A Little Lop-sided Frigate Rebuilt into a Superior Sloop-of-war--Overland (almost) to Escape the Blockade--Her Luck as a Cruiser--A Marvellous Race with a British Frigate over a Course Four Hundred Miles Long--Saved by a Squall--Cornered in the Penobscot--The Gallant Fight of the Yankee Crew against Overwhelming Numbers--Building a New Navy--The Short-lived Portsmouth Corvette _Frolic_--One Broadside was Enough--Captured by the Enemy--Swift and Deadly Work of the Crew of the Yankee _Peacock_ when they Met the _Epervier_--Distinctly a Lucky Ship--Fate of the _Siren_ After the Coffin Floated. CHAPTER IV. MYSTERY OF THE LAST WASP 80 A Typical New England Yankee Crew--Youthful Haymakers and Wood-choppers--Sea-sick for a Week--From Flails to Cutlasses, from Pitchforks to Boarding-pikes, from a Night-watch at a Deer-lick to a Night Battle with the British--After British Commerce in British In-shore Waters--Met by the British Sloop-of-war _Reindeer_--Magnificent Pluck of the British Captain with a Crew that was “The Pride of Plymouth”--Shot to Pieces in Eighteen Minutes--A Liner that could not Catch her--Wonderful Night Battle with the _Avon_--Shooting Men from the Enemy’s Tops as Raccoons are Shot from Tree-tops--The Enemy’s Water-line Located by Drifting Foam--Not Captured but Destroyed--The Mystery. CHAPTER V. ON THE UPPER LAKES IN 1814 105 An Expedition into Lake Huron--The British had the Best of it in the End--Gallant Action of a British Commander at the Head of the Niagara River--Cautious Captain Chauncey as a Knight of the Whip-saw, Adze, and Maul--His Equally Prudent Opponent--British Torpedoes that Failed--When a Thousand Men Supported by Seven Ships Armed with One Hundred and Twenty-one Cannon “with Great Gallantry” Routed Three Hundred Yankees at Oswego--Supplies the British did not Get--A Naval Flotilla Caught in Big Sandy Creek--Chauncey Afloat on the Lake--Gallant Young American Officers--Line-of-battle Ships that were Never Launched. CHAPTER VI. TO DEFEND THE NORTHERN GATEWAY 132 Character of the Red-coated Invaders--“Shamed the Most Ferocious Barbarians of Antiquity”--Work of the Youthful Yankee Lieutenant Macdonough to Stay the Tide on Lake Champlain--Ship-building at Otter Creek--A British Attempt against the New Vessels Repulsed--The British Ship-builders at Isle-Aux-Noix--A Comparison of Forces Before the Battle--Macdonough’s Foresight in Choosing the Battle-ground--Macdonough as a Seaman. CHAPTER VII. MACDONOUGH’S VICTORY ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN 151