. How our grandfathers lived . lywith the intention of cutting us off as soon as possible. Signals were soon made by the Gncrriere, but asthey were not answered, the conclusion of coursewas, that she was either a French or an Americanfrigate. Captain Dacres appeared anxious to ascer-tain her character, and after looking at her for thatpurpose, handed me his spy-glass, requesting me togive him my opinion of the stranger. I soon saw fromthe peculiarity of her sails, and from her general ap-pearance, that she was, without doubt, an Americanfrigate, and communicated the same to Captain i
. How our grandfathers lived . lywith the intention of cutting us off as soon as possible. Signals were soon made by the Gncrriere, but asthey were not answered, the conclusion of coursewas, that she was either a French or an Americanfrigate. Captain Dacres appeared anxious to ascer-tain her character, and after looking at her for thatpurpose, handed me his spy-glass, requesting me togive him my opinion of the stranger. I soon saw fromthe peculiarity of her sails, and from her general ap-pearance, that she was, without doubt, an Americanfrigate, and communicated the same to Captain immediately replied, that he thought she camedown too boldly for an American, but soon after 244 At Sea [No. 77 added, The better he behaves, the more honor \veshall gain by taking him. The t\\o ships were rapidly approaching each other,when the Gnctricrc backed her main-topsail, andwaited for her opponent to come clown, and com-mence the action. He then set an Knglish flag ateach mast-head, beat to quarters, and made ready for. THE CONSTITfTloN. the fight. When the strange frigate came down towithin two or three miles distance, he hauled uponthe wind, took in all his light sails, reefed his top-sails, and deliberately prepared for action. It wasnow about five oclock in the afternoon, when he filledaway and ran down for the Gucrricrc. At this mo-ment, Captain Dacres politely said to me : CaptainOrme, as I suppose you do not wish to fight againstyour own countrymen, you are at liberty to go below NO. 77] T/ie Guerriere the water-line. It was not long after this before Iretired from the quarter-deck to the cock-pit. Of course I saw no more of the action until thefiring ceased, but I heard and felt much of its effects ;for soon after I left the deck, the firing commencedon board the Gncrricrc, and was kept up almost until about six oclock, when I heard a tre-mendous explosion from the opposing frigate. Theeffect of her shot seemed to make the Gucrrtire reel,and tr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectamerica, bookyear1910
