[20] Alison mixes up Colonel McDonell's capture of Ogdensburgh, which is below Kingston, and opposite Prescott, the scene of the Wind Mill fight in '37.
As if to counterbalance the effect of this success, another naval engagement occurred at sea, on the 14th of February, between the British sloop of war _Peacock_ and the American brig _Hornet_. The fight was long continued, bloody and destructive. The _Peacock_, after an hour and a half of hard fighting was in a sinking state. The effect of the enemy's fire was tremendous, but the men of the _Peacock_ behaved nobly. Mr. Humble, the boatswain, having had his hand shot away, went to the cockpit, underwent amputation at the wrist, and again voluntarily came upon deck to pipe the boarders. The _Peacock_ was now rapidly settling down, and a signal of distress was consequently hoisted. The signal was at once humanely answered. The firing ceased immediately, the American's boats were launched, and every effort praiseworthily made to save the sinking crew. All were not, however, saved. Three of the _Hornet's_ men and thirteen of the crew of the _Peacock_ went down in the latter vessel together. The _Hornet_ carried twenty guns, while the _Peacock_ had only eighteen, and the tonnage of the former exceeded, by seventy-four tons, that of the latter.