lure little to bo wondered at that hucIi a people
should believe in thnt inuga/.ine of wonders, the
Hritish Naval Chronicle, and, by a natural con
sequence of this peculiar feature of character,
disuelievo in tho claims of America to a naval
sU|>criority. The doubts, as well as the credu
lity of ignorance, are without limits, and it is
not uncommon to seo men, who believe in the
wildest creations of fancy, refusing their assent
to the most irrefragable evidences of sense. Jt
would seem, indeed, to be a natural conscipicnce,
that a man, who gives all his faith to im|M>*?iUi{i
tics, should have none left for the natural eflects
of known and received causes.
? The ministerial writers of Kngland, whose bu
siness it is to keep John Hull in a good humour,
by patting him on the back, and persuading him
thai ho is altogether invincible by sea andland,
have taken advantage of this peculiar instinct of
the good man, who, like an oyster, opens his
mouth, and swallows every thing that comes in
with (he Hood tide, but obstinately shuts it when
it is ebb with him. Knowing that he will believe
any thing to his own advantage, they every day
invent pretty stories for his gratification, and
whenever the tax-gatherer knocks at his door,
which is almost every day in the year, lio is sure
sure to bring an account of some great victory,
either in the west, or the east, or somowhere or
oilier. , ,
Hut these dextrous jugglers in literature were
| never so hard put to It, tor victories to tickle the
good squire, as duriugthe late contest withthis
country, And imlce<l were at leugth obligtift'to
rtiw?rt to the inglorious task of accounting for do
feats, rather than boasting of triumphs. Not
ipeing able to persuade, even liiin, that his ships
Vot bjjten, they have exercised all
'weir ingenpity trrproving now it was utterly im
possible that they should not have been bo'aten.
I hi?, to ho sure, is but a sorry consolation, ami
ft is almost a pity to attempt undeceiving him.
Had his claims been urged with a becoming mo*
desty. and not been mingled with sneer* and a
buse Of hia gallant enemy, they might perhaps
have ntmed. Had his apologists, in fuct, coi>
tented themselves with extenuating alone, and
44 set down nought in malice," John might have
remained in the full enjoyment of his delusion,
lie might have continued to sing44 Ilule Britan
nia" till his dying day, and enjoyed the full fru
ition of his belief in this, as in the story of Ann
Moore, Joanna Southcote, and the lady with the
j pig's face. The war being over, and the two
nations friends, wo would never have thought
of reviving this question while the peace contin
ued. Wc have no enmity to England except
what arises from her enmity io us. Hitherto tho
wars waged against that nation by the writers
of this country have been defnintve wars, and
were they to let us alone we should never think
ol attacking tlieni. Hut the people of the United
Status of America arc not Hindoos, or Portu
guese, or Italians, to he trod under foot or calum
niated with impunity. That time is past: the
worm ha* turned?and now, as we will ho at all
times ready to return courtesy for courtesy, so
will we be equally ready to return contempt for
contempt, scorn lor scorn, obloquy for obloquy.
It is but a sorry business, after nil, for two nati
ons to be abusing each other at a distance of three
thousand miles ; like two of Homer's heroes,
with the Scainander between them. Hut we de
sire our countrymen to remember who cast the
first stone, and to remember also that hitherto
flcnuicscence hi misrepresentation, has onlv
called new vials of wrath from the Hritish press
udoii our heads. All things must have a begin
ning, and perhaps the time may come when the
insignificant example wc have set will call forth
the exertions of others, more qualified for this
contest. Tho history of England, even as writ
ten by her own (writero??the conduct of her go
vernment, aa displayed by her most illustrious
orfttora in parliament, furnishes us with amplo
means of turning tho abuse of her writers back
UMM herself. The laborious industry of her sta
ti*tt<j*l, the cotoplaints and statements of her re*
"-i'uis aml moral writers, have let us into all the
^ * I nterior and exterior, tho moral
i.T.i re.:-"-?-?*** ?* England, and where she is
gPHWMn retort for materials againxt us, to wri
ters without credit or authority, we can gather
employed against her Irom tho most
leationablo sources. The progress of this
^ Abdse of our national character, our
our government, will assuredly
provoke reprisal,and the time will perhaps come
manners and government of
KnglM4'#ill be laid open to the world, atdiffer
cnf. times, in a way that will not rcdouud to her
credit. It may,thet-efore, be worUi while for
these people to cortsUMte^hich t? likely to suf
ler most hi the endjrand whether tho euperior
knowledge we possets of them may not give us
many advantages in the contcut, in at much as
the more we know 6tsome pernio the less they
arc thought of j and Ar, finally, the wea
pons which tliis superior knowledge furnishes us
with, may not make ampto amends for the want
of equal dexterity in their management. With
these observations we will now proceed with the
% w!,ic,? naturally gave rise to thorn,
vt . Jl?1 act,rth 'n 4,16 Hit of the Hritish
Naval Officer on the American station, is thatof
the Wasp and Prolic, which the writer himself
admits was,44 of all actions between us aud the
Americans in weight of metal the most equal."
