But Jacob Jones’s victory was not to prove profitable, save in the great moral influence it exercised in England and America. He placed a crew upon the prize, and, having cleared away his wreck and refitted his rigging, tried to make sail away after the fleet of merchantmen, which by this time were nearly hull down on the horizon. But a great British seventy-four, the “Poictiers,” hove in sight, and before Jones could get away he found himself under her guns a prisoner. Captain Beresford, of the line-of-battle ship, took the sloop-of-war to Bermuda, and there a garbled report of the action between Captain Whinyate’s and Captain Jones’s vessels was written. But the American captain and his gallant crew were soon exchanged, and returned home, where their victory had been given its true value. They received twenty-five thousand dollars from Congress as prize-money, and a gold medal was given to Captain Jones and a silver one to each of the officers. The legislature of Pennsylvania gave Lieutenant Biddle a sword for his gallantry. THE “CONSTITUTION” AND THE “JAVA” At the beginning of the war of 1812 there were but three first-class frigates in our navy, and but five vessels of any description were fit to go to sea. But the war with Tripoli and the gallant deeds of the American officers had made the service popular with the public. In March, 1812, an act was passed which appropriated money to put all these vessels in condition to meet the enemy on a more equal footing, and a naval committee was formed to deal with the emergency. Langdon Cheves was appointed chairman, and he took hold of the great task of rebuilding and regenerating the naval service with enthusiasm and good judgment. The result was that the committee expressed the opinion “that it was the true policy of the United States to build up a navy establishment, as the cheapest, the safest, and the best protection to their sea-coast and to their commerce, and that such an establishment was inseparably connected with the future prosperity, safety, and glory of the country.”