Scotia to Boston, without meeting a single British national vessel, except the Belvidera, with which the President had a running fight of some hours. October 8. The American frigate Essex, 32 guns, Captain David Porter, sails from the Capes of Delaware, on a cruize round Cape Horn, in the Pacific Ocean. ACTION BETWEEN THE FROLIC AND WASP. The 18. The British sloop of war Frolic, Captain Whyniates, in convoying to England some vessels from the Bay of Honduras, is taken by the American sloop of war Wasp, Captain Jones, after a close and bloody action. Frolic left the Bay on the 12th with 14 sail of merchantmen, and, when off the north coast of Cuba, spoke a ship that imparted the intelligence of the war with America, and the capture of the Guerriere. On the night of the 16th, when far advanced in the Atlantic, a heavy gale dispersed the convoy, and carried away the Frolic's main-yard in the slings: nor was the Wasp without her disasters; she lost her jib-boom and two men overboard. On the morning of the 18th, as the crew of the Frolic were at work on the main-yard, which was lowered down on deck, a suspicious sail hove in sight. Six sail of the scattered convoy had rejoined, who, on the stranger not answering the private signal made her by the Frolic, crowded all sail; while Captain Whyniates dropped astern, and hoisted Spanish colours, partly to draw the enemy under his guns, and partly to divert his attention from the convoy. As soon as Captain Jones discovered the true character of the vessels in sight, he no longer kept on a wind, but bore down on the sloop of war with the American jack, ensign, and pendant flying; and, at 10 in the forenoon, both vessels being within hail, Captain Whyniates hauled down Spanish colours, hoisted the British ensign, and opened so well directed a fire, that the main-top-mast of the Wasp was shot away, and, falling with the main-top-sail yard across the larboard fore and fore-top-sail braces, rendered her head yards of no avail during the remainder of the action. A constant fire was now kept up on both sides, and the sea was so rough, that the muzzles of the guns were rolled under water. The Frolic lay exposed to the raking broadsides of the Wasp, unable to bring a gun to bear in return ; and, at length, fell with her bowsprit between the American's main and mizen rigging, the jib-boom entering directly over the heads of Captain Jones, and his first lieutenant Biddle, who were then standing together, near the capstan. The two vessels were now so near one another, that, in loading, the crew of the Wasp pushed their rammers against the Frolic's side, and pointed two of their main-deck guns through her bowports. Of 110 men on board the Frolic at the begiuning of the action, only 20 now remained unhurt. Mr. M'Kay, the first lieutenant, and Mr. Stephens, the master, were mortally wounded. Mr. Wintle, the second lieutenant, had two balls in him, besides being wounded by three others, and Captain Whyniates had not escaped the rifle-shot of the enemy. The dead lay buried under the wreck of the masts and spars that had fallen on their lifeless bodies: the cock-pit and birth deck were crowded with those who had resigned their breath since they had been carried below, with the dying, and with others languishing under the severity of their sufferings. The fire of the Frolic was now nearly silenced, and as the swell of the sea brought the two vessels in contact, the lieutenants Biddle and Rodgers mounted on the hammock-cloth to board. Having got on the Frolic's bowsprit, they passed over the bodies of the slain on the forecastle, along the waist, to the quarter-deck; where they were much surprized at not seeing a single person alive, except the Captain and the man at the wheel. As Lieutenant Biddle advanced, Captain Whyniates made a slight inclination of his body as a sign of surrender. His colours, lashed with determined bravery to the mainrigging, were still flying over their intrepid defender; and, on Lieutenant Biddle ordering the surviving sailor to strike them, the British tar replied, with an unsubdued spirit," As you have possession of the brig, you may do it yourself." The vessels had scarcely separated, when both masts of the Frolic fell upon deck; and, two hours afterwards, the Poictiers of 74 guns, Captain Beresford, heaving in sight, took one wreck, and re-captured the other. 66 It is remarkable that in this action the Americans had only 5 men killed, and 5 wounded. ACTION Between the Macedonian and the United States. October 25. The British frigate, Macedonian, Captain Carden, having convoyed an India ship to a certain Jatitude, in proceeding to her station on the American coast, falls in with the American frigate United States, Captain Decatur, and is taken after an obstinate engagement. The Macedonian being about half way between the Cape de Verd Islands and the Azores, steering N.W. by W. with the wind from the southward, and a heavy sea running; about day-light a sail was seen on the leebeam, which she immediately stood for, and in a short time the stranger was made out to be a large frigate, under American colours. About 9, as the Macedonian was bearing down to bring the enemy to action, Decatur opened the fire of his main deck, and such was the precision of his broadside, that it disabled all the guns on the quarter-deck and forecastle of the Macedonian on the engaging side. The action now commenced between the two ships, and, the nearer they approached, the more furious it grew; till, on lying alongside of one another, the superior force of the United States became manifest in the havoc which she made on board the Macedonian; shooting away her mizen-mast by the board, her fore and main-top-masts by the caps, her main-yard in the slings, and wounding badly her lower-masts; besides lodging several shot in her hull between wind and water, cutting her lower-rigging in pieces, and the fore-sail from the yard; and, at the same time, disabling all the cannonades on the upper battery but two, together with two eighteen pounders on the main-deck. The destruction among the crew was proportionably great: humanity shudders at the recital. Thirty-three men lay dead on the decks of the Macedonian, and sixty-eight were wounded, of whom thirty-six were carried down into the cockpit. Meantime the United States was compara. tively uninjured. She had sustained little or no damage in her masts and spars; no accident had occurred on her decks; not a rope-yarn of her gun-tackle had been strained ; and, though engaged for more than two hours, the only diminution suffered in her crew was 5 killed, and 7 wounded. While the Macedonian, reduced to a wreck, was lying unmanageable on the water, the United States shot ahead, and Decatur was about to place his ship in a raking position, when Captain Carden, incapacitated for further resistance, had no alternative but to surrender. It is the opinion of Americans, that the sustained fire of the United States for two hours was never equalled by a single deck; and, that in all the actions which have been fought at sea, no frigate ever exhibited such consummate gunnery. Though in the presence of an enemy, whose flag for centuries had carried terror with it over the ocean, it is said that Decatur's crew went into battle with a confidence in their own superiority; that they jested in the act of firing their guns; and that the sailor who pointed the cannon which shot away |