Captain Gordon’s squadron began its descent of the river September 1, greatly annoyed[269] by batteries erected on the banks by Commodore Rodgers, Perry, and Porter, who were sent from Baltimore, by order of Secretary Jones, for the purpose. Not until September 6 did Captain Gordon escape from his perilous position and rejoin the fleet. Meanwhile the shores of Chesapeake Bay continued to be ravaged with all the severity threatened by Cochrane. Frederick Chamier, afterward the author of several popular sea-stories, was then a lieutenant on the “Menelaus” in Cochrane’s squadron, and his recollections in “The Life of a Sailor” gave a lively picture of the marauding in which he took part.[270] Like Napier, Chamier was too tender-hearted for his work. “I am willing to make oath,” he wrote, in reply to Captain Scott’s contradictions, “that on the day that the ‘Menelaus’ entered the Potomac, three houses were burning at the same time on the left-hand bank of the river. We burnt more than five ourselves.” War was commonly accompanied by destruction, but the war in the Chesapeake was remarkable for the personal share taken by the highest officers, especially by Cockburn and Ross, in directing the actual operation of setting fire to private and public property.[271] At last the practice caused a disaster that cost the British navy a life more valuable than all the property it could destroy or carry away. The “Menelaus,” commanded by Sir Peter Parker, was sent up Chesapeake Bay to divert attention from the general movement of troops and ships on the Potomac.[272] The “Menelaus” took position off the Sassafras River, which Cockburn had cleared of vessels the year before. Nothing in the river could injure the navy, but the “Menelaus” was ordered to make a diversion; and Sir Peter Parker learned from negroes that two hundred militia, encamped behind a wood half a mile from the beach, intended to cross the bay for the protection of Baltimore.[273] One hundred and twenty-four men were landed at eleven o’clock on the night of August 30, and went in search of the militia. Instead of half a mile, they were led by their guides three or four miles, and at last found the militia drawn up, ready to receive them. Sir Peter Parker ordered an attack, and while cheering it on in the moonlight was struck by a buckshot, which severed the femoral artery. The sailors carried him back to the ship, but he died long before reaching it.[274] His party escaped with a loss of thirteen killed and twenty-seven wounded besides their captain. The Americans regretted only that the punishment had fallen on the wrong person, for Cochrane and Cockburn rather than Parker were the true marauders; but the lesson was effectual, and the British became more cautious after Parker’s death. Indeed, their activity in the Chesapeake centred thenceforward in an effort to capture Baltimore, which required all their strength.