at New York, under the command of Commodore John Rodgers. These were Rodgers' own flagship, President, along with , commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, , commanded by Captain Smith, , commanded by Captain Lawrence, and Argus, commanded by Lieutenant Sinclair. However, the British vessels in American waters at this time were relatively few in number and not themselves very representative of the overall might of the Royal Navy. Fearing that Congress might consider confining all American ships to port, as soon as Rodgers received news of the June declaration of war, he departed New York Harbor with his squadron within the hour. In anticipation of the war, Rodgers had already had his squadron fitted and ready to embark on the high seas. Their first objective was a British fleet reported to have recently departed from the West Indies, and Rodgers set a course south-east in search of these ships. President passed Sandy Hook on June 21. In the early morning of June 23, a ship was spotted on the horizon to the north-east, which turned out to be the frigate , commanded by Captain Richard Byron. Rodgers immediately gave chase, with Congress following close behind. Belvidera had already been informed of the inevitability of war by a passing New York pilot boat and immediately turned about, crowded on all sails and began flight to the north-east with a fresh wind behind all ships coming from the west. USS President was an unusually fast frigate and by noon had gained on Belvidera, now some two and a half miles distant, approximately 75 miles south-west of Nantucket island. While President was closing with Belvidera, Captain Byron began clearing the decks and made ready his stern guns. By 4:30 the wind had relaxed some but Belvidera was now close enough to be engaged. Seizing this first possibility, Presidents forecastle bow chasers fired the first shot of the war, by Rodgers himself, with two more almost immediately following. All three shots struck Belvidera at her stern, striking the rudder assembly and captain's quarters, killing or wounding nine men. With only a few more shots needed to disable the British vessel, President fired again. But the tide of battle turned when one of its guns burst, killing 16 men, and wounding others, including Rodgers, whose leg was broken. There was a pause of panic about the entire ship, as now every gun was suspected. Byron