To make this matter of the relative efficiency in that day of the English and American naval seamen still clearer, it is worth considering the size of the target at which the Englishmen fired and missed so often. The _United States_ stood as high out of water as the second-story windows of ordinary dwellings in any of the large American cities. She was as long as the combined fronts of, say seven houses, standing in a solid row. Incredible as it may seem, it is really a fact, that although the _Macedonian_ was no further away than across the street from this big target, and fired repeatedly at that range with the whole broadside, she only landed three shot in the target. Now what kind of gunners were they that they couldn’t hit a two-story house when firing at “half pistol-shot” range? It was not for lack of practice either, for Executive Officer David Hope, under the date of June 22, 1824, wrote that “in no ship in the British service could there have been more attention paid to the practical part of gunnery than was done to the crew of the _Macedonian_. The men were not only well trained, but the greatest attention was paid to every department relating to the guns.” That was in 1812. They do things in different fashion in the British navy now, and they know how to shoot guns and how to hit targets as well. It is interesting at this point to recall a remark made by Captain Carden of the _Macedonian_ when dining on board the _United States_ at Norfolk before the war. He had been pointing out the superiority of such frigates as the _Macedonian_ to any others afloat--had told how much more rapidly and accurately their long eighteens could be handled than the American’s long twenty-fours--how much more metal they would drive into an enemy in a given time and how much handier in every way the _Macedonian_ was than the _United States_, when he closed by saying: “Besides, Decatur, though your ship may be good enough, and you are a clever set of fellows, what practice have you had in war? There is the rub!” The truth is, as was said in telling of the _Constitution-Guerrière_ fight, the British Lords of Admiralty knew all about the size of the _Constitution_, the _United States_ and all the rest of the American ships. They knew the number and size of guns carried. The _United States_ was launched at Philadelphia on July 10, 1797. She had been afloat fifteen years when she whipped the _Macedonian_, and the _Constitution_, her sister-ship, had been afloat but a few weeks less. The British officers had often inspected them, and yet through their obstinate faith in the superiority of their own knowledge they built the _Macedonian_ in 1810, fully believing she was a fair match for any frigate afloat! After the war of 1812 had taught them something they built their frigates on “exactly the same plan” of the long-despised model of Joshua Humphreys, the Philadelphia Quaker. [Illustration: Stephen Decatur.