f Barbados, and a frigate in the Mona Passage; and the report
of these occurrences, wherever received, imposed additional
precaution, delay, and expense.

At the same time that the "Constitution" was passing through the
southern Caribbean, the naval brigs "Rattlesnake" and "Enterprise"
were searching its northern limits. These had put out from Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, when the winter weather drove the blockaders from
there, as from Boston, whence the "Constitution" had sailed. Starting
early in January, 1814, these two light cruisers kept company, passing
east of Bermuda to the island of St. Thomas, at the northeast corner
of the Caribbean. Thence they turned west, skirting the north shores
of Porto Rico and Santo Domingo as far as the Windward Passage.
Through this they entered the Caribbean, followed the south coast of
Cuba, between it and Jamaica, rounded Cape San Antonio, at its western
extremity, and thence, traversing the Straits of Florida, returned
along the coast of the United States. Having already been chased twice
in this cruise, they were compelled by a third pursuer to separate,
February 25. The stranger chose to keep after the "Enterprise," which
being a very dull sailer was obliged in a flight of seventy hours to
throw overboard most of her battery to escape. The two put into
Wilmington, North Carolina, a port impracticable to a frigate.[232]

In this long round the brigs overhauled eleven vessels, two only of
which were under the British flag. Two were Americans; the rest
neutrals, either Swedes or Spaniards. Of the two enemies, only one was
a merchant ship. The other was a privateer, the chase of which gave
rise to a curious and significant incident. Being near the Florida
coast, and thinking the brigs to be British, twenty or thirty of the
crew took to the boats and fled ashore to escape anticipated
impressment. As Marryat remarks, a British private vessel of that day
feared a British ship of war more than it did an enemy of equal force.
Of the neutrals stopped, one was in possession of a British prize
crew, and another had on board enemy's goods. For these reasons they
were sent in for adjudication, and arrived safely. Judged by these
small results from the several cruises of the "Enterprise,"
"Rattlesnake," and "Constitution," the large aggregate of captures
before quoted, two hundred and seventy, would indicate that to effect
them required a great number of cruisers, national and private. That