No American man-of-war ever sailed with a complement
composed of nothing but able seamen; and some of the hardest fought
battles that occurred during this war, were fought by ships' companies
that were materially worse than common. The people that manned the
vessels on Lake Champlain, in particular, were of a quality much
inferior to those usually found in ships of war. Neither were the
officers, in general, old or very experienced. The navy itself dated but
fourteen years back, when the war commenced; and some of the commanders
began their professional careers several years after the first
appointments had been made. Perhaps one half of the lieutenants in the
service at the peace of 1815, had first gone on board ship within six
years from the declaration of the war, and very many of them within
three or four. So far from the midshipmen having been masters and mates
of merchantmen, as was reported at the time, they were generally youths
that first went from the ease and comforts of the paternal home, when
they appeared on the quarter-deck of a man-of-war.
* * * * *
=_Catharine M. Sedgwick, 1789-1867._= (Manual, p. 484.)
From "Hope Leslie."
=_287._= THE MINISTER CONDEMNING VAIN APPAREL.
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