and England were still at war. During this period, Rodgers mastered the art of ship's command. Rodgers and his crew were tested under severe conditions on the North Sea. Winds had carried the ship off course, provisions were almost exhausted, and three of his crewmen had frozen to death in one night. Most of the rest despaired of survival. When Rodgers ordered some of the crew to go aloft to secure ice-encrusted rigging, they refused. Outraged, Rodgers stripped off his jacket and shirt and, before going aloft, told the crew to watch what a man could do. While he climbed the frozen rigging bare-chested, the crew immediately rose to his aid. They soon secured the faltering rigging. Given the grim conditions, Rodgers put the matter behind him and days later, they safely reached port. Naval career Rodgers' service in the United States Navy extended through the Quasi War with France, the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War in North Africa and through the War of 1812. In 1815 he was appointed to the Board of Naval Commissioners, serving through the Second Barbary War until he retired in 1837. Quasi War On March 8, 1798, President John Adams appointed junior officers for the first three ships constructed for the young American Navy ; Rodgers was appointed second lieutenant of the frigate USS Constellation, under the command of Thomas Truxtun. All of these officers were expeditiously confirmed by the Senate the next day. Rodgers participated in the capture of the French frigate L'Insurgente during Constellations engagement, and he immediately was made prize master of the surrendered French vessel. Rodgers, along with Midshipman Porter and eleven seamen, boarded the badly damaged French frigate with the challenge of sailing her to a friendly port while also guarding more than 160 prisoners. That evening, gale-force winds separated the two ships, leaving Rodgers, Porter, and the few American seamen aboard the now-renamed Insurgent to save the ship and to control the prisoners without support from the crew of Constellation nearby. To make matters worse, just before surrendering their ship, the French crew had thrown overboard the gratings to the hold along with handcuffs and other items used to secure prisoners. Greatly outnumbered, Rodgers had seized all weapons and ordered the prisoners to the lower hold, giving orders to open fire with blunderbusses should the prisoners try to breach the passageway from their hold. After