Dueling Frigates-- Part 10: Well, Now Dueling Sloops of War

Captain William Bowen Mends  of the HMS Loup Cervier suggested that he would make his crew equal to that of the USS Hornet and they could have their own little ship-to-ship duel if  Biddle would tell him the size of the Hornet's crew.

Biddle forwarded the proposal to Decatur, who replied that  'the Hornet shall meet the Loup Cervier, under a mutual and satisfactory pledge," but with their normal crews.

Since the Hornet's crew outnumbered the Loup Cervier's 167 to 103, another duel was averted, and Decatur soon moved his squadron back up the river to Gales Ferry.

So, Not Only Duels Between Men, But Also Ships.  Must Have Been a Naval Thing.  --Brock-Perry