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Show NAVAL FIGHTS. <br><br> From a naval officer of great age we have the following anecdotes, never before published, of our first great sea-fights and of the amenities between the opposing officers. They throw a curiously human gleam upon a chapter in history which we generally regard as altogether dark and savage. <br><br> In the early part of the war, the American frigate United States and the English Macedonia were anchored near each other, and the captains, Carden and Decatur, often exchanged friendly visits. The English frigate carried eighteen-pounders, the American twenty-four pounders, and the officers daily argued as to the relative advantages of the ordnance carried by their vessels. <br><br> "If I fired into you, I should blow you to pieces, Carden," said the American. <br><br> "No, for I could fire my light guns twice as fast as you can your heavier ones," was the reply. Six months later they actually did fight. As the defeated Englishman stepped on board of the United States, he called out, "You see you were right, Decatur! But what will they say at home? I am the first man to strike the English flag." <br><br> "No, Diores is defeated." <br><br> "Diores! The Guerriere!" waving his arms like a boy. "Them I'm not the first!" <br><br> An officer from Newburyport was a prisoner on the Guerriere when she met the Constitution. When the fight began, he said, "I'll go below," Capt. [captain] Dacres haeard him. <br><br> "No fear," he said. "The Yankees will not hit us." <br><br> The Constitution was so long in opening fire that the Yankee prisoner thought Dacres was right. "But when she began," he says, "the Guerriere shook like an aspen leaf. In thirty minutes the fight was over." <br><br> Commodore Reid, still living, was then a lieutenant, and was sent on board the captured vessel. <br><br> "Have you struck, sir?" he said to the first officer he met. <br><br> "Yes. We had no mast nor flag to hand down." <br><br> Lieut. [Lieutenant] Reid found Dacres lying wounded on the deck. "Capt. [captain] Hull, sir," he said, "desire me to present his compliments, and to place his surgeons at your service." <br><br> "Are they not needed at home?" <br><br> "No, sir. We have but seven killed and seven wounded.' Dacres face clouded [unreadable line] open the grog now. That is the first thing they do when beaten. There are both plate and jewelry in my cabin. Will you remove it, sir, and say to Capt. [captain] Hull I give it into his care?" |