Early in January, 1814, the blockading forces at New London were the _Ramillies_ (74), Commodore Sir Thomas Hardy; the _Endymion_, Captain Hope; and the _Statira_, frigate, Captain Stackpole. There were also one or two smaller armed vessels within call. Upon one occasion an American prisoner of war, who was about to be landed at New London in exchange, was present during a conversation among the English officers, who, tired of acting as jailers, were anxious for a conflict. Upon landing he reported what he had heard to the Americans, and Captain Biddle, under a flag of truce, obtained an interview with Sir Thomas Hardy on board the _Ramillies_. He did his best to secure a meeting between the two frigates _United States_ and the _Macedonian_ on one side, and the _Endymion_ and the _Statira_ on the other. Sir Thomas, after thinking the matter over, declined the meeting between the _Endymion_ and the _United States_ on account of the difference in force; the captain of the _Statira_ did not wish to try it alone, and so the meeting fell through. And what a strange comment upon the pomp and circumstance of war! Biddle was so anxious himself to fight, and so trusted in the honor of the enemy, that, hearing that a British corvette was shortly to join the station, he would have sailed out through the hostile fleet in the _Hornet_ to meet her all alone. It was the _Loup-Cervier_ that was soon expected to arrive; this vessel had once been the tidy American sloop of war the _Wasp_, and Biddle had been second in command of her. Now, however, she was under a Captain Mends, and flew, instead of the “sailors’ rights,” the cross of St. George. However, after some correspondence, the meeting was given up, much to Biddle’s chagrin, and the rechristened _Loup-Cervier_ sailed out to sea after delivering despatches. All through the winter a close blockade of New London was kept up, and it was found impossible to make any escape. At last the government ordered the two American frigates to be moved up the Thames as far as possible, and there they were dismantled. The officers and crew were transferred to other cities, while Captain Biddle was ordered to continue at New London for the protection of the shipping. In vain he protested against this hopeless and mortifying situation. The enemy made no serious preparations for trying to take the force up the river, and at last Biddle succeeded in obtaining permission to try to sail through the British fleet. Leaving the _United States_ and the _Macedonian_ protected by land batteries, he placed the _Hornet_ in the best of trim, and on the night of the 18th of November, undiscovered, he drifted past the guard-ships and arrived safely at New York. It was seventeen months since he had been free.