behind; and I immediately made
signal for the 'Wasp' to return, and stood towards her. They,
observing my signal, stood back, came alongside, and sent their
boat on board for the writing-desk; after which they sent me a
log-line and some other presents, and made all sail in a
direction for the line, and, I have reason to suppose, for the
convoy that passed on Thursday previous."

And so the "Wasp," with her ill-fated crew thus re-enforced, passed
forever from the sight of man. What was her course after leaving the
"Adonis," none may ever know. Whether some chance spark, touching the
deadly stores of her magazine, sent vessel and crew to a sudden but
merciful death; or whether, after gallantly battling with some fierce
tropical hurricane, she drifted about the trackless ocean a helpless
hulk, with a slowly dying crew, carried hither and yon before the
winds and the currents, until her timbers, rotting asunder, gave a
watery sepulchre to her crew of lifeless bodies, must remain a mystery
until the day when the sea shall give up its dead. But, until that day
comes, the gallant deeds done by vessel and crew for the flag under
which they served should keep the names of the "Wasp" and her men ever
memorable in the annals of the great nation whose infancy they so
gallantly protected.

CHAPTER XV.

OPERATIONS ON THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. -- THE BOMBARDMENT OF
STONINGTON. -- DESTRUCTION OF THE UNITED STATES CORVETTE "ADAMS."
-- OPERATIONS ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. -- WORK OF BARNEY'S BARGE
FLOTILLA. -- ADVANCE OF THE BRITISH UPON WASHINGTON. --
DESTRUCTION OF THE CAPITOL. -- OPERATIONS AGAINST BALTIMORE. --
BOMBARDMENT OF FORT McHENRY.

The remaining work of the British blockading squadrons along the
Atlantic Coast demands some attention, and some account must be given
of certain land actions which were inseparably connected with the
course of naval events. This narrative can well be divided into two
parts, each dealing with the operations of one section of the
blockading fleet; thus tracing the course of events up to the close of
the war on the New England coast, before taking up the proceedings on
the Chesapeake station.

It will be remembered that Decatur had been checked in his attempt to
break the blockade at the eastern end of Long Island Sound, and was
forced to take the frigates "United States" and "Macedonian," and the
sloop-of-war "Hornet," into New Londo