Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained. Page 993: "they were fired upon the Coreans" has been replaced by "they were fired upon by the Coreans". Page 997: "the rescued part arrived in New York" has been replaced by "the rescued party arrived in New York". Every chapter heading had an illustration; the corresponding tag has been removed.] THE NAVAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES BY WILLIS J. ABBOT With Many Illustrations BY H. W. McVICAR AND W. C. JACKSON _VOLUME TWO_ NEW YORK: PETER FENELON COLLIER, PUBLISHER. CHAPTER XII. CAPTURE OF THE "SURVEYOR." -- WORK OF THE GUNBOAT FLOTILLA. -- OPERATIONS ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. -- COCKBURN'S DEPREDATIONS. -- CRUISE OF THE "ARGUS." -- HER CAPTURE BY THE "PELICAN." -- BATTLE OF THE "ENTERPRISE" AND "BOXER." -- END OF THE YEAR 1813 ON THE OCEAN. With the capture of the "Chesapeake" in June, 1813, we abandoned our story of the naval events along the coast of the United States, to follow Capt. Porter and his daring seamen on their long cruise into far-off seas. But while the men of the "Essex" were capturing whalers in the Pacific, chastising insolent savages at Nookaheevah, and fighting a gallant but unsuccessful fight at Valparaiso, other blue-jackets were as gallantly serving their country nearer home. From Portsmouth to Charleston the coast was watched by British ships, and collisions between the enemies were of almost daily occurrence. In many of these actions great bravery was shown on both sides. Noticeably was this the case in the action between the cutter "Surveyor" and the British frigate "Narcissus," on the night of June 12. The "Surveyor," a little craft manned by a crew of fifteen men, and mounting six twelve-pound carronades, was lying in the York River near Chesapeake Bay. From the masthead of the "Narcissus," lying farther down the bay, the spars of the cutter could be seen above the tree-tops; and an expedition was fitted out for her capture. Fifty men, led by a veteran officer, attacked the little vessel in the darkness, but were met with a most determined resistance. The Americans could not use their carronades, but with their muskets they did much execution in the enemy's ranks. But they were finally overpowered, and the little cutter was towed down under the frigate's guns. The next day Mr. Travis, the American commander, received his sword which he had surrendered, with a letter from the British