And a right brave action was that which Captain Boyle, of the Baltimore clipper _Chasseur_, made with the British war-schooner, _St. Lawrence_. Boyle ran down on the _St. Lawrence_ by mistake. He thought her a merchantman. But when alongside he fought it out, and in just fifteen minutes from the firing of the first gun the enemy’s flag came down. This was extraordinary for two reasons. The enemy was a regular man-o’-war, and she was also of superior force. The enemy carried twelve short twelves and one long nine. Boyle at this time had six long twelves and eight short nines, but having no nine-pound shot he used a four-pound and a six-pound shot together. It was a fight yard-arm to yard-arm, so that the enemy’s broadside of eighty-one pounds was better than Boyle’s of seventy-six, even though Boyle could fire three long twelves. Accounts differ as to the number of men engaged. Boyle had eighty all told. He said he took out of the _St. Lawrence_ eighty-nine besides passengers. Since no one but James disputes this there is no reason for doubting Boyle. James understates the number of the British crew because they struck when the privateersmen were boarding. The Yankee lost five killed and eight wounded; the British six killed and seventeen wounded. The fights herein recorded were the most famous made by the privateers of this war. The sea militia were on these occasions well led, and therefore as brave as regular naval seamen. A careful study of the fights of this kind shows that in the majority of the cases where a privateer was attacked by a British man-o’-war crew the privateer surrendered militia fashion--tamely. But where the officers were men of sound nerves the fight was as desperate and about as well conducted as any naval fight involving the same forces. The fact that the Yankee privateers in this war took and destroyed or sent in about 1,600 British ships, including a considerable number of small war-ships, while the total number of Yankee ships taken by the British was only five hundred--this fact is significant. The total number of Yankee privateers was two hundred and fifty. Their record on the whole was so good that the fame of their deeds helped to preserve the peace of their country long after their timbers had rotted away; and it still helps. CHAPTER IX A YANKEE FRIGATE TAKEN BY THE ENEMY THEY COMPLETELY MOBBED “THE WAGGON” AND SO GOT HER AT LAST--THE FIRST NAVAL CONTEST AFTER THE TREATY OF PEACE WAS SIGNED--THE _PRESIDENT_, WHEN RUNNING THE BLOCKADE AT NEW YORK, GROUNDED ON THE BAR, AND, ALTHOUGH SHE POUNDED OVER, SHE FELL IN WITH THE SQUADRON--A BRITISH FRIGATE THOROUGHLY WHIPPED, BUT TWO MORE OVERTOOK HER--A POINT ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE--A TREATY THAT HUMILIATES THE PATRIOT.