s, while the
"Wasp" was fitting out; but when she did finally get to sea, on May 1,
1814, she proved herself to be far from a "dull, harmless drone."
Slipping unobserved through the British blockading line, the "Wasp"
made straight for the European coast before a fresh wind, and was soon
cruising in the chops of the English channel, where the "Argus" had
won her laurels and met with her defeat. Many English merchantmen were
captured and burned, and the terror that spread in English shipping
circles recalled the days of the "Argus."

At daylight on the 28th of June, the "Wasp" sighted two merchantmen,
and straightway gave chase. Soon a third vessel was discovered on the
weather-beam; and, abandoning the vessels first sighted, the American
bore down upon the stranger. She proved to be the "Reindeer," a
British brig-sloop of eighteen guns, carrying a crew of one hundred
and eighteen men. Although the British vessel was by no means a match
in weight of metal for the "Wasp," her captain, William Manners,
brought her into action with a cool gallantry which well justified his
reputation as one of the bravest men in the British navy.

[Illustration: Boarding the "Reindeer."]

At ten o'clock in the morning the ships were near enough to each other
to exchange signals, but several hours were spent in manoeuvring for
the weather-gage; so that it was not until after three in the
afternoon that the action fairly opened. The day was admirably
suitable for a naval battle. Light clouds floated across the sky, and
the gentle breeze that was blowing had sufficient strength to propel
the ships without careening them. The surface of the ocean was
unusually calm for that quarter, in which a rather choppy sea is
usually running. Before the light breeze the "Wasp" came down upon her
foe, bows on, with her decks cleared for action, and the men at their
quarters. On the top-gallant forecastle of the "Reindeer" was mounted
a twelve-pound carronade, and the action was opened by the discharge
of this piece. In the position she then held, the "Wasp" was unable to
reply; and her crew had to bear five effective shots from this gun
without being able to fire a shot in return,--an ordeal that less
well-disciplined crews might not have endured. For nine minutes the
Americans returned not a shot; but then the "Wasp" luffed up, firing
the guns from aft forward as they bore. The two ships were now lying
broadside to broadside, not twenty yards apart, and