varied, and romantic cruises ever made by a modern sailor. On the 29th of April the American sloop-of-war _Peacock_, carrying eighteen guns and commanded by Captain Lewis Warrington, was cruising off the coast of Florida when she sighted the British brig-of-war _Epervier,_ eighteen guns, convoying three merchantmen. The two men-of-war hauled up for action, and after a battle of forty-two minutes the English flag was struck. The _Epervier_ had lost twenty-two men killed or wounded, her rigging was badly cut up, and there was five feet of water in the hold, more than forty shot having entered her hull. The _Peacock_, which was much heavier than her antagonist, had received very little injury, and but two of her crew were wounded. The prize had $118,000 in specie on board. Soon after this the _Peacock_ cruised in the Bay of Biscay and along the coast of Portugal, and captured fourteen merchantmen. Captain Johnston Blakeley, in the _Wasp_, a sister ship to the _Peacock_, sailed from Portsmouth, N. H., for a cruise in the chops of the English Channel. At daylight on the 28th of June he sighted two sail on the lee beam and one on the weather beam. Avoiding the former, he made for the latter, which proved to be the British brig _Reindeer_, of eighteen {321}guns. There was considerable manoeuvring for the weather-gauge, but the Englishman succeeded in keeping it, and by three o'clock had come within sixty yards. At that short distance she had five shots at the Wasp, with a shifting carronade, firing round shot and grape, before the Wasp could bring a single gun to bear on her. But Blakeley then made a half-board, and by firing from aft forward finally brought every gun into use. This was too heavy for the _Reindeer_, and she ran into the _Wasp_ and attempted to board, her crew being led by Captain Manners in person. But every attempt was repelled by the crew of the _Wasp_, and when Captain Blakeley ordered them in turn to board the enemy, they were on her deck and the British flag was hauled down in one minute. The whole action had lasted but half an hour. The _Reindeer_ had lost twenty-five killed, including her captain, and forty-two wounded; the _Wasp_, five killed and twenty-two wounded. The upper half of the hull of the Reindeer was a complete wreck, and she had to be burned. A few weeks later, September 1st, the _Wasp_, after making three prizes, discovered four sail and bore up for the most weatherly of them. Between nine and ten o'clock at night the two ships came close together, and broadsides were exchanged till the enemy became silent. Blakeley hailed, and {322}was answered that she surrendered. She was the British brig _Avon_, of eighteen guns. But before the Americans had taken possession of her, another British man-of-war came up. The _Wasp_ made ready to engage her; but before she could do so, two others appeared, and she then put up her helm and ran off before the wind. It was afterward