rboard broadside. The "President" imitated the manoeuvre, heading up
to north; but she did not fire. At this point the historian is met by a
direct contradiction of evidence. Decatur says that the "Pomone" was now
on the port bow, within musket-shot,[464] the "Tenedos" five hundred
yards astern, "taking up a raking position on our quarter, and the rest
(with the exception of the 'Endymion') within gunshot."[465] These
statements are confirmed by the sworn testimony before the American
Court of Inquiry. The log of the "Pomone," published with intention,
reads that the "Tenedos" was not more than three miles off,--a distance
to which no gun on shipboard of that day could carry,--and the
"Endymion" and "Majestic" so far away that they did not come on the
scene until 12.45 and 3 A.M., respectively, of the 16th. The "Pomone"
fired a second broadside, and hauling still further to port was about to
discharge a third, from a raking position ahead, when the "President"
struck. She had not fired a gun at either the "Pomone" or the "Tenedos."
The log of the "Pomone" is clear on this point, and Decatur's elaborate
report makes no mention of having done so. The witnesses before the
Court of Inquiry are equally silent.

Between the "Endymion" and the "President," in point of battery, the
proportion of force was as four to three, in favor of the American
ship. Against that must fairly be weighed the power of the "Endymion"
to maintain for half an hour a quartering and raking position, owing
to the necessity to escape laid on the "President." A quantitative
estimate of this advantage would be largely guess; but it may safely
be said that the disproportion of killed and wounded[466] can probably
be laid to this, coupled with the very proper endeavor of Decatur to
throw off his immediate enemy by aiming at her spars. After two and a
half hours' fighting, the sails of the "Endymion" were "stripped from
the yards," Captain Hayes reported; while the "President," by the
"Pomone's" log, "continued to stand east under a press of sail," all
studdingsails set, from lower to royal. This result accounts for where
the "President's" shot went, and under the circumstances should have
gone, and for why the "Endymion" lost fewer men; and it was not the
sole reason for the last. There is, in the writer's judgment, no
ground whatever for the assumption that the "Endymion" did, or singly
would, have beaten the "President." The disparity of material force