after this candid acknowledgment he proceeds
however to account, as usual, for the evtraordi
nary rfcsult of this affair, by a train of petty ex
cuses and h*lf-g|ded misrepresentations, which
wo arc compelled to notice. Tho facts wo shall
adduco aro upon authority at least equal to that
of our antagonist. life has not told us whence
lie dcnved.tliem j but we aro not afraid to say
wo derived ours from officers, whoso gallantry
in these actions la ample security that they at
least, would not stoop to misrepresentation^*
I ho word of the victor is of greator weight than
thatof tho vanquished* because he has not equal
motives to tell a falsehood. It will be founu by
all experience, that the tlung that It beaten la al
ways the most noisy, garrulous, AndfttU of ex
cuses. If it lie n dog, ho always bark* the loud
ost?-ir a cock, ho nlways cackles moat vocifer
ously and if it ho honest John that gets worst
cd.hu will always have the most to say in favor
of his own prowess, ns well as against that ofhis
successful antagodist. /
I hus 4 the officer on the American station,'?
Ho sums up tho balance of his account current*
ns follows to wit: that tho superiority on the
American side was in the number of men aa 0 to
fl, and ?? in weight of metal?say nothing i" and
certainly tho less he says about that tho hotter.
\\ o state it as a fact, derived from the Authority
above alluded to, that tho Frolic carried 80 83
lb. carronades on her main-deck, and two large
howit'Aora on her top-gall o t forecastle. The
W asp carried eighteen 3$ lb. carronades on
her main-deck, amUliad no topgallant forecas
tle. Now were we as deep in ThomitfDilworth
as the naval officer, we.would caleutato'tliu dif
ference in weight of metal i but In truth It I a
quite unnecessary, and wo will go on to expose
other misrepresentation*. The officer states the
28* nln?ty-fivo men and beya,
that of tho Wasp at one Iptndred and sixty-five,
all 44 men in buckram*** a* u?ual?all ** picked
was something wofto than all
this. Tho crew Of the Frolic tvere a grfAt pari'
of them invalids,just comoout of the yellow fe
ver, and 44 it it stated," says the officer, prudent
ly however* without giving hit authority,44 that
capt. Whinyatea waa not apprised of the war
even wlten fie met the Mfasp."
Tim punier of the Prolic informed lieut. Bid*
die, first of the Wasp, that the crew at the com- .
meucement of the action, constated of one hun
dred & ninety men, and wo are fully authorised
to state, that innone of the conversations which
took place after the capture, with the officers of
the Frolic, did there occur the least hint or com
plaint that her crew wore or had been lately sick.
I'o our officer* the survivors appeal e J as well
looking as tho generality of sailors in Uritish
men of war, which, to oo sure, is not saying
much in their favor. The war was declared a
gainst England the 18th of June, and on tho
18th of October, four entire months afterwards, %
enptain Whinyatcs,44 it is naid," did not know
of the war ! Where linil he been ? Only ilk
the WesMndics,gentle reader, where news get*
from the United States in eight or ten (lavs.??
And yet |>oor captain Whinyatcs was ignorant
of the war, and like his fellow ignoramus, capt.
Dacrc*. was 44 carelessly" sailing about ringing
44 Utile Britannia," we suppose, and not even so
much as dreaming of being stung ! by miicIi nil o
venrrown Wasp. 44 Prodigious ? Prodigious !"
as Dominic 8amp*on says.
