The _President_ lost three killed and nineteen wounded, and was considerably cut up aloft. The _Belvidera_ lost two killed and twenty-two wounded, Captain Byron being among the number. His rigging was also cut up somewhat, but he made such a good running fight of it that a painting, by a British artist, was made of the scene, that, according to Allen’s history, is preserved to this day. As for the American squadron, it vainly followed the Jamaica fleet to within less than a day’s sail of the English Channel, and returned home by the way of the Madeiras and Azores, reaching Boston after a cruise of sixty-nine days, in which nothing had been accomplished, save only that seven merchantmen were taken and an American ship recaptured. CHAPTER III THE FIRST EXHIBIT OF YANKEE METTLE CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER’S IDEAS ABOUT TRAINING SEAMEN--THE GUNS OF THE _ESSEX_--TAKING A TRANSPORT OUT OF A CONVOY AT NIGHT--A BRITISH FRIGATE CAPTAIN WHO WAS CALLED A COWARD BY HIS COUNTRYMEN--CAPTAIN LAUGHARNE’S MISTAKE--A FIGHT THAT BEGAN WITH CHEERS AND ENDED IN DISMAY FOR WHICH THERE WAS GOOD CAUSE--WORK THAT WAS DONE BY YANKEE GUNNERS IN EIGHT MINUTES--WHEN FARRAGUT SAVED THE SHIP--AN ATTACK ON A FIFTY-GUN SHIP PLANNED. During the time that Commodore Rodgers was making what was practically a fruitless cruise with his squadron, Captain David Porter was doing somewhat better with the little frigate _Essex_. Rarely has a naval man had the benefit of such experiences as those through which Captain Porter had passed. At the age of sixteen (1796), while in the West Indies on the merchant-schooner _Eliza_, of which his father was commander, he had stood at the rail with the rest of the crew and fought off a British press-gang in such a determined assault that several men were killed and wounded on both sides. A year later he was twice impressed into the British navy, but escaped both times. Then he joined the American navy as a midshipman, and, as already told, showed himself a hero in helping to hold the prisoners on a captured French frigate for three days, although they were in overwhelming numbers, and he had to watch them during all the time without a moment’s sleep. In a pilot-boat called the _Amphitrite_, that mounted but five one-pounder swivels and carried fifteen men, he attacked a French privateer armed with a long twelve-pounder and a number of swivels, and carrying forty men. Moreover, the Frenchman was supported by a barge armed with swivels and carrying thirty men. Such odds had rarely been taken, but the impetuous onslaught of the Yankees carried the privateer after a bloody resistance. She had lost seven killed and fifteen wounded, more than half her crew, when she surrendered. Porter did not lose a man. The barge escaped, but a merchant-prize they had captured was retaken. After a variety of exploits only less daring than this, he was sent to the Mediterranean Sea, and there continued to gain knowledge, skill,