1812     GUERRIERE AND CONSTITUTION     99

At 5 h. 5 m. p.m., having run up one American ensign at the peak, lashed another to the larboard mizen, rigging, and hoisted a third flag at the fore topgallantmast-head, the Constitution opened her fire ; and, it is believed, none of her shot fell short. To avoid being raked, the Guerrière wore three or four times ; and continued discharging her alternate broadsides, with about as little effect, owing to her constant change of position and the necessary alteration in the level of her guns, as when her shot fell short. After the Constitution had amused herself in this way for half an hour, she set her main topgallantsail, and in five minutes, or at about 5 h. 45 m. p.m., * brought the Guerrière to close action on the larboard † beam ; both ships steering with the wind on the larboard quarter. At 6 h. 5 m. p.m. a 24-pound shot struck the Guerrière's mizenmast and carried it away by the board. It fell over the starboard quarter, knocked a large hole in the counter, and, by dragging in the water, brought the ship up in the wind, although her helm was kept hard a-port. By this accident to her opponent, who had then sustained only a very slight loss, the Constitution would have ranged ahead ; but, bearing up, she quickly placed herself in an admirable position on the Guerrière's larboard bow. Now the American riflemen in the Constitution's tops had an opportunity of cooperating with their friends on deck ; and a sweeping and most destructive fire of great guns and small-arms was opened upon the British frigate, whose bow guns were all she could bring to bear in return.

At 6 h. 15 m. p.m. the two ships fell on board each other, the Guerrière's bowsprit getting foul of the Constitution's starboard mizen rigging. The crew of the latter now prepared to board the Guerrière ; but, in addition to the impracticability of the attempt owing to the motion of the ships, a slight pause was created by the fall of some of the American leader's : a shot from a British marine brought down the first lieutenant of marines while leading forward his party ; another well-directed musket shot passed through the body of the first lieutenant of the ship while at the head of the boarding seamen ; and a third shot entered the shoulder of the master, as he was standing near Lieutenant Morris. The riflemen in the Constitution's tops, in the mean time, continued their unerring fire. Among those who suffered on the occasion was Captain Dacres himself, by a ball fired from the enemy's mizen top, which inflicted a severe wound in his back, while he was standing on the starboard forecastle hammocks animating his crew. Although suffering greatly, he would not quit the deck. At about the same moment the master was shot through the knee, and a master's mate, Samuel

* See diagram at p. 100. † " Starboard," by mistake, in the gazette account.

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