A Fight against Odds of Three Gunboats to One--Decatur and Macdonough Leading the Boarders--Cold-blooded Murder and the Vengeance that Followed--When Reuben James Won Fame--Eleven against Forty-three in a Hand-to-hand Struggle, and the Remarkable Result--The Handy _Constitution_--Fired their Gun as the Boat Sank under them--When Somers and his Mates Went to their Death in a Fireship--End of the War with the Pirates. CHAPTER XVI. WHY WE FOUGHT IN 1812 383 A Stirring Tale of the Outrages Perpetrated on American Citizens by the Press-gangs of the British Navy--Horrors of Life on Ships where the Officers Found Pleasure in the Use of the Cat--Doomed to Slavery for Life--Impressed from the _Baltimore_--A British Seaman’s Joke and its Ghastly Result--The British Admiralty’s Way of Dealing with Deliberate Murder in American Waters--Assault of the _Leopard_ on the _Chesapeake_ to Compel American Seamen to Return to the Slavery they had Escaped--Building Harbor-defence Boats to Protect American Seamen from Outrage on the High Seas--Other Good Reasons for Going to War. APPENDIX 415 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE JOHN PAUL JONES. (From a mezzotint of the painting by Notté), _Frontispiece_ AN EARLY AMERICAN FLOATING BATTERY, 1 COMMODORE ESEK HOPKINS. (From a French engraving of the portrait by Wilkinson), 3 THE FIRST NAVAL FLAGS, 4 DESTRUCTION OF THE SCHOONER _GASPÉ_, 1772. (From an engraving by Rogers of the painting by McNevin), 7 THE STATE HOUSE AT NEWPORT, SHOWING THE _GASPÉ_ AFFAIR. (From an engraving in Hinton’s “History of the United States”), 10 THE “BOSTON TEA-PARTY.” (From an old engraving), 13 A BRITISH ARMED SLOOP. (From a very rare engraving, showing the first lighthouse erected in the United States--on Little Brewster Island, Boston Harbor), 19 A BRIG OF WAR LOWERING A BOAT. (From a picture drawn and engraved by Baugean), 29 THE ADMIRALTY SEAL, 33 THE FOUNDERS OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. (Drawn by I. W. Taber--the portraits from engravings), 37 VESSEL OF WAR SALUTING, WITH THE YARDS MANNED. (From an old French engraving), 40 FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM ABRAHAM WHIPPLE TO GENERAL LINCOLN DURING THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON. (From the original at the Lenox Library), 42