The Constitution and the Guerriere: Nile and Europe

But our astonishment at these successive and brilliant victories could scarcely exceed that of the Old World. The British navy had been so long accustomed to victory that a single-handed contest of any English frigate with that of any other nation had ceased to be a matter of solicitude to her. The maritime nations of Europe had, one after another, yielded to her sway, till her flag in every sea on the globe extorted the respect and fear which the declaration "I am a Roman citizen" did in the proudest days of the Empire. Her invincibility on the ocean was a foregone conclusion. The victories of Napoleon stopped with the shore: even his "star" paled on the deep. His extraordinary efforts and energies could not tear from the British navy the proud title it had worn so long. His fleets, one after another, had gone down before the might of British broadsides, and the sublime sea-fights of Aboukir and Trafalgar were only corroborations of what had long been established. If this was the common feeling of the Continent, it is no wonder that "the English were stunned as by the shock of an earthquake." The first victory surprised them, but did not disturb their confidence. They began to discuss the causes of the unlooked-for event with becoming dignity, but before the argument was concluded another and another defeat came like successive thunder-claps, till discussion gave way to alarm. The thoughtful men of England were too wise to pretend that disasters occurring in such numbers and wonderful regularity could be the result of accident, and feared they beheld the little black cloud which the prophet saw rising over the sea, portending an approaching storm. If in so short a time a maritime force of only a few frigates and sloops of war could strike such deadly blows and destroy the prestige of English invincibility, what could not be done when the navy should approximate her own in strength!.

The war-vessels at length grew timorous, and lost all their desire to meet an American ship of equal rank. It was declared that our frigates were built like seventy-fours, and therefore English frigates were justified in declining a battle when offered. The awful havoc made by our fire affected the seamen also, and whenever they saw the stars and stripes flaunting from the mast-head of an approaching vessel they felt that no ordinary battle was before them. English crews had never been so cut up since the existence of her navy. In the terrific battle of the Nile, Nelson lost less than three out of one hundred, and in his attack on Copenhagen, less than four out of every hundred. In Admiral Duncan's famous action off Camperdown, the proportion was about the same as that of the Nile. In 1793 the French navy was in its glory, and the victories obtained over its single ships by English vessels were considered unparalleled. Yet in fourteen single engagements, considered the most remarkable, and in which the ships, with one exception, ranged from thirty-six guns to fifty-two, the average of killed and wounded was only seventeen per ship, while in four encounters with American vessels, the Constitution, United States, and Wasp, the average was a hundred and eleven to each vessel.

This remarkable difference is ascribed to the fact that the Americans had devised an improvement in gunnery which was as yet unknown to the English. Their guns were sighted, and could be fired with remarkable accuracy of aim. "While we can fire cannon with as sure an aim as musketry, or almost rifles, striking twice out of every three shots, they must fire at random, without sight of their object or regard to the undulations of the sea, shooting over our heads, seldom hulling us or even hitting our decks." Such being the case, the striking success of the Americans in these encounters is in great measure accounted for. But, whatever the cause, the "mistress of the seas" felt herself obliged to yield the crown of victory to an antagonist whom she had long affected to despise, while Europe beheld with astonishment the victorious career of the feeble navy of the New World.