6     LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS     1811

ship to be attacked in port, and to be moored in such a manner as to be only assailable on her outer side : she could easily transfer from the opposite side four of her carronades, and thus present a broadside force of 32, or, admitting that some inconvenience would arise from the closeness of the aftermost of those four guns to the temporary gun in the gangway port, of 31, heavy guns.

For the purpose of showing that, if the President and her two formidable class-mates had been equipped with the whole of the 62 guns which they were constructed to carry, they would have required no addition to their established complement of men, we will state a few facts relative to the composition of American crews. When, in the year 1794, the Americans began arming against the Algerines, the following were ordered to be the proportions, in which the different ratings or classes of a crew of 370 men were to bear to each other : officers and petty officers 66, able seamen 150, ordinary seamen 100, marines 54. Here, be it observed, are wanted two ratings, either of which usually forms no inconsiderable proportion of a British crew, landmen and boys. In later years, however, a few boys or lads were admitted ; and, estimating the crew of an American 44-gun frigate at 475 men and boys, we may venture to give the following as its organization : officers and petty officers 80, able seamen 180, ordinary seamen 145, marines 65, boys 5. But, in reality, the distinction between the able and the ordinary seaman was merely nominal, the fastidiousness of the American government requiring the latter to be nearly equal in qualifications to the former. Nor was it enough to be a practised seaman : the volunteer must also, in age, stature, and bodily vigour, be able to stand the test of the strictest scrutiny.

While, therefore, the officers, or the greater part of them, were native Americans, the petty officers consisted, almost wholly, of the first order of British seamen ; of whom, also, the bulk of the crew was composed. Owing to the absence of any restraint similar to that imposed by the game-laws of England, the American peasant is a sportsman from his infancy. Hence, the marines consisted of native Americans ; not only as being the best marksmen, especially with the rifle, but because the British marine corps, to its credit, afforded very few deserters. It may now be understood what is meant, when it is stated, that an American ship of war is manned with a picked crew.

Having now, as we trust, clearly shown, that those who called the American 44-gun frigate a " line-of-battle ship in disguise, " did not commit the gross mistake with which they were charged, we shall offer a word or two on the subject of the American 36-gun frigate. Even here was a frigate more than equal to any French or English frigate of the largest class, carrying long 18-pounders ; and, be it remembered, in the year 1811, France did not own any, and England only three frigates (Cornwallis,

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