allowing them to prey on American whalers, and they had nearly destroyed the American industry. Essex challenged this practice and in turn inflicted considerable damage on British interests. The British dispatched HMS Phoebe and a collection of smaller vessels to hunt down the Essex. Eventually Essex and her consort USS Essex Junior were captured off Valparaíso, Chile by Phoebe and the sloop on 28 March 1814 in what statistically appears as battle of equal force as Essex and Phoebe were of similar tonnage, scantling and broadside weight. Cherub and Essex Junior were similarly matched. Once again the Americans had more men. Nevertheless, Phoebe was armed with long 18-pounder guns, where as Essex carried heavy but short ranged carronades. This gave the British a decisive long range advantage. HMS Endymion vs USS President To conclude the cycle of duels caused by the Little Belt affair, USS President was finally captured in January 1815. In her efforts to escape the blockade of New York President grounded on a sandbar but, after incurring damage, managed to break free into the Atlantic. Following the Royal Navy's standing orders, President was pursued by a squadron consisting of four frigates, one being a 56-gun razee. President was an extremely fast ship and successfully out-sailed the British squadron with the exception of , which has been regarded as the fastest ship in the age of fighting sail. Captain Henry Hope of Endymion had fitted his ship with Philip Broke's gunnery technology as used on Shannon. This gave him the slight advantage at range and he was able to slow President with rigging hits. Commodore Decatur commanding President had the advantage in scantling strength, firepower crew, and tonnage, but not in manoeuvrability. Despite having fewer guns, Endymion was armed with the larger 24-pounders just like President. Using her speed Endymion was able to position herself to rake President and following Broke's philosophy of "Kill the man and the ship is yours", fired into the hull severely damaging her. President was left shot holes below the waterline, ten to fifteen starboard guns disabled, water in the hold and shot from Endymion were later found inside the magazine. Decatur knew his only hope was to damage or disable the Endymions rigging and then outrun the rest of the squadron. However the cumulative damage told and he struck his colours. Both ships then paused to conduct repairs and Decatur took advantage