[The Fight for a Free Sea: A Chronicle of the War of 1812 by Ralph D. Paine]@TWC D-Link bookThe Fight for a Free Sea: A Chronicle of the War of 1812 CHAPTER V 2/24
Officers in the service were underpaid and shamefully treated by the Government.
Captain Bainbridge, an officer of distinction, asked for leave that he might earn money to support himself, giving as a reason: "I have hitherto refused such offers on the presumption that my country would require my services.
That presumption is removed, and even doubts entertained of the permanency of the naval establishment." But, though Congress refused to build more frigates or to formulate a programme for guarding American shores and commerce, the tiny navy kept alive the spark of duty and readiness, while the nation drifted inevitably towards war.
There was no scarcity of capable seamen, for the merchant marine was an admirable training-school.
In those far-off days the technique of seafaring and sea fighting was comparatively simple.
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