The wind was blowing fresh from the northwest, with the sea running high. Dacres backed his main-top-sail and waited. Hull shortened sail and ran down before the wind. For about an hour the two ships wore and wore again, trying to get advantage of position; until at last, a few minutes before six o’clock, they came together side by side, within pistol-shot, the wind almost astern, and running before it they pounded each other with all their strength. As rapidly as the guns could be worked, the “Constitution” poured in broadside after broadside, double-shotted with round and grape,--and, without exaggeration, the echo of these guns startled the world. “In less than thirty minutes from the time we got alongside of the enemy,” reported Hull,[331] “she was left without a spar standing, and the hull cut to pieces in such a manner as to make it difficult to keep her above water.” That Dacres should have been defeated was not surprising; that he should have expected to win was an example of British arrogance that explained and excused the war. The length of the “Constitution” was 173 feet; that of the “Guerriere” was 156 feet; the extreme breadth of the “Constitution” was 44 feet; that of the “Guerriere” was 40 feet, or within a few inches in both cases. The “Constitution” carried thirty-two long 24-pounders, the “Guerriere” thirty long 18-pounders and two long 12-pounders; the “Constitution” carried twenty 32-pound carronades, the “Guerriere” sixteen. In every respect, and in proportion of ten to seven, the “Constitution” was the better ship; her crew was more numerous in proportion of ten to six. Dacres knew this very nearly as well as it was known to Hull, yet he sought a duel. What he did not know was that in a still greater proportion the American officers and crew were better and more intelligent seamen than the British, and that their passionate wish to repay old scores gave them extraordinary energy. So much greater was the moral superiority than the physical, that while the “Guerriere’s” force counted as seven against ten, her losses counted as though her force were only two against ten. Dacres’ error cost him dear, for among the “Guerriere’s” crew of two hundred and seventy-two, seventy-nine were killed or wounded; and the ship was injured beyond saving before Dacres realized his mistake, although he needed only thirty minutes of close fighting for the purpose. He never fully understood the causes of his defeat, and never excused it by pleading, as he might have done, the great superiority of his enemy.[332]