realized more than a million dollars. Of this the owners and
shareholders received six hundred thousand dollars as dividends.
She was a stately vessel, built for the East India trade, and was
generally conceded to be the fastest privateer afloat. For this
service the upper deck was removed and the sides were filled in
with stout oak timber as an armored protection, and longer yards
and royal masts gave her a huge area of sail. Her crew of one
hundred and fifty men had the exacting organization of a
man-of-war, including, it is interesting to note, three
lieutenants, three mates, a sailingmaster, surgeon, purser,
captain of marines, gunners, seven prize masters, armorer,
drummer, and a fifer. Discipline was severe, and flogging was the
penalty for breaking the regulations.

During her four cruises, the America swooped among the plodding
merchantmen like a falcon on a dovecote, the sight of her
frightening most of her prey into submission, with a brush now
and then to exercise the crews of the twenty-two guns, and
perhaps a man or two hit. Long after the war, Captain James
Chever, again a peaceful merchant mariner, met at Valparaiso, Sir
James Thompson, commander of the British frigate Dublin, which
had been fitted out in 1813 for the special purpose of chasing
the America. In the course of a cordial chat between the two
captains the Briton remarked:

"I was once almost within gun-shot of that infernal Yankee
skimming-dish, just as night came on. By daylight she had
outsailed the Dublin so devilish fast that she was no more than a
speck on the horizon. By the way, I wonder if you happen to know
the name of the beggar that was master of her."