HMS Guerriere

“ Captain Dacres, of the Guerrière, and Hull were personal friends, as many of the American and British captains were in those days, and there was a standing bet of a hat between them on the result in case their two ships ever came to exchanging broadsides. The Guerrière was an extremely fine French-built frigate, carrying fifty guns,—the Constitution carried fifty-four and her broadside was much the heavier. In men, the Constitution had also the advantage of the British ship, but the damage inflicted by the Constitution was far in excess of her superiority in men and metal. ”

“ The American captain now ordered the rest of his squadron to sail to Gibraltar, while the Guerrière landed the prisoners at Sicily. As the flag-ship came down the coast from Carthagena she met that part of the Algerine fleet that had put into Malta [110] when the Americans first arrived in the Mediterranean. The Guerrière was alone, and Decatur thought that the Moors, finding him at such a disadvantage, might break their treaty of peace, and attack him. He called his men to the quarter-deck. "My lads," said he, "those fellows are approaching us in a threatening manner. ”

“ Instantly after the loss of the Guerrière the English discovered and complained that American gunnery was superior to their own. They explained their inferiority by the length of time that had elapsed since their navy had found on the ocean an enemy to fight. Every vestige of hostile fleets had been swept away, until, after the battle of Trafalgar, British frigates ceased practice with their guns. Doubtless the British navy had become somewhat careless in the absence of a dangerous enemy, but Englishmen were themselves aware that some other cause must have affected their losses. ”

“ The Guerriere was a French vessel taken in 1806, off the Faro Islands, by the Blanche, 38 guns, Capt. Lavie, after a spirited action of 45 minutes.
The prisoners taken from the Guerriere have been treated with every kindness and attention becoming the American character. Much better, we apprehend, than would have been experienced by our brave fellows if the chance of war had placed them in command of the enemy. ”

“ After the firing had ceased I went on deck and there beheld a scene which it would be difficult to describe: all the Guerrière's masts were shot away and, as she had no sails to steady her, she lay rolling like a log in the trough of the sea. Many of the men were employed in throwing the dead overboard. The decks had the appearance of a butcher's slaughter-house; the gun tackles were not made fast and several of the guns got loose and were surging from one side to the other.
Some of the petty officers and seamen, after the action, got liquor and were intoxicated ”

“ Constitution and Guerriere (August 19) .—The fight off the coast of Massachusetts, between the American frigate Constitution (popularly called Old Ironsides) and the Guerriere (gayre-e-ayre) is memorable. The latter vessel opened fire first. Captain Isaac Hull refused to answer until he had brought his ship into the exact position he desired, when he poured broadside after broadside into his antagonist, sweeping her deck, shattering her hull, and cutting her masts and rigging to pieces. The Guerriere soon became unmanageable, and was forced to surrender. ”

“ They went further and admitted all the most boastful Yankee could have wished. They said (vide the British Naval Chronicle) , that “the few on board an American ship-of-war that are designated as boys are as old and stout as most men employed in our service.”
And the last of all is the confession of the same periodical that “had the Guerrière’s men been half as well skilled in the use of great99 guns as the Constitution’s were, the proportion of killed and wounded would not have been so great nor one ship made a complete wreck of while the other suffered no material injury in hull or rigging.” ”

“ Supposing that the failure to answer his signals was due to the ships inshore being Yankees, Captain Dacres wore the Guerrière around and ran away from the Constitution for some time before he discovered his mistake. Meantime the ships inshore had had the benefit of enough wind to bring them within dangerous distance of the Constitution, so that when the wind failed the Constitution, as it did at 5.30 in the morning, her condition was desperate. ”

“ The Constitution, on the contrary, had but seven men killed and seven wounded, and did not lose a mast. As soon as she had replaced a few cut ropes and changed a few sails, she was in condition, even by the testimony of the British historian, to take another Guerrière. The United States took an hour and a half to capture the Macedonian, and the same difference made itself felt in the damage suffered by the two ships. The Macedonian had her masts shattered, two of her main-deck and all her spar-deck guns disabled ”

“ The enemy, it appear, cut their cables, fearing they should be attacked at anchor, although in a neutral port. ↑ The Newcastle was now two miles ahead of the Leander, and one mile on the lee-bow of the Acasta. The enemy standing to the eastward. ↑ The Guerriere, rated as a 44-gun frigate, was a new ship, mounting 56 guns, 28 of which were 32-pounders, called Columbians, resembling those used in the British navy under the names of their inventors, Gover and Congreve. ”

“ The Federalists since 1801 had constantly called for a larger navy. The first-known and most famous sea-fight of 1812 was the victory on Aug. 19 of the Constitution over the Guerriere, a vessel with which a London paper had declared no American ship could cope. “We have always contended that on an equal footing Americans can be whipped by none,” cried the Evening Post. “Man for man and gun for gun, even the veteran British tars can get no advantage over the Americans.” ”

“ It gave impetus to naval operations and fired our captains with impatience to get to sea and bring the enemy under their guns. It encouraged swarms of privateers to cover the Seven Seas and attack the enemy’s vital trade routes.
Admiral Sir John Jervis is reported to have said to his flag captain as he sighted the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent that a victory was very necessary to England at that moment. With equal justice Isaac Hull might have made a similar remark on sighting the Guerriere. ”

“ Weather very thick and hazy – took the two sternmost ships for frigates, the headmost, from appearance, a much larger ship, for the Guerriere, who we understood had long 32-pounders on her main-deck. Made private signal, which was not answered – hoisted our colours and fired a shot to windward. Shortly afterwards the sternmost ship tacked, and Sir George directed the Acasta’s signal to be made to tack after her; but countermanded the order on observing that she would gain the anchorage before the Acasta could close with her. ”

