from the trained men in the _Shannon's_ tops
and the rush of British on board soon gave Broke and his men the
victory. The daring Broke fell with a cut that laid open his skull, but
in a few moments the Americans were driven below.

The _Chesapeake_ was taken in just fifteen minutes, one minute more than
the _Hornet_ had taken to capture the _Peacock_.

The British hauled down the American flag, and then hoisted it again
with a white flag to show their victory. But the sailor who did the
work, by mistake got the white flag under the Stars and Stripes.

When the gunners in the _Shannon_ saw the Yankee flag flying they fired
again, and this time killed and wounded a number of their own men, one
of them being an officer.

[Illustration: "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP!"]

The gallant Lawrence never knew that his ship was lost. He lived until
the _Shannon_ reached Halifax with her prize, but he became
delirious, and kept repeating over and over again his last
order--"_Don't give up the ship!_"

With these words he died. With these words his memory has become
immortal. "Don't give up the ship!" is the motto of the American navy,
and will not be forgotten while our great Republic survives. So Captain
Lawrence gained greater renown in defeat than most men have won in
victory.

The capture of the _Chesapeake_ was a piece of wonderful good fortune
for the British, to judge by the way they boasted of it. As Captain
Pearson had been made a knight for losing the _Serapis_, so Captain
Broke was made a baronet for taking the _Chesapeake_. A "baronet," you
must know, is a higher title than a "knight," though they both use the
handle of "Sir" to their names.

The work of the _Shannon_ proved--so the British historians said--that,
"if the odds were anything like equal, a British frigate could always
whip an American, and in a hand-to-hand conflict such would invariably
be the case."

Such things are easy to say, when one does not care about telling the
truth. Suppose we give now what a French historian, who believed in
telling the truth, said of this fight,--

"Captain Broke had commanded the _Shannon_ for nearly seven years;
Captain Lawrence had commanded the _Chesapeake_ for but a few days. The
_Shannon_ had cruised for eighteen months on the coast of America; the
_Chesapeake_ was newly out of harbor. The _Shannon_ had a crew long
accustomed to habits of strict obedience; the _Chesapeake_ was manned by
men who had just been enga