Under the command of Master Commandant James Lawrence, she sailed from Boston, as already told, in company with the _Constitution_, bound on a cruise against British commerce in the East Indies, and the two came down to the coast of Brazil, where the _Essex_ was expected to join them. On reaching Bahia (San Salvador) the British war-ship _Bonne Citoyenne_, Captain P. B. Greene, was found at anchor in the harbor. The _Bonne Citoyenne_ was a ship of the same size as the _Hornet_ and she carried exactly the same number of guns, her broadside guns being short thirty-twos, and her long guns nines. That is to say, if the _Hornet’s_ shot were allowed to be of full weight (which to our disgrace they were not) the _Hornet_ could throw just three pounds of metal more than the _Bonne Citoyenne_ at a broadside. It is perhaps worth noting that the _Bonne Citoyenne_ had fought for seven hours and captured “a French frigate of the largest class” in 1809. Finding her a fair match for the _Hornet_, Captain Lawrence sent her a challenge to go outside and have a fight. Such challenges were common and popular in those days. Both Lawrence and Commodore Hull gave their word of honor that the _Constitution_ would not interfere, but Captain Greene declined. It eventually became apparent that he was really a coward, for the _Constitution_, after destroying the _Java_, sailed from Bahia for home on January 6, 1813, leaving the _Hornet_ blockading the _Bonne Citoyenne_. And the _Hornet_ maintained the blockade until the 24th, when a British seventy-four, the _Montagu_, arrived and the _Hornet_ had to fly. [Illustration: The _Hornet_ Blockading the _Bonne Citoyenne_. _From an old wood-cut._] One gets a curious illustration of the character of one British historian in James’s account of this matter. He who constantly called the Americans cowards denies that the _Hornet_ blockaded the _Bonne Citoyenne_ single-handed, and yet tells, on page 277, that the _Constitution_ sailed for home on January 6, leaving the _Hornet_ to cruise alone off the harbor for nearly three weeks. Meantime, on the day of the _Constitution-Java_ fight, the American ship _William_, that the _Java_ had taken, tried to make port at Bahia, and fell into the hands of Captain Lawrence who took out her prize crew and sent her on her way under her own. However, having been driven off at last by a line-of-battle ship sent from Rio Janeiro for the express purpose of raising the blockade, the _Hornet_ cruised to the north along the coast of South America, and having rounded Cape St. Roque, continued to keep along shore. Several prizes were made, one being a brig called the _Resolution_ with $23,000 coin on board, but no incident of greater note occurred until off the mouth of Demerara River.