Westward Expansion and the War of 1812, 1803-1820

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Author: Theodore Roosevelt  | Date: 1812

The Battle Between the Constitution and the Guerriere

On August 2 the Constitution made sail from Boston and stood to the eastward, in hopes of falling in with some of the British cruisers. She was unsuccessful, however, and met nothing. Then she ran down to the Bay of Fundy, steered along the coast of Nova Scotia, and thence toward Newfoundland, and finally took her station off Cape Race in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where she took and burned two brigs of little value. On the 15th she recaptured an American brig from the British ship-sloop Avenger, tho the latter escaped; Capt. Hull manned his prize and sent her in. He then sailed southward, and on the night of hte 18th spoke a Salem privateer which gave him news of a British frigate to the south; thither he stood, and at 2 P.M. on the 19th, in lat. 41° 30’ N. and 55° W., made out a large sail bearing E.S.E. and to leeward, which proved to be his old acquaintance, the frigate Guerriere, Captain Dacres.

It was a cloudy day and the wind was blowing fresh from the northwest. The Guerriere was standing by the wind on the starboard tack, under easy canvas; she hauled up her courses, took in her topgallantsails, and at 4:30 backed her maintopsail. Hull then very deliberately began to shorten sail, taking in topgallantsails, staysails, and flying jib, sending down the royal-yards and putting another reef in the topsails. Soon the Englishman hoisted three ensigns, when the American also set his colors, one at each masthead, and one at the mizzen-peak.

The Constitution now ran down with the wind nearly aft. The Guierriere was on the starboard tack, and at five o’clock opened with her weatherguns, the shot falling short, then wore round and fired her port broadside, of which two shots struck her opponent, the rest passing over and through her rigging. As the British frigate again wore to open with her starboard battery, the Constitution yawed a little and fired two or three of her port bow guns. Three or four times the Guerriere repeated this maneuver, wearing and firing alternate broadsides, but with little or no effect, while the Constitution yawed as often to avoid being raked, and occasionally fired one of her bow guns. This continued nearly an hour, as the vessels were very far apart when the action began, hardly any loss or damage being inflicted by either party. At 6:00 the Guerriere bore up and ran off under her topsails and jib, with the wind almost astern, a little on her port quarter; when the Constitution set her maintopgallantsail and foresail, and at 6:05 closed within half pistol-shot distance on her adversary’s port beam.

Immediately furious cannonade opened, eachship firing as the guns bore. By the time the ships were fairly abreast, at 6:20, the Constitution shot away the Guerriere’s mizzen-mast, which fell over the starboard quarter, knocking a large hole in the counter, and bringing the ship round against her helm. Hitherto she had suffered very greatly and the Constitution hardly at all. The latter, finding that she was ranging ahead, put her helm aport and then luffed short round her enemy’s bows, delivering a heavy raking fire with the starboard guns and shooting away the Guierriere’s mainyard. Then she wore and again passed her adversary’s bows, raking with her port guns. The mizzenmast of the Guerriere, dragging in the water, had by this time pulled her bow round till the wind came on her starboard quarter; and so near were the two ships that the Englishman’s bowsprit passed diagonally over the Constitution’s quarter-deck, and as the latter ship fell off it got foul of her mizzen-rigging, and the vessels then lay with the Guerriere’s starboard-bow against the Constitution’s port, or lee quarter-gallery. The Englishman’s bow guns played havoc with Captain Hull’s cabin, setting fire to it; but the flames were soon extinguished by Lieutenant Hoffmann. On both sides the boarders were called away; the British ran forward, but Captain Dacres relinquished the idea of attacking when he saw the crowds of men on the American’s decks.

Meanwhile, on the Constitution, the boarders and marines gathered aft, but such a heavy sea was running that they could not get on the Guerriere. Both sides suffered heavily from the closeness of the musketry fire; indeed, almost the entire loss on the Constitution occurred at this juncture. As Lieutenant Bush, of the marines, sprang upon the taffrail to leap on the enemy’s decks, a British marine shot him dead; Mr. Morris, the first lieutenant, and Mr. Alwyn, the master, had also both leapt on the taffrail, and both were at the same moment wounded by the musketry fire. On the Guerriere the loss was far heavier, almost all the men on the forecastle being picked off. Captain Dacres himself was shot in the back and severely wounded by one of the American mizzen-topmen, while he was standing on the starboard forecastle hammocks cheering on his crew; two of the lieutenants and the master were also shot down.

The ships gradually worked round till the wind was again on the port quarter, when they separated, and the Guierriere’s foremast and mainmast at once went by the board, and fell over on the starboard side, leaving her a defenseless hulk, rolling her main-deck guns into the water. At 6:30 the Constitution hauled aboard her tacks, ran off a little distance to the eastward, and lay to. Her braces and standing and running rigging were much cut up and some of the spars wounded, but a few minutes sufficed to repair damages, when Captain Hull stood under his adversary’s lee, and the latter at once struck, at 7:00 P.M., just two hours after she had fired the first shot. On the part of the Constitution, however, the actual fighting, exclusive of six or eight guns fired during the first hour, while closing, occupied less than 30 minutes….

