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| Duel off Cape Anne - USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon exchange broadsides during their 15-minute battle in June 1813 - Robin Brooks |
Fortune of War, a novel by Patrick O'Brian, finishes up with the battle between the USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon outside of Boston. Lucky Jack Aubrey was here. Unlike the last time, the Brit's won, which cheered them immensely being as they had lost their previous three encounters with the Americans. Wikipedia has a long article about the encounter.
There seem to be no end of web pages talking about the naval engagements of between the Brits and the Americans during the war of 1812. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people are so interested in old wars. Mortal combat has been our primary occupation for the last zillion years. The primary, and proper, occupation of soldiers is studying how old wars were fought, so naturally old soldiers are going to put up web pages about what they've learned.
A large portion of the world's economy is devoted to designing and building ever newer and more lethal weapons. So even if you aren't a soldier, if you are paying taxes you are supporting this effort. I guess it's worthwhile, we haven't had any full scale wars in North America since when, the Civil War?
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