arragut was sleeping in his hammock, a
strange feeling of fear came over him; and he opened his eyes to find
the coxswain of the captain's gig of the "Alert" standing over him
with a pistol in his hand. The boy knew him to be a prisoner, and,
seeing him armed, was convinced that something was wrong. Expecting
every moment to be killed, he lay still in his hammock, until the man
turned on his heel and walked away. Then Farragut slipped out, and ran
to the captain's cabin to report the incident. Porter rushed upon the
berth-deck in an instant. "Fire! fire!" shouted he at the top of his
voice; and in an instant the crew were at their quarters, in perfect
order. The mutineers thought that a bad time for their project, and it
was abandoned. The next day the prisoners were sent on board the
"Alert," and that vessel sent into St. Johns as a cartel.

The capture of the "Alert" reflected no great glory upon the
Americans, for the immense superiority of the "Essex" rendered her
success certain. It is, however, of interest as being the first
capture of a British war-vessel. The action made the honors easy
between the two nations; for while the Americans had the "Alert," the
British were captors of the brig "Nautilus." This equality was not of
long duration, however; for an action soon followed which set all
America wild with exultation.

After her escape from the British fleet, the "Constitution" remained
at Boston only a few days, and then set out on a cruise to the
eastward along the New England coast. Bad luck seemed to follow her,
and she had reached a point off Cape Sable before she made a prize.
Here two or three prizes of little value were taken; and an English
sloop-of-war was forced to relinquish an American brig, which had been
recently captured. Shortly afterwards, a Salem privateer was
overhauled, the captain of which reported an English frigate cruising
in the neighborhood; and Capt. Hull straightway set out to discover
the enemy.

The frigate which had been sighted by the Salem privateer, and for
which Hull was so eagerly seeking, was the "Guerriere," a
thirty-eight-gun ship commanded by Capt. Dacres. With both ship and
captain, Capt. Hull had previously had some little experience. The
"Guerriere" was one of the ships in the squadron from which the
"Constitution" had so narrowly escaped a few weeks before, while Capt.
Dacres was an old acquaintance. A story current at the time relates,
that, before the war, the "