hips of war, of which only six were sizable frigates, the British could
oppose 170 large ships and 700 others. They had the prestige of a
hundred years of naval supremacy; they had driven the French and Spanish
ships of war from the sea.

Therefore it was a joy to the nation when, seven weeks after the
outbreak of the war, the frigate _Constitution_ captured the _Guerriere_
and later the _Java_; then the _United States_ captured the
_Macedonian_; the _Frolic_ took the _Wasp_; the _Essex_, the first
American ship of war to appear in the Pacific, captured numbers of
British whalers there. In thirteen duels, one ship on each side, the
Americans won eleven victories.

Gradually the fleet was worn down; the _Chesapeake_ was taken by the
_Shannon_; the _President_ and the _Adams_ were captured; and at the end
of the war there was not a public ship on the ocean flying the flag of
the United States. However the navy in two unexpected directions won new
laurels. On Lake Erie Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British fleet at
the battle of Put-in Bay, and sent his ever memorable despatch, "We have
met the enemy and they are ours: two ships, two brigs, one schooner and
one sloop." On Lake Champlain, Commodore Macdonough beat the British;
while McComb with his militia withstood and repelled the British attack
at Plattsburg.

[Illustration: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON

Harrison was one of the few able leaders that the United States had
during the War of 1812. He was President for only one month in 1841. He
died in office.

From the portrait of by J.B. Lambdin]

When the cruisers were driven off the sea, the privateers continued the
naval war. At that time a merchantman could be turned into a capable
fighting ship by adding strengthening timbers and providing the
necessary guns. Such a ship, when commissioned as a privateer by the
United States government, could capture the enemy's merchantmen and on
occasion fight small cruisers. For instance, the brig _Yankee_, 160 tons
burden, eighteen guns, 120 men, captured twenty-nine prizes, one of
which sold for more than $500,000. The money was divided equally between
the owners and the men on board. The privateers together captured about
2,000 British vessels; though over 1,500 American vessels were captured
by the English. The whole British nation felt the shock of this
unexpected naval resistance; and it was the pressure of the shippers and
shipowners of England which caused that power t