“ She had hauled her wind, and lay with her topsails aback, gallantly waiting for her enemy. Her officers and crew prepared to meet the Americans with the spirit of British seamen. There were ten Americans in the crew who came to Captain Dacres and told him they could not fight against [159] their own country. The captain magnanimously told them to go below, and assist in the cockpit with the wounded.
As soon as the Constitution got within range, the Guerrière let fly her batteries, firing the starboard guns, then wearing and giving the Constitution her port guns. ”

“ I won't take it from any man who knows so well how to use it; but I'll trouble you for that hat."
It was nearly dark when the battle was over. The Constitution lay about the wreck of the Guerrière all night, and at daylight in the morning the officer in charge of the prize hailed to say that she had four feet of water in her hold, and was in danger of sinking. Hull immediately sent all his boats to bring off the prisoners and their effects. The work occupied the entire forenoon; then the prize-crew was recalled, and the Guerrière was set on fire. ”

“ Deducting ten Americans who would not fight, and adding fifteen killed outright, we get two hundred and seventy-two. Twenty-eight of her crew were absent in prizes.
The loss of the Constitution was seven killed and seven wounded, and almost all this loss occurred from musketry, while the ships were foul.
The Guerrière lost twenty-three killed and fifty-six wounded. Roosevelt thus sums up: Constitution, 1576 tons; comparative force one hundred; comparative loss inflicted one hundred. Guerrière, 1338 tons; comparative force seventy; comparative loss inflicted eighteen. ”

“ After touching at Messina and Naples, the squadron sailed for Carthagena on the 31st of August, where Commodore Decater was in expectation of meeting the relief squadron, under Commodore Bainbridge. On joining that officer at Gibraltar, he relinquished his command, and sailed in the Guerriere for the United States, where he arrived on the 12th of November, 1815. ”

“ Guanabara, Brazilian rebel warship at Rio Janeiro, iv. 548; fired on by the United States cruiser Detroit, 553. Guerrière, American frigate, built in 1814, iii. 64; Decatur’s flagship in expedition sent against the Dey of Algiers, 346, 347. Guerrière, British frigate, picking sailors from American ships, ii. 6; flees from an inferior force, 7; stops the Spitfire, and takes off John Deguyo, an American citizen, ib.; race with the Constitution, 55; Captain Dacres in charge of, 55–60; fight with the Constitution, 76–95; surrendered and blown up, 95. Gun-boats, the ideal navy, ii. ”

“ The Mediterranean was bad, the North Atlantic was worse, the west coasts of the British Islands worst of all. The American Navy came in and did splendid service off the south coast of Ireland, in the Bay of Biscay, and along the North Atlantic seaways between French and British and American ports. More and more destroyers were put into service, aided by "chasers"—very much smaller vessels with only one gun and a few men, but so cheap and easily built that they could be turned out in swarms to help in worrying the submarines to death. ”

“ After all it may justly be considered that the constructing a national fleet is but an addition to human misery; for besides the vast expense of such equipments, the idle and licentious habits of a vast body of sailors, a naval armament is only a new engine to carry death and conflagration to distant, unoffending, innocent nations. The havoc of human life on the ocean, the great balance of evil resulting from naval engagements, if duly weighted in the scale of equity or humanity might lead the nations with one general consent, to their total annihilation. ”

“ The United States Navy played a vital role in transporting men and supplies and in protecting the convoys while en route. During this period the administrative task was enormous since facilities for quartering and training such large forces and for storing supplies and equipment had to be provided within the limited area of the United Kingdom. In October 1942 some of the units stationed in the United Kingdom were sent to the Mediterranean for the invasion of North Africa. The build-up continued after this, well-trained units arriving from the United States. ”

“ The American government had previously laid an embargo upon all their national ships and vessels during a space of ninety days, so that when war broke out on the 18th of June a large number of fast-sailing-vessels of all sizes were ready to issue forth as privateers; while Commodore Rogers, in command of the squadron, consisting of the President, United States, and Congress frigates, and two brigs of war, sailed in hopes of capturing a fleet of above 100 homeward-bound Jamaica men, known to be off the coast, under the convoy of a single frigate and brig. ”

“ In addition to doing signally effective work in hunting down the submarine, and in protecting ocean commerce, our war-ships have relieved England and France of the necessity of looking out for raiders and submarines in South Atlantic waters: we have sent to the Grand Fleet, among other craft, a squadron of dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts whose aggregate gun-power will tell whenever the German sea-fighters decide to risk battle in the North Sea ”

“ Shore-based air forces were to inflict maximum damage on the American carrier forces whenever and wherever possible, but once the invasion came they were to conserve their strength until the day of the landings, when all the Allied assault shipping would be concentrated off the beaches and when their attacks on the U.S. carriers would assist the advancing Japanese fleet. The plan was designed to get the Japanese naval gunnery force into a position where it could do the greatest damage. ”

“ Another source of infantry replacements were the seven sea raiding squadrons, three of which were based at Kerama Retto and the remainder at Unten-Ko in the north of Okinawa. Each of those squadrons had a hundred picked men, whose sole assignment was to destroy American amphibious invasion shipping during the course of landing operations by crashing explosives-laden suicide craft into the sides of attack transports and cargo vessels. ”

“ Besides the brigade of marines in France, it is necessary to maintain forces of marines in [Pg 271] Santo Domingo, Hayti, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Cuba, China, the Philippines, Porto Rico, and Honolulu, while there is a small detachment in London. The fleet of battleships and cruisers absorbs a goodly percentage of the present force, while at the same time it has been necessary to supply men to augment the garrisons of the navy-yards, naval ammunition depots, radio-stations, and other posts of the country. ”