There is still one more incident of this cruise worth describing. The _Essex_ was chased by the British frigate _Shannon_ and another ship when off St. George’s Bank. Captain Porter supposed that the speedier ship of the two was the fifty-gun _Acasta_, a much more powerful ship than the _Shannon_, and that a third ship he had seen with the two was also in chase. As the largest ship was gaining, and a splendid breeze for working the ship was blowing, Captain Porter planned a most daring defence. Running until night was fully come, he called his crew together and told them that he was going to tack ship, run alongside the enemy, and board her while under full sail. According to Farragut, Porter believed that the enemy would be sailing at the rate of eight knots an hour, at least, while his ship would foul her while going at not less than four knots. Nevertheless, the proposition was greeted with enthusiastic cheers. The cause of the enthusiasm may be found readily in Farragut’s account of the crew. He says: “Every day the crew were exercised at the great guns, small-arms, and single-stick. And I may here mention the fact that I have never been on a ship where the crew of the old _Essex_ was represented, but that I found them to be the best swordsmen on board. They had been so thoroughly trained as boarders that every man was prepared for such an emergency, with his cutlass as sharp as a razor, a dirk made by the ship’s armorer out of a file, and a pistol.” They had been drilled until they had confidence in themselves as well as their leaders, and it was not an overweening confidence, either. So a kedge anchor with a cable attached was hoisted to the end of the main-yard, where it could be readily dropped on the passing enemy as the two crashed together and so hold her fast. At the proper hour the _Essex_ tacked in search of the enemy, but failed to find her. At the end of sixty days from the time he sailed, Porter was back in port. He had captured nine prizes, with more than five hundred prisoners, and retaken five American privateers and merchantmen. The little American navy was beginning in a small way to do something for the nation. CHAPTER IV A RACE FOR THE LIFE OF A NATION STORY OF THE _CONSTITUTION’S_ ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON OFF THE JERSEY BEACH--FOUR FRIGATES AND A LINER WERE AFTER HER--FOR MORE THAN TWO DAYS THE BRAVE OLD CAPTAIN STOOD AT HIS POST WHILE THE SHIP TACKED AND WORE AND REACHED AND RAN, AND THE TIRELESS SAILORS TOWED AND KEDGED AND WET THE SAILS TO CATCH THE SHIFTING AIR--THOUGH ONCE HALF-SURROUNDED AND ONCE WITHIN RANGE, _OLD IRONSIDES_ ELUDED THE WHOLE SQUADRON TILL A FRIENDLY SQUALL CAME TO WRAP HER IN ITS BLACK FOLDS AND CARRY HER FAR FROM DANGER.