_From the portrait by Thomas Sully, at the Naval Academy, Annapolis._] It is now proper to defend the British seamen as a class from a charge made by every British historian--the charge that in this war they deserted their flag in such great numbers to join the American ships as enabled the American commanders to fill all the important petty offices, such as that of gunner, or boatswain’s mate, etc., with experienced British men-o’-warsmen. They assert repeatedly that from one-third to one-half of the crack American crews were British subjects who had deserted from the British navy. They go further. They quote from a letter written by Decatur who therein mentioned the fact that many of his crew on the _United States_ had served under Nelson and other famous British officers. This quotation is made to prove conclusively to their minds that the efficient members of the American crews were British subjects. When the American student comes to examine the facts in this matter he is sure to be either indignant or amused, but most likely he will be amused. For the truth of the matter shows the most remarkable condition of affairs known to the history of navies. It is literally true that in some of the American crews from one-third to one-half the men had served in British ships; _they were the American citizens who had been made the victims of the British press-gangs_. What the British writers call deserting was the escape of the slave to his own country. The greatest number of British-born men in any American crew was thirty-two. That number was in the _Chesapeake_ the day she was whipped. But not to prolong this matter, the spirit of the British writers can best be illustrated by a quotation from Allen’s “Battles of the British Navy,” regarding the five impressed Americans who survived the battle when the _Macedonian_ was captured. These men were invited to sign articles on the _United States_, and they did so. Not another soul of the captured crew was asked to do so. But Allen says: “Every temptation, and even threats were used to induce the crew to enter the American service, but the overtures were treated with the _disdain they merited_.” And this in the face of the fact that the _Macedonian_ had sailed with eight “prest” American seamen. As to the prize, she was a long way from her new home and she was almost a wreck. How bad her condition was shall be told by quoting the words of the Yankee-hating James when he says that “with the profusion of stores of every sort which was to be found on board the American frigate, with so many able seamen that could be spared from her numerous crew, and with all the advantages that a fortnight’s calm weather gave, it took the whole of that time to place the prize in a seaworthy state--a clear proof how much the _Macedonian_ had been shattered.”