''Look sir! we've made a brig ofher!'' bulwarks onto the deck of United States, but for the exact opposite reason; the American ship was immaculate with barely a line out of place. In fact, only five of the crew of 450 men had been killed and seven wounded (rwo of those subsequently died from their injuries). Looking aft to the quarterdeck, Carden did not see the victorious Decatur. When he inquired of his escort for the captain, Nicholson pointed him out on the quarterdeck, still wearinghishomespun shirt and straw hat. Carden was astounded at the lack of pomp-indeed, the casual and informal air-aboard the American ship. How could these chaps fight so well without the discipline and formaliry of the Royal Navy? The British captain made his way to the quarterdeck, speechless at the serene, business-as-usual attitude of the Americans. He presented his sword to Captain Decatur, who welcomed him aboard but nobly refused the gesture in recognition of the skillful and good fight the British put on. Captain Decatur was the soul of cordialiry to his opposite number. Discussing the condition of Macedonian , Decatur learned from Nicholson and Carden that the ship was in shambles with an overwhelming number of wounded and dead. He immedfately ordered his own surgeons, along with helpers and other crewmen, to the stricken ship. The severely wounded, those who could be moved, were transferred to the American ship for treatment when the doctors returned. In the meantime, the surviving members of the British crew had broken into the liquor stores and were roaring drunk, making it difficult for the American sai lors and officers to restore some order. Lieutenant Allen was sent on board Macedonian with more US sailors, and he quickly brought order to the chaos, locking the recalcitrant Englishmen in the hold. He determined that the ship could be salvaged, and reported as m uch to Captain Decatur. It was then, according to Decatur's report to the secretary of the navy, that the captain realized he could gain some glory by bringing the ship into port instead of simply burning or sinking her at sea. He recalled the last time he had bested a frigate: USS Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor back in 1804. While he had wanted to recapture the ship
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instead of burning it, he had little choice at the time; this time he did. He had to have been thinking of the fanfare that Isaac Hull and the Constitution crew had received after their defeat and sinking of HMS Guerriere. Decatur could only imagine the glorious reaction ashore were he to bring his conquest in as a prize! Allen allowed the remaining British sai lors to vent their wrath at the Americans for a while, but within rwo hours he had all the able-bodied sailors from both ships working together to make repairs. While the prize crew worked to stabilize the British ship, jury-rig spars as masts, and plug holes in the hull, the two vessels drifted, hove to in the Atlantic, keeping a wary eye out for British cruisers. Only a Swedish merchant ship bound for Europe passed the two drifting warships, and Decatur imposed on the captain to take Carden's purser and his report of the battle to Europe; the American captain wanted the British Admiralry to receive the bad news as quickly as possible. The weather held, and within two weeks, Allen deemed the ship capable ofsailing the nearly two thousand miles back to America. Together, the United States and her prize made sail, setting a course to the west. In United States, meanwhile, Decatur treated his prisoners with the utmost courtesy; Captain Carden dined in the cabin
every night, the wounded British sai lors were given the same treatment American sailors received, and the British officers ate their meals in the gunroom with Decatur's officers. Decatur had purchased Carden's $800 wine collection and moved it aboard United States to be enjoyed by all of them, captor and prisoner alike. It was simply Decamr's way. The American tried his best-according to Carden's memoirs-to cheer up his former enemy, despondent over his defeat. Carden was still unaware of Captain James Dacres's loss of Guerriere to the Constitution in August, and thought he was the first British officer to lose his ship to the Americans. Even Decatur's illumination did little to improve the man's depression . Incredibly, the two ships sai led all the way to the US coast without encountering a single British cruiser, though Carden had predicted that they would cross tacks with a British warship before seeing the Gulf Stream and that h is late command would be restored to him and the Royal Navy. On 3 December 1812, the two ships raised Montauk Point thro ugh a winter fog, and Decatur signaled Lieutenant Allen in M acedonian to head into Newport, Rhode Island, for further repairs and then to jo in him in New London or New York. As Decatur anticipated, Macedonian's arrival in Newport provided cause for a huge
Capture ofHMS Macedonian by the US frigate United States by Thomas Birch
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