Scurvy and other diseases were rampant.

As many as seventy of the crew of the _Constitution_ were on the sick list shortly before she fought the _Guerriere_.

The food was wholesome for rugged men, but it was limited solely to salt beef, hard bread, dried peas, cheese, pork, and spirits.
Such conditions, however, had not destroyed the vigor of those hardy seamen of the _Constitution_ when, on the 29th of December and within sight of the Brazilian coast, the lookout at the masthead sang out to Captain Bainbridge that a heavy ship was coming up under easy canvas.

It turned out to be His Britannic Majesty's frigate _Java_, Captain Henry Lambert, who, like Carden, made the mistake of insisting upon a combat.
His reasons were sounder than those of Dacres or Carden, however, for the _Java_ was only a shade inferior to the _Constitution_ in guns and carried as many men.

In every respect they were so evenly matched that the test of battle could have no aftermath of extenuation.
The _Java_ at once hastened in pursuit of the American ship which drew off the coast as though in flight, the real purpose being to get clear of the neutral Brazilian waters.