Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE LOSS OF THE VIXEN ON the 22d of October, 1812, at nine A.m., the United States brig Vixen crossed St. Mary's bar outward bound for a cruise to the southward. It was not expected that she would be absent from home waters for more than a month. Her commander was George W. Reed, a good officer, although he had had little experience in actual warfare. The hundred and ten men under his immediate command had trust in his judgment and were all animated with a hope of coming in again with one of the enemy under their lee, or at least they trusted that they should be fortunate enough to make one or two rich captures and return with prize money to their credit. As one of the Vixen's crew wrote: " All hands were in high health and spirits, and filled with the idea of soon returning with some fruit of the consequence of the war." Day after day the Vixen sailed on and saw one sail after another ; but owing to her having been well to the leeward in every case she had been unable to bring any to close quarters. On the tenth morning after her departure a sail was descried, and thistime it so happened that the little brig was weli to the windward. Setting every stitch of her canvas, she made after the stranger. Judging from all reports, the Vixen s intentions must have been better than her powers of putting them into practice; for if her legs had been faster, so to speak, the expecta- ' tions of her crew might have been answered, and this story (which is nothing but a record of events, however) would never have had a chance to be written. So it is safe to draw the conclusion that she was not as fast as many of our little vessels were at this period of our naval history. While chasing the strange sail, another was perceived to be bearing down from the northwest. This put another face on t...