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Mississippi Sound, Naval Engagements, 1814. Commodore JJan-iel T. Patterson had been in command, from near the beginning of the war, of what there was of the United States navy on the N.'.v Orleans station. The insignificance of the naval force anywhere was the main cause of the humiliation of America. In 1812 there had been begun the building of a flat-bottomed frigate, or gunboat, in Lake Pontchartrain, to carry forty-two cannon, but the construction had been suspended, despite the protests of Patterson and Claiborne. Patterson had a few gunboats when the time of need arrived, a mere shadow of naval strength compared to the British armament. A letter was sent him from Pensacola, December 5, announcing the arrival there of a British fleet of sixty sail, men of war and transports of an army for the capture of New Orleans. Gen. Jackson was already in the city beginning his preparations for defense. Patterson, for his part, did what he could tp^thwa^-.or at least watch the hostile movements. He sent fiv6^gunboat^ a tender .. :i'l despatch boat, toward "the passes Mariana and-Cnristiana,? ; : ?ii-r -he command of Thomas Catesby Jor.es, with orders to make last stand at the Rigolets and sink the enemy or be sunk. Lieutenant Jones detached two gunboats, under McKeever and Ulrick. to go as far as Dauphine island, where they espied one or more of the British advance scout?, the Seahorse. Armide and Sophie. Vice Admiral Cochrane, commanding the British expedition, reported (from the Armide, off Cat island, Dec. 15) that the two gunboats fired upon the Armide. But they could not have sustained an action, and turned about and joined the other three gunboats off Biloxi. As Cochrane intended to anchor at Isle au Vaisseau (Ship Island), and send the troops in small boats to land at the Bavone Catalan (or des Pecheurs'l at the head of Lake Borgne, ?it became impossible.? he- -id. ?that any movement of the troops could take place till this f nidable flotilla was either captured or destroyed.? Rear-admiral . ialcolm came up, with the fleet, on the 11th, and anchored betweer i~at and Ship islands, and Tones retired to pass Mariana, and next . ;v. off Bay St. Louis, obeying orders to avoid being cut off fro ;lie Rigolets. Cochrane, on the 12th, put ?the launches, barges :?	' pinnaces of the squadron,? under the
command of Captain L'-n	r, of the Sophie, aided by Captains
Montressor and Robert-,	inst Jones, who then determined to