The capture by Tripoli did not stop Jones' career in the Navy. At the beginning of the War of 1812, he now found himself in the command of the sloop USS Wasp. In the early months of the war, American ships aggressively sought out British ships in the Atlantic sea lanes and along the Atlantic coast.
On this cruise, before he even found the British, the Wasp encountered a violent storm which destroyed part of the ship's rigging and killed two men. The rigging had just barely been repaired when a small convoy of British ships was spotted being escorted by the British sloop HMS Frolic.
Both being sloops, the two ships were about evenly matched for a battle that would be short and bloody. The Wasp and Frolic were about sixty yards apart when the first broadsides were exchanged. According to future President Theodore Roosevelt in his book "The Naval War of 1812, "The (Frolic) fired very rapidly, delivering three broadsides to the Wasp's two, both crews cheering loudly as the ships wallowed through the water.
"There was a very heavy sea running, causing the vessels to pitch and roll heavily. The Americans fired as the engaged side of their ship was going down aiming at their opponents hull, while the British delivered their broadsides while on the crest of the seas, the shot going high."
So, Who Won? --Brock-Perry
