[128] As in the later years of the Revolutionary War, it was fortunate that British ships were so fully occupied on the other side of the Atlantic. [129] There were so few that there were not enough to go the round of the captains. So the officers took turns in commanding, in order that each might get a chance to distinguish himself. [130] Born in Connecticut, 1773; died, 1843. Served in merchant marine from 1784 to 1798, when he entered the navy; engaged in the Barbary War in command of the _Argus_; commissioned captain in 1806; given command of the _Constitution_ in 1807; won great distinction by capturing the _Guerrière_ with a loss of fourteen killed and wounded, while the enemy lost seventy-nine; commanded the Pacific and Mediterranean squadrons and served on the naval board at Washington. [131] See O. W. Holmes’s _Old Ironsides_. [132] Her brave commander, Captain Lawrence, was killed. The contest was practically a sea duel in answer to a challenge. The British were greatly elated over their victory. Lawrence was born in 1781, at Burlington, N. J. He was engaged in the Barbary War, having command of the _Argus_, _Vixen_, and _Wasp_; while commanding the _Hornet_, in 1813, captured the British brig _Peacock_, with a loss of only one killed and two wounded; while commanding the _Chesapeake_, was defeated by the _Shannon_, in consequence of having a new and undisciplined crew; was mortally wounded, and gave as his last injunction, “Don’t give up the ship.” [133] Born in Rhode Island, 1785; died, 1819. Entered the navy in 1799 as midshipman; was in the war against Tripoli, and later became a careful student of gunnery; was appointed to command on Lake Erie, 1813; showed extraordinary energy and skill in building a fleet and in collecting and drilling his crews; got together nine rude vessels and captured all six British vessels, in the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813; coöperated in Battle of the Thames, and served in defense of Baltimore. [134] Several months previously the Americans had suffered a severe loss at the river Raisin, seven hundred troops under General Winchester of Tennessee having been overpowered and forced to surrender by Proctor and his Indians, and a part of them afterward basely burned and scalped by the savages. In consequence the name of Proctor was held in great abhorrence. [135] Born in Delaware, 1783; died, 1825. Served against Tripoli; gained celebrated victory over British Commodore Downie at Plattsburg, 1814, the British having 16 vessels and 92 guns, the Americans 14 vessels and 86 guns, the British losing 300 men besides prisoners, the Americans 200.