h men-of-war. Two or three of the enemy lay off
the mouth of every considerable harbor, and were not to be driven from
their post by the icy winds and storms of midwinter on the American
coast. It was almost impossible for any American vessel to escape to
sea, and a matter of almost equal difficulty for such vessels as were
out to get into a home port. The frigate "President" had put to sea
early in December, 1813, and after a cruise of eight weeks, during
which the traditional ill-luck of the ship pursued her remorselessly,
managed to dash into New York Harbor past the blockading squadron. At
Boston the blockade was broken by the "Constitution." She left port on
the 1st of January, ran off to the southward, and cruised for some
weeks in the West Indies. Here she captured the British man-of-war
schooner "Pictou," fourteen guns, and several merchant-vessels. She
also fell in with the British thirty-six-gun frigate "Pique," which
fled, and escaped pursuit by cutting through a narrow channel during a
dark and squally night. The "Constitution" then returned to the coast
of the United States, and narrowly escaped falling into the clutches
of two British frigates. She managed to gain the shelter of Marblehead
Harbor, and there remained until the latter part of the year.

But, while the larger vessels were thus accomplishing little or
nothing, two or three small sloops-of-war, of a class newly built,
slipped through the enemy's lines, and, gaining the open sea, fought
one or two notable actions. Of these, the first vessel to get to sea
was the new sloop-of-war "Frolic;" but her career was short and
inglorious, for she had been at sea but a few weeks when she fell in
with the enemy's frigate "Orpheus" and the schooner "Shelburne." A
chase ensued, in which the American vessel threw overboard her guns
and anchors, and started the water; but to no avail, for she was
overhauled, and forced to surrender. Her service afloat was limited to
the destruction of a Carthagenian privateer, which sunk before her
guns, carrying down nearly a hundred men.

The "Adams," a vessel that had suffered many vicissitudes,--having
been built for a frigate, then cut down to a sloop-of-war, and finally
been sawed asunder and converted into a corvette,--put to sea on the
18th of January, under the command of Capt. Charles Morris, formerly
of the "Constitution." She laid her course straight to the eastward,
and for some time cruised off the western coast