December 1812 in the waters off Brazil, two New Jersey sea captains whose fathers had sided with the British in the American Revolution were getting a chance to redeem their family names. Cmdr. James Lawrence of Burlington, in command of the sloop of war Hornet, was blockading a British warship in the island port of San Salvador. Meanwhile, Commodore William Bainbridge of Princeton, in command of the frigate Constitution, was off the coast of South America looking for a fight.
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