, which less touched his own command. Captain Hull, now
commanding the Portsmouth Yard, writes, June 14, 1813, that light
cruisers like the "Siren," lately arrived at Boston, and the
"Enterprise," then with him, can be very useful by driving away the
enemy's small vessels and privateers which have been molesting the
coasting trade. He purposes to order them eastward, along the Maine
coast, to collect coasters in convoy and protect their long-shore
voyages, after the British fashion on the high seas. "The coasting
trade here," he adds, "is immense. Not less than fifty sail last night
anchored in this harbor, bound to Boston and other points south. The
'Nautilus' [a captured United States brig] has been seen from this
harbor every week for some time past, and several other enemy's
vessels are on the coast every few days." An American privateer has
just come in, bringing with her as a prize one of her own class,
called the "Liverpool Packet," which "within six months has taken from
us property to an immense amount."[186]

Ten days later Hull's prospects have darkened. There has appeared off
Portsmouth a blockading division; a frigate, a sloop, and two brigs.
"When our two vessels were first ordered to this station, I believed
they would be very useful in protecting the coasting trade; but the
enemy's cruisers are now so much stronger that we can hardly promise
security to the trade, if we undertake to convoy it." On the contrary,
the brigs themselves would be greatly hazarded, and resistance to
attack, if supported by the neighborhood, may entail destruction upon
ports where they have taken refuge; a thought possibly suggested by
Cockburn's action at Havre de Grace and Frenchtown. He therefore now
proposes that they should run the blockade and cruise at sea. This
course was eventually adopted; but for the moment the Secretary wrote
that, while he perceived the propriety of Hull's remarks, "the call
for protection on that coast has been very loud, and having sent those
vessels for that special purpose, I do not now incline immediately to
remove them."[187] It was necessary to bend to a popular clamor, which
in this case did not, as it very frequently does, make unreasonable
demands and contravene all considerations of military wisdom. A month
later Hull reports the blockade so strict that it is impossible to get
out by day. The commander of the "Enterprise," Johnston Blakely,
expresses astonishment that the enemy should emp