16 fell in with and took the brig "Nautilus," then one day from port. Luck was with them, and twenty-four hours later the "Constitution," Captain Isaac Hull, ran into their midst.

She had left Annapolis on the 12th of July, and had experienced such light winds and strong currents that on the afternoon of the 17th she had gone no farther than Barnegat, on the coast of New Jersey, when the lookout about two o'clock in the afternoon descried four sails to the northward, and by and by a fifth in the northeast. Five was the number of Rodgers' fleet. But Hull, not feeling sure that the strangers were friends, and finding that he was getting too near the coast, changed his course and went off due east toward the nearest ship, which was the "Guerrière," Captain James Richards Dacres. Captain Dacres had parted from the squadron some time before, and, not expecting to meet it so soon, believed the vessels to be the fleet of Captain Rodgers. He would not join them, therefore, and, on sighting the "Constitution" coming toward him, kept away, so that it was half-past seven before Hull caught up with the Guerrière, and, clearing for action, ran on side by side with her, but not venturing to fire lest she might be a friend.

Captain Broke, meanwhile, seeing the two frigates near together, concluded they were Americans, and carefully abstained from making any signals lest they should be frightened away. The situation at nightfall was thus most complicated: the British fleet supposed the "Guerrière" and the "Constitution" were Americans; the "Guerrière" supposed the British fleet belonged to the United States and was not certain as to the "Constitution," while Captain Hull was not sure as to the character of the "Guerrière." He was not long in doubt, however, for about three in the morning the " Guerrière" fired two guns and a rocket and made off. Daylight showed that the fleet belonged to the enemy, and Hull turned to escape.

And now began the most exciting chase recorded in naval annals. During the night the Englishmen closed in about him, and when the mist and the darkness lifted, the "Shannon " was some five miles astern; two others were to leeward, and the rest of the fleet ten miles astern. The ocean being quite calm and no wind stirring, Hull put out his boats to tow the "Constitution." Broke imitated him, and summoned all the boats of his squadron to tow the "Shannon"; and having furled all sail was gaining steadily on the "Constitution," when a little

breeze swept over the water and sent her a few hundred yards ahead before the "Shannon" could shake out her sails and catch it. But the wind soon died out, and the "Shannon,” creeping up, got near enough to throw her shot over the "Constitution." Fearing that this would soon destroy the rigging and so make her a prize to the fleet, Lieutenant Charles Morris suggested kedging. Hull took the suggestion, ordered all the spare rope to be payed down into the cutters, which were sent half a mile ahead, where a kedge was let go. The moment the anchor touched bottom a signal was given, the crew, in the language of the sailors, "clapped on," and the ship was warped ahead. Meantime a second kedge had been carried forward and dropped, so that when the first was tripped the second was ready to be hauled on. This device Broke also imitated, and all that day and till late the next night the "Constitution" and her pursuers kept on towing and kedging and occasionally exchanging harmless shots. A light breeze then sprang up, which freshened toward midnight, and the men were allowed to rest till two in the morning of the 19th, when the wind once more died out and kedging was again resorted to. By noon the breeze became light again, and about half-past six in the evening a squall of rain was seen coming over the ocean. For this, as for everything, Hull was ready, and keeping his sails taut till just before the squall struck, he then, in a moment, furled the light ones and double-reefed the others, and so led the English captains to believe that a gust of unusual violence was near. Without waiting for it to strike them, they at once shortened sail and bore up before the wind, which compelled them to take a course just the opposite of that of the "Constitution." The squall was really very light, and as soon as the rain hid him from his pursuers Hull made all sail, and, though the fleet continued the pursuit till the next morning, he escaped after a chase of three nights and two days, or sixty-six hours. Six days later he entered Boston harbor.

There he stayed till August 2, when he again put to sea. Having no orders, he ran down to the Bay of Fundy, sailed along the coast of Nova Scotia, passed Newfoundland, and took his station off Cape Race, captured some merchantmen, and, sailing southward, spoke a Salem privateer whose captain informed him that a frigate was not far distant. Taking the course indicated, Hull, on the afternoon of August 19, sighted his old enemy the "Guerrière." The order to clear

the decks was instantly given; the boatswain's cry, "All hands clear ship for action!" sounded through the frigate; the fife and drum beat to quarters, and every man hurried to his place and work. Marines and sailors climbed into the tops to be prepared to pick off the enemy if the frigates came to close quarters, or trim the topsails if a sudden maneuver became necessary, while below others stood ready to do the same with the lower sails. The gun crews made haste to unlash the guns and load them; the powder boys ran about the deck piling up ammunition beside the carriages; a blanket soaked with water was hung over the entrance to the magazine; muskets, boarding pikes, and cutlasses were stacked around the masts; buckets of loaded pistols were placed near at hand for the purpose of repelling boarders, and the deck sanded that it might not be made slippery by the blood shed by the killed and wounded. Each welcomed the other; for Dacres, who commanded the “Guerrière,” had just spread a challenge on the log of a merchantman and sent it to New York, offering to meet any frigate in the American navy off Sandy Hook, and Hull was most anxious not to return to port without a fight. For an hour the two ships wore and yawed and maneuvered, coming nearer and nearer till within pistol range, when the "Guerrière" bore up and went off with the wind on her quarter, as an indication of her willingness to engage in a yardarm and yardarm encounter. The "Constitution" immediately made sail, got alongside, and the two ran on together. As the battle must be at close quarters, Hull ordered all firing to stop, had his guns reloaded with round shot and grape, and quietly waited. Again and again Lieutenant Morris came to the quarter-deck and asked for orders to fire; but not till the frigates were at short pistol range was the command given, and a broadside delivered with unerring aim. For ten minutes the battle raged furiously. The mizzenmast of the "Guerrière" was then shot away, and falling into the sea brought her up to the wind and so caused the "Constitution" to forge ahead. Fearing that he might be raked, Hull crossed the bows of the enemy, came about, raked her, and attempted to lay her on board. doing so the "Guerrière" thrust her bowsprit diagonally across the "Constitution's" lee quarter. This afforded Dacres so fine a chance to board that Lieutenant Morris sprang upon the taffrail to get a view of the enemy's deck, and beheld the men gathering on the forecastle and heard the officers instruct

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