COMPARATIVE FORCE.

Tons. No. Guns. Weight Metal. Crews. Loss.
_Wasp_ 450 9 250 135 10
_Frolic_ 467 10 274 110 90

Vice-Admiral Jurien de la Graviere comments on this action as
follows [Footnote: "Guerres Maritimes," ii, 287 (Septieme Edition,
Paris, 1881).]:

DIAGRAM [Footnote: It is difficult to reconcile the accounts of
the manoeuvres in this action. James says "larboard" where Cooper
says "starboard"; one says the _Wasp_ wore, the other says that
she could not do so, etc.]

[Illustration: Shows the paths of the _Wasp_ and the _Frolic_ during
their battle and the positions of the ships at various times during
the battle from 11.32 to 12.15]

"The American fire showed itself to be as accurate as it was rapid.
On occasions when the roughness of the sea would seem to render
all aim excessively uncertain, the effects of their artillery were
not less murderous than under more advantageous conditions. The
corvette _Wasp_ fought the brig _Frolic_ in an enormous sea, under
very short canvas, and yet, forty minutes after the beginning of
the action, when the two vessels came together, the Americans who
leaped aboard the brig found on the deck, covered with dead and
dying, but one brave man, who had not left the wheel, and three
officers, all wounded, who threw down their swords at the feet of
the victors." Admiral de la Graviere's criticisms are especially