Hut there in still another and another cxcumi
forthcoming, us if the weakness of each could be
sustained by the weakness of all together. It
seems that the 44 American boys are as old and
ns stout as most men employed iu the British
service. 44 Our boys," continues the officer,
44 l ositloH being so numerous, aro often so young
an to be litter for the nursery than the quarter
bills of a ship of war." Here this really silly
apologist discloses another cause of the superi
ority which we contend forTheir -.hips, ho
says, arc pestered with little boys, only fit for
the nursery) whereat the American boys are a
match fur the British?men on board their shin*
of war. If there it auch a difference in.the
boys, what must there bo between the men of
the two nations ? and what inhumanity In thu?
carrying little children,44 fit. for the nursery on
ly," into tcenes of bloodshed and carnage !
The lust inaccuracy in the basil of this writer'*
account current it, in stating the number of
men on board the Watp at one hundred and.
sixty-five. when in reality her crew consisted of
only one hundred and ten, of whom a number
were boys, smaller than those of the Prolic, but
still not exactly fit for any nursery but that of
seamen. In stating the comparative loss on ei
ther side, the unfortunate officer is again forced
into the acknowledgment, that, notwithstand
ing th? disparity of ships und men, as stated by
himself,44 it was far too great a disproportion/*
Again we ask, to what could this disproportion
be owing but to a superiority in skill, activity,
energy, hi every tiling in fact that constitutes
the superiority of one man over another ?
441 have now the painful task of presenting
the character of an enemy iu no very favoratiK|
light," continues the writer of the 8ynopsia?4&
lie then proceeds with a statement, whicfl.jwi'it
furnishes a brilliant specimen of the usu&jltyle
in which the character of our natiou anditioffi
cers is treated in the British publications of tho
day, we will quote at length, for flear the i ea
dor should not sufficiently recollect It. "The
Frolic* for want of .after Mils, fell on board her
^"^"tittoon afWjtte.flflnon begun, with Iter
ft betwi#Hie wefji'a mam and mi/.en
ind so continued until tho conflict end
, Je to bring a single gun to bear. What
enemy but an Algerine or au American, seeing
tlie helpless ttate of hit brave adversary, would
not have (eased firing, and rUihed on board to
end at once the slaughter and the combat fcr*
No : two motives prevented this?one, the ex
pected gratification of teeing the British haul
down their own flag) the other, (doubtless by
far the most powerful one) their dread of ven
turingsword m hand upon the Frolic's deck.?
One of th* Wasn't men, it teems, made a show
of board|ng. M Not yet," tavt Captain Jones,
44 another broadside first." Poured into her it
wat?tffed repeated again and again j nor did
they dare tO hoard this poor wreck at laHt, till
thk, captain ajid hit friend Biddle, (now com
mander of the Hornet) neoping over the gun
wale, taw with turprise out three men standing
on the Frolio't deck,. Then they did board in
Mllaiif ktuln ?? ' 1 * ' * '
.... ....... .. hiv oiimsii tullllllBIIUUr."
There it tomethinir extremely pitiful in all
| this, and were it not that the coloring which ia
given to this detail might deceive those who are
Ignorant of the usage of war, we might leave it
without further comment. The plain English
of this rare specimen of rhetoric is, that (he
Prolic, it blowing a gale, fell on board the Watp,
In Mtcli a way as to give the latter vessel great
advantages in firing Into her, and that captain
Jones preferred preserving this advantage to
boarding at a disadvantage, which must nave
been tho caso in such a heavy tea. How waa it
possible for eaptaiu Jones to know that the crew
of tho Prolic had uuitted their guns* and skulk
ed between decks, laboring, as we all did at that
tliye, under, a mistaken idoa of the prowess of
| the British tailori ? Or how wat he to know
that rcsistanoO hau finally ceased while the ene
my's flag wat atili flying ? It not thlt the way
that all nations, except the British, fight f Uo
they not calculate advantages, take advantage
of any favorable position, and Are till they
know their enemv is conquered ? When capt.
Broke boarded the Chesapeake, several of the
erew of that vetiel were killed by firing down,
he'r gangway, after all realttanco had ceased %
yet no complaint on our part w as made, because
every ono knows thttinihe he/\t of battl<? it ia
? impossible to know the ftrcciso moment when
Ittfo enemy it fonqticml. We nevev compared