May.

1799. In the course of the month of May the Argo was detached by earl St.-Vincent to Algiers, to negotiate with the dey for a supply of fresh provisions for the british army and navy at Minorca. Captain Bowen not only succeeded in his mission, but, prompted by his own feelings, exerted himself so strenuously with the dey for the enlargement of six british prisoners, who had been 14 years in slavery, that the despot ordered them to be set free. The poor fellows, grateful and happy, embarked on board the Argo, once more to enjoy the blessings of life and liberty.

The rupture which, towards the end of the year 1798, occurred between France and the United States of America, gave to Great Britain a maritime ally, who, though not able to afford a very powerful, nor willing perhaps to bestow a very cordial cooperation, might yet be of some service in desultory warfare; particularly among the Antilles, and along the western shores of the Atlantic, where the number and audacity of the french cruisers oftentimes did serious mischief to british commerce. Previously to our entering upon the details of the first action that was fought between the French and the Americans, we may be allowed to present a slight sketch of the formation and growth of the United States' navy.

At the commencement of the disturbances between Great Britain and her american colonies, the latter formed themselves into a confederated body-politic, A congress, representative of this confederacy, and of the states, was organized. Its members were elected by the state-legislatures; and it was invested with the powers of national defence, the superintendence of the welfare of the confederacy, and the accomplishment of the great object of the union, redress of grievances. Both legislative and executive functions were united in this body. The greater part of the year 1755, that in which the revolutionary war commenced, was occupied in the more immediate business of organizing an army, to resist the

aggressions of one already in the country. It was not, therefore, until the 5th of October in the same year, that the attention of congress was directed to any kind of operations on the ocean; and then only. because information had been received that two english unarmed merchant brigs, laden with arms, powder, and other warlike stores, had on the 11th of the preceding August, quitted England for Quebec, without convoy.

A committee of three members of congress was appointed to prepare a plan for intercepting these vessels; and, upon the report of the committee, the congress directed general Washington to apply to the council of Massachusetts-bay, for their two armed vessels, and then to despatch the same, properly armed, stored, and appointed, with instructions to intercept and capture the two brigs in question, or any other transports laden with warlike stores for the use of the "ministerial army or navy in America." On the 13th of October two small vessels, one of 10, the other of 14 carriage-guns; and on the 30th, a ship to mount 20, and another to mount as many as 36 carriage-guns, were ordered to be got ready and equipped as cruisers. On the 2d of November the committee, to which four members had been added, were authorized to draw upon the continental treasury for funds, and to engage officers and seamen to serve on board the four vessels that had been ordered to be fitted out. By way of encouragement to the latter, they were to have half in value of all prizes, being ships of war, and a third of such as were transports. On the 2d of November two battalions of marines were ordered to be raised. On the 11th of December congress ordered to be built 13 ships; five of 32, five of 28, and three of 24 guns; all the stores of which, except canvass and powder, could, it was declared, be furnished in the colonies.

On the 14th of June, 1777, congress decreed, that the flag of the United States should be 13 stripes,

1799.

1799. alternate red and white; and that the union should be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. On the 28th of October, 1779, congress established a board of admiralty, to consist of five commissioners; of whom three were to form a board for despatch of business, and were each to have a salary of 14000 dollars per annum: the secretary's salary was to be 10000. On the 29th of August, 1781, both this board and the naval committee were abolished, and an agent of marine, at a salary of 1500 dollars, with a clerk at 500 dollars, was appointed in lieu of them.

It appears that the Americans, at a very early day, meditated the construction of 74-gun ships. According to a document in the journals of congress, they, in May, 1778, had one upon the stocks at Portsmouth, in New-Hampshire. The plan, on being submitted to a M. Landais, a french naval officer of great experience in the construction of ships, was found fault with; and, at his suggestion, congress, on the 29th of that month, ordered the ship to be converted into a flush two-decker, to carry twenty-eight 24-pounders on the lower, and twentyeight 18-pounders on the second deck. This order appears afterwards to have been revoked; for, according to another entry, the agent of marine was directed, on the 3d of September, 1782, to present that 74-gun ship, then launched and named the America, to the chevalier de la Luzerne, for the service of his most christian majesty, in lieu of the Magnifique, of similar force, which had recently been lost on the american coast.

The published accounts are not explicit in reference to the identity of these ships. It is simply from not finding a 56-gun ship in any american navylist of the time, nor that any second 74 was ordered to be built, that it is concluded there was but one. At the reduction of Charlestown, in April, 1780, an american ship named the Bricole, alleged to have been pierced for 60 guns, (as, with four bridle-ports,

a ship of 56 guns would have been,) and to have 1799. mounted 44, consisting of 24 and 18 pounders, was certainly destroyed, among many other ships, by the british forces. But, turning to a french navy-list of 1778, we find the Bricole flúte, of 24 guns; which may have been a reduced 60-gun ship. The nonappearance of that ship's name in a french list of January, 1783, added to the certainty that several french ships of war had been purchased by the Americans, and were actually among those destroyed at Charlestown, strengthens the supposition, that the 74 on the stocks at Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, in May, 1778, and that presented to the king of France in September, 1782, were one and the same vessel. The peace that took place, about five months after this present had been made by America to France, readily enabled the new ship to cross the Atlantic to a french port; but, owing to her comparatively small size and light armament, and perhaps, in part, to the perishable materials of her frame, the America does not appear to have lived long enough to be of service in the war by which that peace was succeeded.

The low ebb of the treasury and the tranquil state of the republic occasioned the navy to dwindle, until the conduct of the Algerines in 1794 stimulated congress, on the 27th of March in that year, to order the construction and equipment of four ships of 44, and two of 36 guns, to be ready to protect american commerce in the Mediterranean.

We have reason to think that the armament originally intended for each of these classes was as follows:

1799. were increased, and the long-guns in battery with them reduced in number to the same extent, but changed to a higher caliber. Into this, however, we shall hereafter have occasion more fully to enter.

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On the 30th of April, 1798, an act of congress passed, authorizing the establishment of a navydepartment, the chief officer of which was to be styled, Secretary of the navy." He was to execute all orders that he might receive from the president of the United States, relative to the construction, armament, equipment, and employment of vessels of war, and other matters connected therewith; and was to have a competent number of clerks, to assist him in performing the duties of his office.

Towards the middle of the year 1798, some interruption occurred in the commercial relations of the United States and France; and the former, conceiving themselves the aggrieved party, commenced hostilities against the ships and vessels of the french republic. At this time the navy of the United States, by the spirited exertions of the general government, consisted, besides several smaller vessels, of 15 frigates, four of them the largest and heaviest that had ever been constructed. Six 74gun ships were also ordered to be built; but, as the differences between the two countries were soon adjusted, they were not laid down. We shall now proceed to give an account, as well as our scanty materials will enable us, of the first naval action fought between France and the United States of America.

Feb. On the 9th of February, at noon, the island of Nevis bearing west-south-west distant five leagues, the United States' 36-gun frigate Constellation, commodore Thomas Truxton, sailing with the wind at north-east, discovered a strange ship to the southward, with, if the french accounts are correct, her main topmast gone. The Constellation, hoisting american colours, bore down; and the stranger, which was the french 36-gun frigate Insurgente,