| abstract
| - At the time of the battle Commodore Stephen Decatur commanded President. In 1812, while in command of the frigate USS United States, he had captured the British frigate HMS Macedonian in a famous action. After his return, the British instituted a strict blockade of the American coast. In 1813, Decatur tried to break out of New York in United States and USS Macedonian (which had been taken into the United States Navy), but encountered a powerful British squadron which drove him into New London, Connecticut. To lighten the two frigates sufficiently to tow them far enough up-river to be safe from British cutting-out expeditions, they were effectively hulked, or demilitarized. Decatur tried to break out in United States in early 1814, but turned back when he feared that pro-British local civilians (the so-called Blue light federalists) were burning lights to alert the blockaders. Decatur and the crew of United States were transferred to President, which had been refitted in New York. (The crew of the Macedonian were transferred to the Great Lakes.) On 13 December 1814, President and some smaller warships (the sloops-of-war USS Peacock and USS Hornet, and the schooner-rigged tender USS Tom Bowline) were in New York Harbor, preparing to break out past the British blockade to embark on cruises against British merchant shipping. The British squadron blockading New York consisted of the former ship of the line Majestic which had been razeed i.e. cut down to a single deck to create a heavy frigate, and the frigates HMS Endymion, HMS Pomone and HMS Tenedos. They were under the overall command of Commodore John Hayes, who was captain of the Majestic. On 13 January, a blizzard blew up from the north-west. The British ships were blown off their station, to the south-east. Decatur determined to take advantage of the situation by breaking out with President alone. (He may have been accompanied by a merchant brig, also named Macedonian, carrying extra rations as a tender, but the brig does not feature in any subsequent events.) The plan was that the smaller warships would break out later and rendezvous with President off Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. Decatur immediately met with disaster. He had ordered harbor pilots to anchor boats to mark the safe passage across the bar at the mouth of the harbor, but they failed to do so properly. President grounded on the bar and remained stuck there for almost two hours, enduring a pounding from the wind and heavy sea. It was claimed that by the time the frigate worked free it was heavily damaged, with some copper had been stripped away from the hull; the masts twisted and some of them "sprung" i.e. had developed long cracks; the hull was also twisted and "hogged" i.e. the bow and stern had sagged. However, no keel or hull damage was found when the ship was surveyed following her capture and return to Britain.[citation needed] Although her accompanying vessels headed for safety, it was impossible for Decatur to return to port as the gale was still blowing and he was forced to put to sea. He headed east, keeping close to the Long Island shore before heading south-east.
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