The _Chesapeake_ was a fine ship, perfectly equipped, under a daring and popular commander. Laurence was a man of brilliant ingenuity and courage, and had won fame four months before by capturing in the _Hornet_, after a hard fight, the British brig-of-war _Peacock_. For this feat he had been promoted to the _Chesapeake_, and in his brief speech from the quarterdeck just before the fight with the _Shannon_ began, he called up the memory of the fight which made him a popular hero by exhorting his crew to "_Peacock_ her, my lads! _Peacock_ her!" The _Chesapeake_ was larger than the _Shannon_, its crew was nearly a hundred men stronger, its weight of fire 598 lbs. as against the _Shannon's_ 538 lbs. Her guns fired double-headed shot, and bars of wrought iron connected by links and loosely tied by a few rope yarns, which, when discharged from the gun, spread out and formed a flying iron chain six feet long. Its canister shot contained jagged pieces of iron, broken bolts, and nails. As the British had a reputation for boarding, a large barrel of unslacked lime was provided to fling in the faces of the boarders. An early shot from the _Shannon_, by the way, struck this cask of lime and scattered its contents in the faces of the Americans themselves. Part of the equipment of the _Chesapeake_ consisted of several hundred pairs of handcuffs, intended for the wrists of English prisoners. Boston citizens prepared a banquet in honour of the victors for the same evening, and a small fleet of pleasure-boats followed the _Chesapeake_ as she came gallantly out to the fight. Never was a braver, shorter, or more murderous fight. Laurence, the most gallant of men, bore steadily down, without firing a shot, to the starboard quarter of the _Shannon_. When within fifty yards he luffed; his men sprang into the shrouds and gave three cheers. Broke fought with characteristic silence and composure. He forbade his men to cheer, enforced the sternest silence along his deck, and ordered the captain of each gun to fire as his piece bore on the enemy. "Fire into her quarters," he said, "main-deck into main-deck, quarter-deck into quarter-deck. Kill the men, and the ship is yours."