It was just the other way on the ocean.  From the very start our naval vessels and privateers won the most brilliant of victories.  This was the more remarkable when several facts are kept in mind.  Great Britain had been at war so long that she had the most powerful navy by far in the world.  It numbered one thousand and thirty-six vessels, of which two hundred and fifty-four were ships-of-the-line, not one of which carried less than seventy guns of large calibre.  This prodigious navy was manned by one hundred and forty-four thousand sailors, and eighty-five of her war vessels were on the American coast, equipped and ready for action.

In amazing contrast to all this, we had only twenty large war vessels and a number of gunboats that were of little account.  The disparity was so great that our Government, after looking at the situation and discussing the matter, decided that it would be folly to fight England on the ocean, and it was decided not to do so.  When Captains Stewart and Bainbridge learned of this decision, they went to President Madison and his advisers and insisted that the American navy, weak as it was, should be given a chance of showing what it could do.  Consent was finally given, and then opened the wonderful career of our cruisers and privateers.

Among the frigates that had been built during our war with France was the Constitution, which carried 44 guns.  She earned the name of being one of the luckiest ships in the navy, and because of her astonishing record was named “Old Ironsides.”  The old hulk of this historical ship is still carefully preserved in remembrance of her brilliant record, which in some respects has never been equalled.

Sailors are superstitious, and the good name which the Constitution gained made it easy to get all the seamen needed.  When you come to look into the matter you will find that the Constitution was a lucky ship, because it was always officered by the best men we had, and they were wise enough to choose the finest crews.

The captain of the Constitution, when the war broke out, was Isaac Hull, a nephew of General William Hull, who made the cowardly surrender of Detroit.  He was born in Connecticut in 1773, and died in 1843.  He was one of the brilliant young officers who received his commission in 1798, and was commander of the Argus during the war with Tripoli.  He was made a captain in 1806, and the following year was given command of the Constitution.

Upon learning that the war had broken out, Captain Hull left the Chesapeake, with orders to join the squadron under the command of Captain Rodgers at New York.  When off Barnegat, New Jersey, he was sighted by the blockading squadron of Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke, which gave chase.  The ingenuity and skill displayed by Captain Hull in escaping from the enemy, when all escape seemed hopeless, is still referred to as one of the most remarkable exploits in the history of the American navy.  The chase lasted for more than two days and three nights, and it is safe to say that very few commanders placed in the situation of Captain Hull would have been able to save themselves from capture.