lures of American land forces, and shook the British navy
out of a notorious slackness in gunnery and discipline engendered
by its easy victories against France and Spain.

In size the British Navy in 1812 was more formidable than at any
earlier period of the general war. Transport work with expeditionary
forces, blockade and patrol in European waters, and commerce protection
from the China Sea to the Baltic had in September, 1812, increased
the fleet to 686 vessels in active service, including 120 of the
line and 145 frigates. There were 75 in all on American stations,
against the total American Navy of 16, of which the best were the fine
44-gun frigates _Constitution, President_ and _United States_.
In the face of such odds, and especially as England's European
preoccupations relaxed, the result was inevitable. After the first
year of war, while a swarm of privateers and smaller war vessels
still took heavy toll of British commerce, the frigates were blockaded
in American ports and American commerce was destroyed.

But before the blockade closed down, four frigate actions had been
fought, three of them American victories. In each instance, as will
be seen from the accompanying table, the advantage in weight of
broadside was with the victor. The American frigates were in fact
triumphs of American shipbuilding, finer in lines, more strongly
timbered, and more heavily gunned than British ships of their class.
But that good gunnery and seamanship figured in the results is
borne out by the fact that of the eight sloop actions fought during
the war, with a closer approach to equality of strength, seven
were American victories. The British carronades that had pounded
French ships at close range proved useless against opponents that
knew how to choose and hold their distance and could shoot straight
with long 24'S.

------------------+----------+----+------+----+------+-------------------
| | |Wt. of| |Casu- |
Ship[1] |Commander |Guns|broad-|Crew|alties| Place and date
| | |side | | |
------------------|----------|----|------|----|------|-------------------
Constitution[2] |Hull | 54 | 684 |456 | 14 |750 miles east of
| | | | | | Boston, Aug. 19,
Guerriere (Brit.) |Dacres | 49 | 556 |272 | 79 | 1812.
------------------|----------|----|------|----|------|-------------------
United St