public and private.
Before he sailed, he had felt called upon to protest to the Secretary
of the Navy against what he thought an injustice done him in the
promotion of a younger officer to a captaincy, while he remained
simply lieutenant-commander. He now found that the promotion had been
conferred upon him in his absence, and was offered the command of the
Constitution. He would have been pleased to sail in this vessel, but,
much to his annoyance, immediately after receiving the appointment was
ordered to the Chesapeake, then lying at Boston.

Captain Lawrence took the command of the Chesapeake at Boston toward
the end of May, 1813. The Shannon frigate, Captain Broke, a superior
vessel of the British navy, had been for some time off the port, and
her commander, assured of his strength, was desirous of a conflict.
"You will feel it as a compliment," he wrote, "if I say that the
result of our meeting may be the most grateful service I can render to
my country; and I doubt not that you, equally confident of success,
will feel convinced that it is only by triumphs in equal combats that
your little navy can now hope to console your country for the loss of
that trade it can no longer protect."

[Illustration: "Don't give up the ship."]

It would be complimenting the valor of Lawrence at the expense of his
judgment, if we were to pronounce him ardent for the fight, with the
circumstances under which it took place. In fact, as Mr. Cooper
states, "he went into the engagement with strong reluctance, on
account of the undisciplined state of his crew, to whom he was
personally unknown." The challenging vessel, on the contrary, carried
a picked crew, with every advantage of discipline and equipment. The
presumption, of course, is that he was fully prepared. The armament of
the two vessels was about equal, mounting forty-nine guns each.

At noon, then, on June 1st, Lawrence weighed anchor and left his
station in the bay to proceed to sea with a southwesterly breeze. The
Shannon was in sight, and the two ships stood off the shore till about
half-past four in the afternoon, when the Chesapeake fired a gun,
which was the signal for a series of manoeuvres, bringing the vessels
within range of each other about a quarter before six. The Shannon
hove to, and the Chesapeake bore down toward her. It was Lawrence's
intention to bring his ship fairly alongside of the enemy for a full
discharge of his battery. He consequently first receive