and is mentioned for what it may be worth.

Through the autumn of 1812 the frigate cruised beneath tropic suns, much
of the time off the coast of Brazil. Today the health and comfort of the
bluejacket are so scrupulously provided for in every possible way that a
battleship is the standard of perfection for efficiency in organization.
It is amazing that in such a ship as the _Constitution_ four hundred men
could be cheerful and ready to fight after weeks and even months at sea.
They were crowded below the water line, without proper heat, plumbing,
lighting, or ventilation, each man being allowed only twenty-eight
inches by eight feet of space in which to sling his hammock against the
beams overhead. Scurvy and other diseases were rampant. As many as
seventy of the crew of the _Constitution_ were on the sick list shortly
before she fought the _Guerriere_. The food was wholesome for rugged
men, but it was limited solely to salt beef, hard bread, dried peas,
cheese, pork, and spirits.

Such conditions, however, had not destroyed the vigor of those hardy
seamen of the _Constitution_ when, on the 29th of December and within
sight of the Brazilian coast, the lookout at the masthead sang out to
Captain Bainbridge that a heavy ship was coming up under easy canvas. It
turned out to be His Britannic Majesty's frigate _Java_, Captain Henry
Lambert, who, like Carden, made the mistake of insisting upon a combat.
His reasons were sounder than those of Dacres or Carden, however, for
the _Java_ was only a shade inferior to the _Constitution_ in guns and
carried as many men. In every respect they were so evenly matched that
the test of battle could have no aftermath of extenuation.

The _Java_ at once hastened in pursuit of the American ship which drew
off the coast as though in flight, the real purpose being to get clear
of the neutral Brazilian waters. The _Constitution_ must have been a
picture to stir the heart and kindle the imagination, her black hull
heeling to the pressure of the tall canvas, the long rows of guns
frowning from the open ports, while her bunting rippled a glorious
defiance, with a commodore's pennant at the mainmast-head, the Stars and
Stripes streaming from the mizzen peak and main-topgallant mast, and a
Union Jack at the fore. The _Java_ was adorned as bravely, and Captain
Lambert had lashed an ensign in the rigging on the chance that his other
colors might be shot away.

The two ships began the fray at what