thirty-nine appeared on
the lists of killed and wounded. It was said at the time, that Capt.
Pitot reported having struck his flag three times; hoisting it again,
on finding that in the darkness the "Constellation" took no notice of
the surrender. But this seems, on the face of it, improbable; and the
action can hardly be awarded to either ship, although the gallantry
shown on either side was enough to win a victory.

It may well be imagined that this brilliant action, together with the
capture of "L'Insurgente," made the "Constellation" the most popular
ship of the navy; a place which she held until the stirring events of
the war with England pushed the "Constitution" so far to the front,
that even now, when she lies dismantled and rotting at the Brooklyn
navy-yard, Americans still think of "Old Ironsides" as the typical
ship of our once glorious navy.

The actions between the "Constellation" and the "Vengeance" and
"Insurgente" were the chief contests between regularly commissioned
ships of the two nations in the war with France. But the West Indies
were filled with privateers and semi-piratical craft, with which the
navy waged a ceaseless warfare, which well prepared the blue-jackets
for the graver struggle which was yet to come with Great Britain. The
half-savage population of the French islands was a fruitful source of
trouble to the American seaman. These gentry, known as Picaroons,
seemed to have a natural inclination for piracy; and the unlucky
merchant-captain who should come to anchor, or be becalmed, near one
of the islands, was sure to see his vessel boarded, and his cargo
plundered, by a lawless horde of Frenchmen and mulattoes, whose
dialect was an unmusical combination of French and African tongues.
The custom of the Picaroons was to do their cruising in huge barges
propelled by sweeps. With these they would often cut out a
merchant-vessel from beneath the guns of a protecting man-of-war, and
tow her off to be plundered at leisure. Occasionally, however, their
well-laid plans failed in the execution.

One of the most noted of these occasions was the repulse of ten
Picaroon barges that attacked the United States topsail schooner
"Experiment," and a fleet of merchantmen under her charge. The
"Experiment," with her convoy, was lying becalmed in the Bight of
Leogane, in the island of San Domingo. Not a breath of air was
stirring; and the vessels, drifting about at the mercy of the
currents, soon became wi