However, several lives were lost and many brave men wounded, by the close and murderous fire of the musketry. The Constitution drew ahead and parted from her adversary, moving off on the same tack. As the two ships separated, the Englishman's fore and main mast both came by the board, leaving him wallowing in the sea and encumbered with wreck. Of course, this decided the affair, leaving Old Ironsides effectually the victor, and affording her time to look to the security of her own spars, which were of the last moment to her, in a sea that would certainly be soon swarming with enemies.

Having hauled off a short distance, and rove new rigging, besides looking to the stoppers and other securities for the masts, Hull was ready to run down on his enemy, who still kept a jack flying on the stump of his mizzen-mast. The Constitution accordingly wore ship, and coming close in on the enemy's weather bow, in a position to rake him, the jack came down, and the first English frigate that had done such a thing since the war of the Revolution, struck to an American. The prize proved to be the Guerriere, 38, a French-built ship, that had been taken by the English in the year—, by the _, Captain _, and now commanded by Captain Dacres. The Guerriere was a fine vessel of her class, mounting on her gun-deck thirty eighteens, and nineteen carronades and chase guns on her quarter-deck and forecastle; or twenty-five guns in broadside. She is said, however, to have been pierced for twenty-seven guns in broadside, which was just the number now carried by the Constitution. Some explanation, nevertheless, becomes necessary, in order not to convey to the reader a false idea of the respective forces of these two ships. The gun-deck battery of the Constitution consisted then, as now, of thirty guns of the bore of twenty-four pounders. The shot, notwithstanding, owing to defective casting, often weighed less than twenty-two pounds. Now, a shot of the size of a twenty-four pound shot, that weighs less than ought to have been its weight in solid metal, is less efficient than one, even, that has the accurate proportions between its weight and its diameter. The elements of the momentum, the principle that controls the efficiency of a shot, are the same in both cases, though the momentum itself differs, on account of the greater resistance of the atmosphere to a large, than to a small shot. In the case of the guns of the Constitution, the influence of the diameter may not have amounted to much, especially in an action fought at such close quarters; though two pounds in the weight of a shot is a matter of some moment, in naval warfare. The carronades of both ships were thirty-twos, alike. As the defective castings pertained to nearly, if not to quite all the American shot used at that time, the difference applied to the carronade shot, as well as to those of the long guns, making the quarter-deck and forecastle batteries of the Guerriere, gun for gun, actually heavier than those of the Constitution.

Nevertheless, the Constitution was a vessel decidedly superior to her prize, in all and each of the elements of force. She was of more tonnage, had heavier spars, carried heavier metal, and had a larger crew. The inferiority of the Guerriere was most apparent, indeed, in the number of her crew, she having less than three hundred men at quarters, while our own ship had considerably more than four hundred. There is not much doubt, however, that three hundred men in the Constitution ought to have been able to contend with four hundred in the Guerriere, though, in that case, the conflict would have been nearer on an equality. It is no more than fair to mention, also, that while it would seem to be certain, that the Guerriere actually carried thirty guns on her gun-deck, her regular armament would have been only twenty-eight. She was somewhat longer than was usual for vessels of her class, and it has been asserted that two guns were mounted in her bridle-ports, to bring her by the head. These two guns, it will be remembered, on the other hand, were of particular service to her, on account of the peculiar manner in which the battle was fought, the Constitution being so much on the bows of her adversary. Here, then, had Old Ironsides fairly beaten an English frigate in a yard-arm fight, leaving her opponent without an upright stick in her, except the stumps of masts, while she still carried every essential spar of her own in its place!

As Morris was wounded, Wadsworth had to attend to the duty of the ship, and George Campbell Read was sent to take possession of the prize. Dacres was wounded, but not so seriously that he could not walk, and he was transferred to the vessel of his captor, a boat having been sent to apprise Hull of the name of his prize, and the state of his prisoner. Hull was a man of few words, and totally without flourish, but kind-hearted and direct. As Dacres went up the side of the Constitution, Hull appeared in the gangway, extended an arm, and said, as if addressing an old friend—"Dacres, give me your hand—I know you are hurt.” This was not Decatur's or Truxtun's mode of receiving a captive.

Not long after the Guerriere was taken possession of, a strange sail was seen, and the Constitution cleared for another action, precisely as she had begun to chase on a former occasion, as soon as her enemies ceased chasing her. On this occasion, the stranger hauled off on perceiving the Constitution, he being most probably a merchantman, That night and next day, the prisoners were removed from the prize, and orders were given to set her on fire. Hoffman was the officer employed on this duty, and he left the Guerriere in the last boat, about 3 o'clock in the succeeding afternoon. Shortly after, the ship blew up. Captain Dacres reported his loss in the action, at fifteen killed and sixty-three wounded; or a total of seventy-eight casualties.