Scores of outrages as abominable as this were on record in the office of the Secretary of State.

Shipmasters were afraid to sail to the southward and, for lack of these markets for dried cod, the fishing schooners of Marblehead were idle.
For a time a second war with England seemed imminent.

An alarmed Congress passed laws to create a navy and to fortify the most important American harbors.

President Washington recommended an embargo of thirty days, which Congress promptly voted and then extended for thirty more.

It was a popular measure and strictly enforced by the mariners themselves.