I remember at first the universal incredulity.

I remember how the post-offices were thronged for successive days by anxious thousands; how collections of citizens rode out for miles on the highway, accosting the mail to catch something by anticipation.

At last, when the certainty was known, I remember the public gloom; funeral orations and badges of mourning bespoke it.

"Don't give up the ship"-- the dying words of Lawrence--were on every tongue.
It was learned that the _Chesapeake_ had followed the _Shannon_ until five o'clock, when the latter luffed and showed her readiness to begin fighting.

Lawrence was given the choice of position, with a westerly breeze, but he threw away this advantage, preferring to trust to his guns with a green crew rather than the complex and delicate business of maneuvering his ship under sail.