[Illustration:  THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE “CHESAPEAKE” AND THE “SHANNON.”]

“The calm deliberation with which the American and English commanders went out to seek each other’s life and the earnestness with which they urged their officers and men to steep their hands in the blood of their fellow beings form one of the sombre pictures of naval history.  Lawrence was the youngest son of John Lawrence, Esquire, counselor-at-law at Burlington, N.J., and was the second in command at the celebrated capture of the Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli.  Broke was the descendant of an ancient family which had lived in Broke Hall, England, over three hundred and fifty years and for four hundred years at Leighton.  Both were men in the prime of manhood, Lawrence in his thirty-second year and Broke in his thirty-seventh.  Both were models of chivalry and manly grace; both were held in the highest estimation in their profession.  Lawrence had just taken an affectionate farewell of his two sons and an hour later was urging his men to “Peacock them! Peacock them!” Broke a short time before had committed his wife to God’s mercy and soon afterward was urging his crew to ’Kill the men! kill the men!’ Both were men of the kindliest feelings and most tender affections; both acknowledged the justice of the cause for which the Americans were contending, yet with steady determination they went out at the head of their ships’ companies to take each other’s life.  A few hours afterward, when Captain Broke fell on the Chesapeake’s decks fainting and covered with his own blood, his lieutenants, on loosening his clothes, found a small blue silk case suspended around his neck.  It contained a lock of his wife’s hair.”

[Illustration:  DEATH OF CAPTAIN LAWRENCE.]

Lawrence, in accordance with his chivalrous nature, disdained to seek any unfair advantage, his purpose being to engage in what is called a fair yardarm and yardarm fight.  It was toward the close of the first day of summer, with thousands crowding the hills and points of advantage and peering at the ships through glasses, that the battle opened by the fire of the Shannon.  Great damage was inflicted and much execution done by the return broadside of the Chesapeake.  The first fire severely wounded Lawrence in the leg, but he refused to go below.  Then the firing became so close and rapid that half the American officers were killed or wounded.  The most frightful confusion that can be imagined followed.  When Lawrence formed his men to board after the two vessels had fouled the bugler could not be found, whereupon Captain Broke led his own men upon the deck of the Chesapeake.

It was at this critical moment that Lawrence was fatally wounded and carried below.  He kept calling out his commands while in the cockpit to fight harder and to keep the guns going.  His last words, often repeated in his delirium, were “Don’t give up the ship!” and they formed the motto of the American navy for many years afterward.