One was the _Essex_, which was playing havoc among the English shipping (and of which I shall tell you something later on), and the other that of Captain Stephen Decatur, the courteous but brave naval officer who had displayed so much intrepidity in the war with Tripoli and had insisted to Carden that the American sailors were the match of the English anywhere.
While at Madeira Captain Carden learned that the _Essex_ had sailed from the Delaware and was expected to cruise in the neighborhood of the Canary Islands.

The Englishman turned southward and was within a few days' sail of the islands when, on the 25th of October, the man at the masthead reported a sail.

As it approached it was carefully scrutinized and found to be a frigate bearing down on the _Macedonian_.
Convinced that she was an enemy, Captain Carden at once issued the command to clear for action.

The most thorough preparations were made and officers were stationed with orders to shoot down the first man who flinched from his duty.

On board the ship were a number of American seamen, who began speculating among themselves as to whether the approaching frigate was a Frenchman or belonged to their own country.
They were in a trying position, for they were patriotic and would have given anything in the world to escape firing upon their countrymen, but there was no help for it.