loits at sea, gave
Lawrence great fame both here and abroad.

A few months after the battle between the "Hornet" and the "Peacock,"
Lawrence was again the hero of a great sea fight. The coast of New
England was blockaded by a British fleet, and in the harbor of Boston
lay the frigate "Chesapeake," commanded by Captain Lawrence. He had been
recently appointed to this vessel, and in fact had been in command only
ten days when he received a challenge to fight a naval duel.

This proposition came from the captain of the British frigate "Shannon,"
one of the blockading fleet, about the same size and strength as the
"Chesapeake." The British captain sent a very polite letter to Captain
Lawrence; for when people propose to fight duels, whether on land or
sea, they are always extremely courteous before they begin to try to
kill each other. The British captain said, that, as he understood the
"Chesapeake" was now ready to go to sea, he would like her to come out
and fight the "Shannon" for the honor of their respective flags. He
offered the American captain choice of fighting ground inside of certain
limits, and promised that the rest of the British fleet should keep far
away, so that Captain Lawrence need have no fear of being troubled by
any vessel except the "Shannon."

When Captain Lawrence read this challenge, he was as willing to go out
and fight the duel as the British captain was anxious to have him do
so; but he knew that his vessel was not nearly so well prepared as was
the "Shannon." The British ship had been at sea for a long time, she was
manned by a crew of brave sailors, and her captain was well acquainted
with his ship and his men.

The case was very different with the "Chesapeake." Lawrence had been on
board scarcely long enough to find out what sort of a ship she was, but
he had been on board long enough to discover that her crew was a very
poor one. Many of them were Portuguese, they had not been well drilled,
and, worse than that, they did not want to fight. Few of them had been
in the service long enough to have a taste for naval warfare; and if
they had had their way, they would have let the "Shannon" lie outside
until her captain grew gray, before they would go out and accept his
challenge. The harbor was much more to their mind.

But Captain Lawrence had no such idea. He accepted the challenge without
hesitation, and prepared to go out and fight the duel. He would have
been glad enough if he had had