The relation of such an event restores the history of ancient times and will do more good to the service than it is possible to conceive." Captain Broke was made a baronet and received other honors and awards which he handsomely deserved, but the wound he had suffered at the head of his boarding party disabled him for further sea duty.

If the influence of the _Constitution_ and the _United States_ was far-reaching in improving the efficiency of the American navy, it can be said also that the victory of the _Shannon_ taught the British service the value of rigorous attention to gunnery and a highly trained and disciplined personnel.
American chagrin was somewhat softened a few weeks later when two very small ships, the _Enterprise_ and the _Boxer_, met in a spirited combat off the harbor of Portland, Maine, like two bantam cocks, and the Britisher was beaten in short order on September 5, 1813.

The _Enterprise_ had been a Yankee schooner in the war with Tripoli but had been subsequently altered to a square rig and had received more guns and men to worry the enemy's privateers.

The brig-of-war was a kind of vessel heartily disliked by seamen and now vanished from blue water.

The immortal Boatswain Chucks of Marryat proclaimed that "they would certainly damn their inventor to all eternity" and that "their common, low names, 'Pincher,' 'Thrasher,' 'Boxer,' 'Badger,' and all that sort, are quite good enough for them." Commanding the _Enterprise_ was Captain William Burrows, twenty-eight years old, who had seen only a month of active service in the war.
Captain Samuel Blyth of the _Boxer_ had worked his way up to this unimportant post after many years of arduous duty in the British navy.
He might have declined a tussel with the _Enterprise_ for his crew numbered only sixty-six men against a hundred and twenty, but he nailed his colors to the mainmast and remarked that they would never come down while there was any life in him.
The day was calm, the breeze fitful, and the little brigs drifted about each other until they lay within pistol shot.