The British ships promptly made chase. Captain Hayes’s squadron, besides the “Majestic,” consisted of the “Endymion,” a fifty-gun frigate, with the “Pomone” and “Tenedos,” frigates like the “Guerriere,” “Macedonian,” and “Java,” armed with eighteen-pound guns. Only from the “Endymion” had Decatur much to fear, for the “Majestic” was slow and the other ships were weak; but the “Endymion” was a fast sailer, and especially adapted to meet the American frigates. The “Endymion,” according to British authority, was about one hundred and fifty-nine feet in length on the lower deck, and nearly forty-three feet in extreme breadth; the “President,” on the same authority, was about one hundred and seventy-three feet in length, and forty-four feet in breadth. The “Endymion” carried twenty-six long twenty-four-pounders on the main deck; the “President” carried thirty. The “Endymion” mounted twenty-two thirty-two pound carronades on the spar deck; the “President” mounted twenty. The “Endymion” had also a long brass eighteen-pounder as a bow-chaser; the “President” a long twenty-four-pounder as a bow-chaser, and another as a stern-chaser. The “Endymion” was short-handed after her losses in action with the “Prince de Neufchatel,” and carried only three hundred and forty-six men; the “President” carried four hundred and fifty. The “Endymion” was the weaker ship, probably in the proportion of four to five; but for her immediate purpose she possessed a decisive advantage in superior speed, especially in light winds. At two o’clock in the afternoon, the “Endymion” had gained so much on the “President” as to begin exchanging shots between the stern and bow-chasers.[80] Soon after five o’clock, as the wind fell, the “Endymion” crept up on the “President’s” starboard quarter, and “commenced close action.”[81] After bearing the enemy’s fire for half an hour without reply, Decatur was obliged to alter his course and accept battle, or suffer himself to be crippled.[82] The battle lasted two hours and a half, until eight o’clock, when firing ceased; but at half-past nine, according to the “Pomone’s” log, the “Endymion” fired two guns, which the “President” returned with one.[83] According to Decatur’s account the “Endymion” lay for half an hour under his stern, without firing, while the “President” was trying to escape. In truth the “Endymion” had no need to fire; she was busy bending new sails, while Decatur’s ship, according to his official report, was crippled, and in the want of wind could not escape. In a letter written by Decatur to his wife immediately after the battle, he gave an account of what followed, as he understood it.[84]