them, by the
annihilation of hostile navies, to such a small percentage of the
whole shipping movement, that the British mercantile community found
steady profit both in foreign and coasting trade, of which the United
States at the same time was almost totally deprived.

The numerous but beggarly array of American bay-craft and oyster
boats, which were paraded to swell British prize lists, till there
seemed to be a numerical set-off to their own losses, show indeed that
in point of size and value of vessels taken there was no real
comparison; but this was due to the fact, not at once suggested by the
figures themselves, that there were but few American merchant vessels
to be taken, because they did not dare to go to sea, with the
exception of the few to whom exceptional speed gave a chance of
immunity, not always realized. In the period under consideration,
September, 1813, to September, 1814, despite the great falling off of
trade noted in the returns, over thirty American merchant ships and
letters of marque were captured at sea;[220] at the head of the list
being the "Ned," whose hair-breadth escapes in seeking to reach a
United States port have been mentioned already.[221] She met her fate
near the French coast, September 6, 1813, on the outward voyage from
New York to Bordeaux. Privateering, risky though it was, offered a
more profitable employment, with less chance of capture; because,
besides being better armed and manned, the ship was not impeded in her
sailing by the carriage of a heavy cargo. While the enemy was losing a
certain small proportion of vessels, the United States suffered
practically an entire deprivation of external commerce; and her
coasting trade was almost wholly suppressed, at the time that her
cruisers, national and private, were causing exaggerated anxiety
concerning the intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland, which,
though certainly molested, was not seriously interrupted.

Further evidence of the control exerted by the British Navy, and of
the consequent difficulty under which offensive action was maintained
by the United States, is to be found in the practice, from this time
largely followed, of destroying prizes, after removing from them
packages of little weight compared to their price. The prospect of a
captured vessel reaching an American port was very doubtful, for the
same reason that prevented the movement of American commerce; and
while the risk was sometimes run, it usu