vacancies in the column "Where Born," I have found that it was in
America. From these facts it would appear that James was somewhat
hasty in concluding that the omission of the birth-place proved the
owner of the name to be a native of Great Britain.] They certainly
are; and so are all the other names in the list. It could not well
be otherwise, as the United States Navy was not officered by Indians.
In looking over this same Navy List (of 1816) it will be seen that
but a little over 5 per cent, of the officers were born abroad--a
smaller proportion by far than would exist in the population of the
country at large--and most of these had come to America when under
ten years of age. On p. 155 James adds that the British sailors
composed "one third in number and one half in point of effectiveness"
of the American crews. Brenton in his "Naval History" writes: "It
was said, and I have no reason to doubt the fact, that there were
200 British seamen aboard the _Constitution_." [Footnote: New
edition, London, 1837, vol. ii, p. 456.] These statements are mere
assertions unsupported by proof, and of such a loose character as
to be difficult to refute. As our navy was small, it may be best
to take each ship in turn. The only ones of which the British could
write authoritatively were, of course, those which they captured.
The first one taken was the _Wasp_. James says many British were
discovered among her crew, instancing especially one sailor named
Jack Lang; now Jack Lang was born in the town of Brunswick, New
Jersey, _but had been impressed and forced to serve in the British
Navy_. The same was doubtless true of the rest of the "many British"
seamen of her crew; at any rate, as the only instance James mentions
(Jack Lang) was an American, he can hardly be trusted for those
whom he does not name.

Of the 95 men composing the crew of the _Nautilus_ when she was