An anecdote is related showing the spirit of the men on board the _Constitution_ at the time. As she forged down upon the waiting English vessels grog was issued, as was customary, to the crews standing at the guns. An old quartermaster, noting with anger the eagerness of the men to claim a double share, as there were two vessels to fight, walked down the deck and kicked over two buckets of the spirits into the scuppers, exclaiming, “Shame, messmates; we need no Dutch courage on board this ship!” This little incident, while it might not have dampened the crew’s ardor, may have accounted for the lack of cheers. It is to be noticed that the weight of shot fired by the British vessels was heavier than the _Constitution’s_ by ninety pounds. In the action with the _Guerrière_ the _Constitution_ had been hulled three times, and in that with the _Java_ four times. In this engagement thirteen shots reached her hull. Only one of the prizes was destined to reach the United States--the _Cyane_--and the reason for this makes a separate story in itself. After the action the vessels set sail for the island St. Jago, and entered the harbor of Porto Praya, having previously touched at one of the Cape Verd Islands. On the 12th of March, as they lay at anchor under the guns of the neutral battery, three ships were discovered in the offing. Soon they were made out to be frigates, and the _Constitution_ gave signal to get under way. No sooner had this happened than the forts on the shore commenced firing upon the Americans, and the British vessels hoisted the English colors. The _Constitution_ and the _Levant_ were standing on the wind to the southward and eastward, with all three of the enemy in chase. The _Cyane_ bore up to the north, and shaped her course towards the United States. The _Levant_, a much slower sailer than the _Constitution_, kept falling behind, and Stewart saw that it would be foolishness to attempt to close with a force so much superior. He signalled Lieutenant Ballard, the prize commander of the _Levant_, to make back to the harbor; she came about, made the entrance safely, and anchored in so close to the shore as to run her jib boom over the Portuguese battery; and the latter, as if to show her “neutrality” to the satisfaction of the English, cowardly fired upon her as she lay there, and, despite the fact that Ballard did not reply, but hauled down his flag, the _Acasta_ and the _Newcastle_, two of the pursuers, came in and also fired at her a number of times. But, as if in poetic justice for the action of the Portuguese, they did more harm to the town than to the ship. When the officer from the British squadron came on board the _Levant_, he advanced briskly to the quarter-deck, and, with no attempt to conceal his eagerness, exclaimed to Lieutenant Ballard, who there awaited him: “Sir, I believe I have the honor of taking the sword of Captain Blakeley, commander of the American sloop of war the _Wasp_.”