Signalling the rest of the fleet to follow him, he made all sail and bore down upon the English; but, to quote from the account in the _Naval Temple_, printed in the year 1816, “Every brace and bowline of the _Lawrence_ being shot away, she became unmanageable, notwithstanding the great exertion of the sailing-master. In this situation she sustained the action within canister distance upward of two hours, until every gun was rendered useless and the greater part of her crew either killed or wounded.” It is easy to imagine the feelings of Perry at this moment. The smaller vessels of his fleet had not come within firing distance; there was absolutely nothing for him to do on board the flag-ship except to lower his flag. Yet there was one forlorn-hope that occurred to the young commander, and without hesitation he called away the only boat capable of floating; taking his flag, he quitted the _Lawrence_ and rowed off for the _Niagara_. The most wonderful accounts of hair-breadth escapes could not equal that of Perry upon this occasion. Why his boat was not swamped, or its crew and commander killed, cannot be explained. Three of the British ships fired broadsides at him at pistol-shot distance as he passed by them in succession; and, although the water boiled about him, and the balls whistled but a few inches overhead, he reached the _Niagara_ in safety. [Illustration: THE TWO SQUADRONS JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE In this diagram and the following, A is the British squadron, and its vessels are designated by Roman numerals: I, _Chippeway_; II, _Detroit_; III, _Hunter_; IV, _Queen Charlotte_; V, _Lady Prevost_; VI, _Little Belt_. B is the American squadron, and the vessels are designated by Arabic numerals: 1, _Scorpion_; 2, _Ariel_; 3, _Lawrence_; 4, _Caledonia_; 5, _Niagara_; 6, _Somers_; 7, _Porcupine_; 8, _Tigress_; 9, _Trippe_. The diagrams were furnished to Benson J. Lossing by Commodore Stephen Champlin, of the United States Navy, the commander of the _Scorpion_ in the battle.] There are but a few parallel cases to this, of a commander leaving one ship and transferring his flag to another in the heat of action. The Duke of York upon one occasion shifted his flag, in the battle of Solebay; and in the battle of Texel, fought on August 11, 1673, the English Admiral Sprague shifted his flag from the _Royal Prince_ to the _St. George_; and the Dutch Admiral Van Tromp shifted his flag from the _Golden Lion_ to the _Comet_, owing to the former vessel being practically destroyed by a concentrated fire. This does not detract from the gallantry of Perry’s achievement. The danger he faced was great, and he was probably closer to the enemy’s vessels than any of the commanders above mentioned. [Illustration: THE FIRST POSITION IN THE BATTLE]