Unfortunate Movements: Sandy Hook and Belvidera

While military failures gave the opponents of the administration reasons for complaints and denunciations, the little American navy, so weak compared with that of the British, was winning honor for itself and the nation. Unmindful of this disparity, the Americans went boldly out upon the ocean in national and privately-armed vessels, and won victory after victory. When war was declared, Commodore Rodgers was off Sandy Hook, near New York, with a small squadron consisting of the frigates President, Congress, and United States, and the sloop-of-war Hornet. He put to sea two days after that declaration, in pursuit of a British squadron convoying the West India fleet of merchantmen to England. The President (Rodgers' flagship) overtook the British off Nantucket Shoals, on the 23d of June, and after a slight engagement with the Belvidera, and a chase of several hours, the pursuit was abandoned. The news of this affair, carried into Halifax by the Belvidera, produced a profound sensation there, and Rear-Admiral Sawyer sent out a squadron of war-vessels, under Captain Broke, to search for Rodgers and his frigate. Broke's flag-ship was the Shannon, 38. This squadron appeared near New York early in July, and captured the United States brig Nautilus, 14. This was the first vessel-of-war taken on either side in this contest.

The frigate Constitution (yet afloat), of 44-guns, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, had just returned from foreign service when war was declared, and on the 12th of July she sailed from Annapolis on a cruise to the northward. On the 17th she fell in with Broke's squadron, when one of the most remarkable naval retreats and pursuits on record occurred. The Constitution was not strong enough to fight the squadron, with a hope of winning; and her safety depended upon her celerity in flight. There was almost a dead calm, and her sails flapped lazily in a zephyr-like breeze, as she floated almost independently of the helm on the slowly undulating bosom of the sea. Down went her boats with sweeps and manned by strong oarsmen. A long 18-pounder was rigged as a stern-chaser, and another of the same calibre was pointed off the forecastle. Out of her cabin-windows, where saws had made them large enough, two 24-pounders were run, and all the light cannon that would draw was set. She was just getting under headway with a gentle northwest breeze that sprung up, when the Shannon assailed her with shot at long range without effect. Calm and breeze succeeded each other, and sweeps and sails alternately kept the good ship moving in a manner that puzzled the pursuers.

At length the British discovered the secret power that bore the Constitution before them, and instantly boats with sweeps and strong men were urging onward the Shannon, which then slowly gained on her intended victim. The Guerriere, 38, Captain Dacres, another of the squadron, had joined in the chase. All day and all night the pursuit continued; and at dawn of the second day of the chase the whole British squadron were in sight, bent on capturing the American frigate. The five vessels were clouded with canvas, while expert seamanship caused the Constitution to make the space between her and her pursuers so wide that not a gun was fired. That afternoon she was four miles ahead of the Belvidera, the nearest vessel of the squadron; and at sunset a heavy squall burst in fury on the Constitution, but she was prepared for it. Wind, lightning, and rain made a terrible commotion on the sea, for a short time; but the gallant ship outrode the tempest, and at twilight she was flying before her pursuers at the rate of eleven knots an hour. At midnight the British fired two guns, and at dawn they gave up the chase, which had lasted sixty-four hours. The country rang with praises of Hull and the Constitution; and a bard of the day, singing of her exploits, said:

Just after Rodgers left Sandy Hook, the Essex, 32, Captain David Porter, sailed from New York with a flag at her mast-head bearing the significant words: Free Trade and Sailors' Rights. Soon after leaving Sandy Hook, while sailing southward, the Essex captured several British merchant-vessels, and made trophy bonfires of them; and on the 13th of August (1812) she captured the British brig Alert, 18. This was the first British national vessel captured in the war. She encountered some others, when, believing himself cut off from Boston and New York by a British squadron, Porter ran the Essex into the Delaware.