The other vessels of Decatur's squadron, ignorant of the fate of the _President_, sailed for an appointed gathering-place in the South Atlantic Ocean. Captain Biddle, in the _Hornet_, captured the _Penguin_ in March, after a conflict which called forth the highest praises for the American commander. Afterward, while the _Hornet_ and _Peacock_ were sailing together, they were chased by the _Cornwallis_, a British 74. They escaped, and the _Peacock_, continuing her cruise eastward, captured the _Nautilus_ in the Straits of Sunda, the last vessel captured in the war.
The American privateers made such havoc among English shipping that the mercantile community were dismayed. "One of these sea-devils," said a London newspaper, "is seldom caught; but they impudently defy the English privateers and heavy 74's. Only think--thirteen guineas for one hundred pounds were paid to insure a vessel across the Irish Channel!" They had captured or destroyed during the war about sixteen hundred British merchant vessels of all classes. Our little navy had produced a wonderful change in public opinion in Europe concerning the resources and power of the United States. It had achieved the independence of the Republic.
In time of peace our navy has been employed in the beneficent work of giving aid to commerce; in making explorations of strange seas; in scientific investigations of ocean phenomena; and in the important operations of the Coast Survey, begun in 1817. The most conspicuous of the peaceful performances of our navy were known respectively as the "South Sea Exploring Expedition" and the "Japan Diplomatic Expedition." The former began in 1838, and ended in 1842. It was composed of six government vessels, furnished with a complete corps of scientific men, and was commanded by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes. It went southward until it reached pack ice, in south latitude 66°, and made a voyage of about ninety thousand miles.
[Illustration: COMMODORE PERRY'S SHIPS IN THE BAY OF JEDDO.]
The Japan Diplomatic Expedition consisted of a squadron of seven vessels, commanded by Commodore M. G. Perry. Its business was to carry a letter to the Emperor of Japan from the President of the United States, who asked him to open his sea-ports to American commerce. The expedition sailed in the fall of 1852, and reached Japan in 1853. Perry was met on the bosom of the bay of Jeddo, in which his squadron had anchored, by high officials in the Emperor's state barges, and to them the object of the expedition was made known. The Japanese were astonished, for they had never seen a steam-ship. After several months' consideration the Emperor agreed to the President's request, and in 1860 he sent an embassy to the United States. Ever since then there has been free intercourse between the two nations.