ways. The Detroit, anticipating the manoeuvre, attempted to wear,
but in so doing ran foul of the _Queen Charlotte_. In this helpless
condition the two British ships remained for some time. Perry,
promptly availing himself of this accident, bore down upon the
distressed vessels, pouring in broadside after broadside with deadly
effect. The _Detroit_ had already received rough treatment in combat
with the _Lawrence_; and the smaller vessels now also made her a
target, the _Somers_, _Porcupine_, _Tigress_, and _Caledonia_,
which had closed up in the rear, keeping up a deadly fire astern.

Never in any naval action was the loss greater in proportion to
the number of men engaged. The encounter had been so severe that
every officer on the _Detroit_ was either killed or wounded.
Barclay's thigh was badly shattered and he had also been severely
wounded in the shoulder. So deadly had been the fire from the
American guns that three-fourths of his men were disabled. Without
officers to direct or men to fight, resistance was no longer
possible. All that perseverance and courage could do had been done.
The brave Barclay was compelled to yield at last to a superior
force and to double the weight of metal. The two ships so helplessly
entangled were the first to strike their colours, and their example
was followed by the _Hunter_ and _Lady Prevost_. The _Little Belt_
and the _Chippewa_ endeavoured to escape, and led the _Trippe_ and
_Scorpion_ a lively chase before they were eventually captured.

Cooper in his naval history remarks:

Stress was laid at the time on the fact that a portion of the
British crews were Provincials, but the history of this continent
is filled with instances which went to increase the renown of
the mother country without obtaining any credit for it. The
hardy frontier men of the American lakes are as able to endure
fatigue, as ready to engage and as constant in battle as the
seamen of any marine in the world. They merely require good
leaders, and this the English appear to have possessed in Captain
Barclay and his assistants.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the flag of the _Detroit_
was lowered, and Captain Barclay with his officers, amidst the dead
and dying who cumbered her decks, gave up their swords to Perry on
the _Niagara_. The American commander could not but feel the greatest
admiration for his courageous opponent. Courteous as he was brave,
Perry begged the