ng his pursuers
a long chase, he escaped from them and got into Halifax. The
_Belvidera_ lost altogether 3 killed and 22 wounded. The _President_,
which was cut up in her rigging, lost 2 midshipmen and a marine killed,
and 22 officers and men wounded; while the Jamaica convoy reached
England in safety.

The war between England and her former dependencies had now commenced in
earnest. Since their independence, the United States had taken pains to
construct an efficient, though small navy. Aware that it would be
useless to attempt building line-of-battle ships to compete with the
fleets of Europe, they had turned their attention to the construction of
frigates, to act as ocean cruisers, of a size and armament capable of
contending successfully with any possessed by England, or indeed any
other maritime power. The result proved the wisdom and forethought of
their naval authorities. Their most famed frigates were the
_Constitution_, the _United States_, and _President_. The other two
were of the same size and force as the latter vessel. The _President_
measured 1533 tons: her sides and bulwarks were thicker, and her spars
and rigging stouter than those of a British 74-gun ship, while she
sailed admirably. She was pierced for 56 guns, but only mounted 52, of
which 32 were long 24-pounders, and 20 42-pounders, her complement being
480 men. The other two mounted 54 guns, and the _Constitution_ carried
32 instead of 42-pounder carronades.

On the 18th the _Constitution_, Captain Hull, then cruising off the Gulf
of Saint Lawrence, having heard from an American privateer that a
British ship of war was at a short distance to the southward,
immediately made sail in that direction. The ship of which Captain Hull
had heard was the British frigate _Guerrier_, commanded by Captain
Dacres, an officer of known talent and gallantry. She carried 48 guns,
including 30 long 18-pounders on the main-deck, 16 carronades,
32-pounders, and 2 long nines on her quarter-deck and forecastle. She
measured under 1100 tons, and though her regular complement was 300 men
and boys, she was nearly 40 men short. Seeing the _Constitution_
approaching, at 4:30 p.m. on the 19th the _Guerrier_ laid her
main-topsail to the mast, to enable her the more quickly to close. She
then hoisted an English ensign at the peak, another at the
mizzen-topgallant mast-head, and the Union Jack at the fore, and at 4:50
opened her starboard broadside at the _Const