Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1815-03-13
B Y THE MAILS.
CQhy ola letter from Com Decatur, 70 me
Secretary Of The Ma ny dQ:ed
III 4

Secretary ofthe Ma ny da:ed,
IL. B. M. Ship Endymion, a, ses,?
Janu try, IL, 1915, {
SIR-The painful du'y Of detailing to
you the partic ular causes which preceded
and led TO the capture of the hts L. S. FIJI
gate President, by a squadI on of is Bril-
annie MaJesty's ships, Gas per margin) has
devolved upon me. In my communication
of the l4th, made known 10 you my in
tention OF proceeding 10 sea on that evening
Owing to some mistake Of the Plots, Tie
ship In going out grounded on the Bar,
where she continued to strike heavily for an
hour and an half; although she had broken
several OF her rudder braces, and had re-
ceIved such other material injury as 10 rem
dcr her re;urn into port desirable, was
unable TO do so from the strong westerly
wind which was then blowing. 1t being
now high water, ii became necessary to
force her over the Bar before the iIde fell in
this We succeeded by 10 O'Clock, when we
shaped our couse along the shore vi Long
Island tol so miles, and then steered ,. l..
by At O'Clock three SHIPS were dis
covered mead we Immediately hauled up
the ship and passed 2 miles to the north
ward OF tn m.-At day ligh, we discovered
tour ships in chase, one on eucb quarter,
and two asern, the leading ship Of The enc
my razee--she commenced fi.e, upon
US, but without effcct. Al meridian, tue
wind became light and battling, w hod y
creased our distance from the razee, bu. the
next ship astern, which was also large
snip, had gained and Continued to gain upon
US considerably We Immediately uCcupi
ed all hands 10 tighten ship, by stating
water, cuitinS away the anchors, throwinp
overheard provisions, c4bles, spare spats,
BOATS and every article that could be got al,
keePtng the sails wet from the royals down.
Al 3, we had the wind quite light The en-
emy who had now been loined by a brig,
bad strong breeze and were coming uD
With US rapidly The Endymion tmount.
ing so guns, "a Founders on the main deck
lad now app cached US within gun shot,
and had commenced fire with her bow
guns, which we returned from our stern
Al CLOCK; She had Obtained position Oh
our starboArd quarter, within half point
blank shot, on which mel her orr stern nor
quarter guns would bear; We were now
steering + by n. the wind n. w. Ire
NAMED WITH her in this position for half an
hour, IN the hops that she would close with
US on our btoedside, IN which case ! had
prepared my crew to board, but from his
continuing 20 yaw lis ship 10 maintain hi,
position, 1t became evident that 10 close Was
not MS lElention livery fire now cut some
OF our sails or rigging. 10 have continu-
ca our course under these circumstances
would have been placing il in his power e
cripple us, without being subject to injury
himself, and to have hauled up more 10 iho
northWard to bring our stern Guns 10 bear.
would have exposed Us to his rakinfg fle
II was now dusk, when determined 10 al
ter my course south, for The purpose OF
olluglng the enemy abcam, end although
Iheif saIps astern weredraWing up fast I
.elt satisfied | should be enable 10 throw
him cut OF the combat before they could
come up, and was nor without hopes, If the
night proved dark, [of which there was ey.
cry appearance] that might still be ena-
DIED 10 effect my escape. Our opponent
Kept oil at the same instant we did, and our
hfe commenced at the same time. We
continued engaged steering south with
steering sails set two hours and a half
when we completely succeeded in dismant-
ing her. Previously to her dropping en-
tifeiy out ot the action, there were Intervals
OF minutes, when the ships were broadside