There were two American vessels that Captain Carden was specially anxious to meet.  One was the Essex, which was playing havoc among the English shipping (and of which I shall tell you something later on), and the other that of Captain Stephen Decatur, the courteous but brave naval officer who had displayed so much intrepidity in the war with Tripoli and had insisted to Carden that the American sailors were the match of the English anywhere.

While at Madeira Captain Carden learned that the Essex had sailed from the Delaware and was expected to cruise in the neighborhood of the Canary Islands.  The Englishman turned southward and was within a few days’ sail of the islands when, on the 25th of October, the man at the masthead reported a sail.  As it approached it was carefully scrutinized and found to be a frigate bearing down on the Macedonian.

Convinced that she was an enemy, Captain Carden at once issued the command to clear for action.  The most thorough preparations were made and officers were stationed with orders to shoot down the first man who flinched from his duty.  On board the ship were a number of American seamen, who began speculating among themselves as to whether the approaching frigate was a Frenchman or belonged to their own country.  They were in a trying position, for they were patriotic and would have given anything in the world to escape firing upon their countrymen, but there was no help for it.  Such a rigid disciplinarian as Captain Carden would listen to no protests from them, and, should the stranger prove to be an American, it would be a choice between helping to fight her or being shot down by their own officers.

The approaching frigate went through a number of evolutions of such a rapid and brilliant nature that the Englishmen murmured their admiration.  Through their glasses the officers could see groups of men on the quarter deck scanning them closely, while glimpses of sailors were caught as they moved about the deck and of the gun crews standing quietly at their stations.  Then, when there was a change of direction, parties of marines were observed in her tops, muskets in hand, coolly awaiting the time when the ships would engage at close quarters.

While Captain Carden and his officers were in doubt whether the ship was a French one she gave her colors to the breeze.  They were the Stars and Stripes of the American Republic.  One of the finest of its frigates had thrown down the gage of battle to as superb a frigate as belonged to the British navy.

Since all doubt of her nationality was dispelled, one of the American seamen walked resolutely to Captain Carden, saluted and told him that he and his companions had no wish to fight the flag of their country.  In reply the officer ordered him back to his station and with notice that if the request was repeated he would be shot.  Sad to say, the sailor who made his wish known was one of the first killed in battle.