TRADITIONS OF PERSONAL COMBATS THAT ILLUSTRATE, IN A WAY, A PART OF THE LIFE LED BY THE OLD TIME NAVAL OFFICERS--WHEN AN ENGLISHMAN DID NOT GET “A YANKEE FOR BREAKFAST”--THEY WERE OFFENDED BY THE NAMES OF THE YANKEE SHIPS--SOMERS WAS ABLE TO PROVE THAT HE WAS NOT DEVOID OF COURAGE--THE FATE OF DECATUR, THE MOST FAMOUS OF THE NAVY’S DUELLISTS. As the student of American naval history turns the leaves of Cooper’s invaluable work, nothing found there is likely to impress him more deeply than the list of names of the officers retained on the naval register after the Peace Establishment Act of 1801. For he will find there at a glance the names of the majority of the heroes of the early days--the names of such men as Dale and Bainbridge and Stewart and Hull and Somers and Decatur and Perry and Macdonough, to bring to mind the notable deeds done when the nation was young. These alone make the tabular pages notable. But when they are examined more closely, still another impressive feature is found, for in the column of the table that tells the ultimate fate of the majority of the men there named, he will find the words “killed in a duel” so frequently as to produce a distinct mental shock. There were thirty-six lieutenants, of whom two, Stephen Decatur and Henry Vandyke, were “killed in a duel.” There were one hundred and fifty-nine midshipmen, of whom three suffered a similar fate. It is a pity that no adequate record was kept of the duels of American naval officers in other days, for, shocking as the assertion may seem to the humanitarian, in these days, it is nevertheless a fact that some of the duellists of those days proved their heroic and manly qualities in personal combats--in combats that did not always result in death, as well as in some that did. A few of these duels are mentioned in some detail in a variety of historical works. There are others that live by tradition only, while of others still there is nothing now known, so far as the writer hereof could learn, although inquiry was made of many naval officers and all the books relating to such subjects were searched. But because some of the duels of which an account is to be had were creditable under the circumstances to at least one of the men taking part in each, and because others illustrate the spirit of the age, even an inadequate account of them seems to be better than none at all. In proof of the assertion that duels were sometimes creditable, the story of the meeting of Midshipman Joseph Bainbridge with the secretary of Sir Alexander Ball, Governor of the Island of Malta, in 1803, shall be told first of all. There are several versions of the story, but all agree as to the most important facts, and of these there is no doubt.