But in what direction were they to pursue? Absolutely nothing is recorded in the log of the British flagship as to what course the _Constitution_ had taken. Here nautical sagacity, aided by the “wireless telegraphy” then so remarkably in use on the high seas, came to the aid of the British senior officer of the blockading force—Sir George Collier, of the 50-gun frigate _Leander_. Sir George sagely conjectured that the _Flying Yankee_ would most likely take a southern course so as to escape the bitterly cold winter of New England. In those days there were no means for heating the cabins, wardroom, steerage or berth decks of ships, so a prolonged stay in the higher latitudes was a problem to be seriously considered. Selecting the 50-gun frigate _Newcastle_, Captain Lord George Stuart, and the 40-gun frigate _Acasta_, Captain Kerr, to accompany him, Sir George, on December 24th, made sail in a blind chase southward. It seems that on the night of December 21st the famous American privateer, _Prince de Neuchâtel_, also escaped from Boston and made the same course the _Constitution_ had taken. When only a day or so out she ran into the same storm that drove the English blockading ships into Cape Cod Bay. On the morning of December 28, just as the gale was abating and only four days after the British squadron sailed, Sir George overtook the _Prince de Neuchâtel_ and captured her; and from some of the Englishmen who were aboard the privateer learned somewhat of the proposed itinerary of the _Constitution_. With this first direct trace of his game, the British commander shaped his course across the Atlantic for the coast of Spain. How eager the English were to capture the _Constitution_, above all other American frigates, may be seen in the record of a sailor who was in the _Prince de Neuchâtel_ at the time. He says that after being taken aboard the _Leander_ as a prisoner he noticed a large placard nailed to her mainmast, which read as follows: REWARD. “A reward of One Hundred pounds sterling to the man who shall first descry the American frigate _Constitution_, provided she can be brought to, and a smaller reward should they not be enabled to come up with her.” This same sailor writes: “Every one [in the _Leander_] was eager in his inquiries about this far-famed frigate and most of the men appeared anxious to fall in with her, she being a constant theme of conversation, speculation and curiosity. There were, however, two seamen and a marine—one of whom had had his shin sadly shattered from one of her grape-shot—who were in the frigate _Java_ when she was captured. These I have often heard say, in return to their shipmates’ boastings: ‘If you had seen as much of the _Constitution_ as we have, you would give her a wide berth, for she throws her shot almighty careless, fires quick, aims low and is, altogether, an ugly customer.’”