une 1, 1813,
in Massachusetts Bay, under circumstances of weather and other
conditions that gave no advantage to either. If material and numbers
of personnel were the only factors in the fight, the fight would
have continued very long and ended in a draw. Did these things
occur? No, the _Chesapeake_ was captured in a little less than
fifteen minutes after the first gun was fired, and nearly half her
crew were killed or wounded!

It would be tiresome to recount all the battles both on sea and
land, in which smaller forces defeated forces numerically greater;
but it may not be possible by any other means to force the fact
on the attention--even sometimes of naval officers--that material
vessels, guns, etc., are merely instruments, and that the work
gotten out of any instrument depends not only on the instrument
itself, but on the skill with which it is employed. Usually, when
thinking or speaking of the power of any instrument (or means or
method or organization) we mean the power of which it is capable;
that is, the result which it can produce, _if used with_ 100 _per
cent of skill_. Possibly, we are subconsciously aware that we assume
perfect skill; but whether we are or not, we have become so accustomed
to the tacit acceptance of the phrase, "other things being equal,"
that we have come to forget that other things may not be equal at
all; and that they certainly will not be on the day of trial, if
we forget or undervalue those other things, while our antagonist
does not.

Let us always remember, then, that the effective work gotten out
of any means or instrument is the product of the maximum capability
of the means or instrument and the skill with which it is used;
that, for instance, if two fleets fight, which are numerically
equal in material and personnel, but in which the skill of the
personnel of the A fleet is twice as great as the skill of the
personnel of the B fleet, the A fleet will be twice as powerful
as the B fleet.

It may be objected that it would be absurd to assume the skill
of the personnel in one fleet as twice as great as that of the
personnel in the other fleet, but it can easily be shown that even
so great a disproportion is not impossible, provided the skill in
one fleet is very great. The value of superior skill naturally
becomes important where the difficulties are great. A very simple
illustration is in firing a gun; for even if the skill of one marksman
be greater than that of another,