frigate _Gloire_, which threw at a broadside 286 pounds of shot,
while she threw but 174; and when, most glorious of all, Lord
Dundonald, in the gallant little _Speedy_, actually captured the
Spanish xebec _Gamo_ of over five times her own force! Similarly,
the corvette _Comus_ captured the Danish frigate _Fredrickscoarn_,
the brig _Onyx_ captured the Dutch sloop _Manly_, the little cutter
_Thorn_ captured the French _Courier-National_, and the _Pasly_
the Spanish _Virgin_; while there had been many instances of drawn
battles between English 12-pound frigates and French or Spanish
18-pounders.

Captain Hull having resigned the command of the _Constitution_,
she was given to Captain Bainbridge, of the _Constellation_, who
was also entrusted with the command of the _Essex_ and _Hornet_.
The latter ship was in the port of Boston with the _Constitution_,
under the command of Captain Lawrence. The _Essex_ was in the
Delaware, and accordingly orders were sent to Captain Porter to
rendezvous at the Island of San Jago; if that failed several other
places were appointed, and if, after a certain time, he did not
fall in with his commodore he was to act at his own discretion.

[Illustration: Captain William Bainbridge: a portrait by John
Wesley Jarvis, circa 1814. (Courtesy U.S. Naval Academy Museum)]

On October 26th the _Constitution_ and _Hornet_ sailed, touched
at the different rendezvous, and on December 13th arrived off San
Salvador, where Captain Lawrence found the _Bonne Citoyenne_, 18,
Captain Pitt Barnaby Greene. The _Bonne Citoyenne_ was armed with
18 32-pound carronades and 2 long nines, and her crew of 150 men
was exactly equal in number to that of the _Hornet_; the latter's