superiority was so great as to preclude any hopes of a successful
resistance. That this was not true, and that the disparity between
the combatants was not as great as had been the case in a number of
encounters in which English frigates had taken French ones, can be
best shown by a few accounts taken from the French historian Troude,
who would certainly not exaggerate the difference. Thus on March 1,
1799, the English 38-gun 18-pounder frigate _Sybille_, captured the
French 44-gun 24-pounder frigate _Forte_, after an action of two
hours and ten minutes. [Footnote: "Batailles Navales de la France."
O. Troude (Paris, 1868), iv, 171.] In _actual_ weight the shot
thrown by one of the main-deck guns of the defeated _Forte_ was
over six pounds heavier than the shot thrown by one of the main-deck
guns of the victorious _Constitution_ or _United States_. [Footnote:
See Appendix B, for actual weight of French shot.]

There are later examples than this. But a very few years before
the declaration of war by the United States, and in the same
struggle that was then still raging, there had been at least two
victories gained by English frigates over French foes as superior
to themselves as the American 44's were to the British ships they
captured. On Aug. 10, 1805, the _Phoenix_, 36, captured the _Didon_,
40, after 3 1/2 hours' fighting, the comparative broadside force
being: [Footnote: Ibid., lii, 425.]

_PHOENIX_ _DIDON_
13x18 14x18
2x 9 2x 8
6x32 7x36
----------------- -----------------
21 guns, 444 lbs. 23 guns, 522 lbs.