Captain Isaac Hull, his officers and crew, form one of the many brilliant exploits recorded in the naval history of the United States.
This famous vessel may be taken as a representative type of the American frigate of that period, six of which were ordered by Congress to be constructed at different ports, as follows:
Constitution, 44 guns, Boston; President, 44 guns. New York; United States, 44 guns, Philadelphia; Chesapeake, 38 guns, Portsmouth, Va.; Constellation, 38 guns, Baltimore; Congress, 38 guns, Portsmouth, N. H.
All were built from models and designs by Joshua Humphreys of Philadelphia, and the most capable shipbuilders in the country were consulted and employed. At the breaking out of the War of 1812 the United States Government owned a small fleet, consisting of the following vessels:
New York, 36 guns; Essex, 32 guns; Adams, 28 guns; Boston, 28 guns; John Adams, 28 guns; Wasp, 18 guns; Hornet, 18 guns; Argus, 16 guns; Siren, 16 guns; Oneida, 16 guns; Vixen, 14 guns; Nautilus, 14 guns; Enterprise, 14 guns; Viper, 12 guns; in all twenty vessels including a few small gunboats.
Of the foregoing, the New York and the Boston were unseaworthy; the Oneida was on Lake Ontario; while the Adams required extensive repairs before she could proceed to sea, thus reducing the effective fleet of the United States Navy to sixteen vessels. At this period the Royal Navy of Great Britain numbered one thousand and sixty