The Constitution had, about 456 men aboard while the Guerriere’s crew, 267 prisoners, were received aboard the Constitution; deducting 10 who were Americans and would not fight, and addingthe 15 killed outright, we get 272; 28 men were absent in prizes.

COMPARATIVE FORCE

Comparative

Comparative Loss

Tons Guns Broadside Men Loss Force Inflicted

Constitution 1576 27 684 456 14 1.00 1.00

Guerriere 1338 25 556 272 79 .70 .18

The loss of the Constitution included Lieutenant William S. Bush, of the marines, and six seamen killed, and her first lieutenant, Charles morris, Master, John C. Alwyn, four seamen, and one marine, wounded. Total, seven killed and seven wounded. Almost all this loss occurred when the ships came foul, and was due to the Guerriere’s musketry and the two guns in her bridle-ports.

The Guerriere lost 23 killed and mortally wounded, including her second lieutenant, Henry Ready, and 56 wounded severely and slightly, including Captain Dacres himself, the first lieutenant, Bartholomew Kent, Master, Robert Scott, two master’s mates, and one midshipman….

The British laid very great stress on the rotten and decayed condition of the Guerriere; mentioning in particular that the mainmast fell solely because of the weight of the falling foremast. But it must be remembered that until the action occurred she was considered a very fine ship. Thus, in Brighton’s "Memoir of Admiral Broke," it is declared that Dacres freely exprest the opinion that she could take a ship in half the time the Shannon could. The fall of the mainmast occurred when the fight was practically over; it had no influence whatever on the conflict. It was alsoasserted that her powder was bad, but on no authority; her first broadside fell short, but so, under similar circumstances, did the first broadside of the United States.

None of these causes account for the fact that her shot did not hit. Her opponent was of such superior force—nearly in the proportion of 3 to 2—that success would have been very difficult in any event, and no one can doubt the gallantry and pluck with which the British ship was fought; but the execution was very greatly disproportioned to the force. The gunnery of the Guerriere was very poor, and that of the Constitution excellent; during the few minutes the ships were yard-arm and yard-arm, the latter was not hulled once, while no less than thirty shot took effect on the former’s engaged side, five sheets of copper beneath the bends. The Guerriere, moreover, was out-maneuvered; "in wearing several times and exchanging broadsides in such rapid and continual changes of position, her fire was much more harmless than it would have been if she had kept more steady." The Constitution was handled faultlessly; Captain Hull displayed the coolness and skill of a veteran in the way in which he managed, first to avoid being raked, and then to improve the advantage which the precision and rapidity of his fire had gained.

The disparity of force, 10 to 7, is not enough to account for the disparity of execution, 10 to 2. Of course, something must be allowed for the decayed state of the Englishman’s masts, altho I really do not think it had any influence on the battle, for he was beaten when the mainmast fell; and it must be remembered, on the otherhand, that the American crew was absolutely new, while the Guerriere was manned by old hands. So that, while admitting and admiring the gallantry, and, on the whole, the seamanship, of Captain Dacres and his crew, and acknowledging that he fought at a great disadvantage, especially in being short-handed, yet all must acknowledge that the combat showed a marked superiority, particularly in gunnery, on the part of the Americans. Had the ships not come foul, Captain Hull would probably not have lost more than three or four men; as it was, he suffered but slightly.

That the Guerriere was not so weak as she was represented to be can be gathered from the fact that she mounted two more main-deck guns than the rest of her class; thus carrying on her maindeck 30 long 18-pounders in battery to oppose to the 30 long 24’s, or rather (allowing for the short weight of shot) long 22’s, of the Constitution. Characteristically enough, james, tho he carefully reckons in the long eighteens mounted through the bridle-ports on the Guerriere’s main-deck. Now, as it turned out, these two bow guns were used very effectively, when the ships got foul, and caused more damage and loss than all of the other main-deck guns put together.

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Chicago: Theodore Roosevelt, "The Battle Between the Constitution and the Guerriere," Westward Expansion and the War of 1812, 1803-1820 in Great Epochs in American History, Vol.5, Pp.11-17 Original Sources, accessed March 28, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=LFNU1YQLW3U8N54.

MLA: Roosevelt, Theodore. "The Battle Between the Constitution and the Guerriere." Westward Expansion and the War of 1812, 1803-1820, in Great Epochs in American History, Vol.5, Pp.11-17, Original Sources. 28 Mar. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=LFNU1YQLW3U8N54.

Harvard: Roosevelt, T, 'The Battle Between the Constitution and the Guerriere' in Westward Expansion and the War of 1812, 1803-1820. cited in , Great Epochs in American History, Vol.5, Pp.11-17. Original Sources, retrieved 28 March 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=LFNU1YQLW3U8N54.