The Congress declared, on June 18, 1812, that war existed between the United States and England. How soon thereafter the first privateer got away to sea is not recorded, but they were not far behind the squadron of Commodore Rodgers, which sailed the day the news of the declaration of war reached New York. The very first vessel captured in the war was a ship bound from Jamaica to London, that was taken south of the capes of the Chesapeake by a revenue cutter, but the first privateer to bring in a prize was the schooner _Fame_, of Salem, Captain Webb, that arrived home on July 9th, bringing with her a ship of nearly 300 tons, laden with square timber, and a brig of 200 tons, laden with tar. The ship was armed with two four-pounders, but the _Fame_ swept up alongside and carried her by boarding without the loss of a man. On the next day after the arrival of the _Fame_, the schooner _Dash_, of Baltimore, Captain Carroway, captured the first British vessel of war taken--the schooner _Whiting_, Lieutenant Macey--which was lying in Hampton Roads, Chesapeake Bay. Macey had not heard of the war, and the _Dash_ took him unawares, and so without resistance. From that time on the work of the privateers was driven with astonishing vigor. By July 16th there were sixty-five of these volunteers on the high sea, and almost every day one or another was returning with a prize. The report of a fight with a British man-of-war was not, naturally, long in reaching port. The _Dolphin_, Captain Endicott, and the _Polly_, Captain Handy, both of Salem, Massachusetts, were cruising to the eastward in the region to which Washington had sent his first cruisers in 1775. On July 14, 1812, these two fell in with a ship and a brig, which they supposed to be merchantmen, and made sail for the ship, because she was the larger. On arriving almost within gunshot, however, they saw she was a sloop-of-war, the _Indian_, of twenty-two guns. Thereat they fled, with the _Indian_, blossoming studding-sails, in pursuit of the _Polly_, and firing long bow-chasers in the vain hope of reaching her. Eventually the breeze failed so far that the _Indian_ manned her launch and a number of smaller boats, with a four-pounder in the launch. These quickly came within musket shot, and with three cheers made a brave dash at the Yankee. To this the _Polly_ replied with muskets and with several of her broadside guns loaded with langrage--langrage being a polite name for scrap-iron. The launch was compelled to strike her colors, while the other boats made haste back to the _Indian_. However, the launch was not captured, for the _Indian_ had been drifting slowly within range, and the _Polly_ had to take to her sweeps to escape. The attacking party numbered forty. [Illustration: Battle between the Schooner _Atlas_ and two British Ships, August 5, 1812. _From a lithograph in Coggeshall’s “Privateers.”_]