blue-jackets were as gallantly serving their country nearer home. From
Portsmouth to Charleston the coast was watched by British ships, and
collisions between the enemies were of almost daily occurrence. In
many of these actions great bravery was shown on both sides.
Noticeably was this the case in the action between the cutter
"Surveyor" and the British frigate "Narcissus," on the night of June
12. The "Surveyor," a little craft manned by a crew of fifteen men,
and mounting six twelve-pound carronades, was lying in the York River
near Chesapeake Bay. From the masthead of the "Narcissus," lying
farther down the bay, the spars of the cutter could be seen above the
tree-tops; and an expedition was fitted out for her capture. Fifty
men, led by a veteran officer, attacked the little vessel in the
darkness, but were met with a most determined resistance. The
Americans could not use their carronades, but with their muskets they
did much execution in the enemy's ranks. But they were finally
overpowered, and the little cutter was towed down under the frigate's
guns. The next day Mr. Travis, the American commander, received his
sword which he had surrendered, with a letter from the British
commander, in which he said, "Your gallant and desperate attempt to
defend your vessel against more than double your number, on the night
of the 12th inst., excited such admiration on the part of your
opponents as I have seldom witnessed, and induced me to return you the
sword you had so nobly used, in testimony of mine.... In short, I am
at a loss which to admire most, the previous arrangement on board the
'Surveyor,' or the determined manner in which her deck was disputed,
inch by inch."

During the summer of 1813, the little gunboats, built in accordance
with President Jefferson's plan for a coast guard of single-gun
vessels, did a great deal of desultory fighting, which resulted in
little or nothing. They were not very seaworthy craft, the heavy guns
mounted amidships causing them to careen far over in even a sailor's
"capfull" of wind. When they went into action, the first shot from the
gun set the gunboat rocking so that further fire with any precision of
aim was impossible. The larger gunboats carried sail enough to enable
them to cruise about the coast, keeping off privateers and checking
the marauding expeditions of the British. Many of the gunboats,
however, were simply large gallies propelled with oars, and therefore
confined in th