USS Constitution vs HMS Cyane and HMS Levant

20 February 1815, West of Madeira

American victory; both British ships captured

Under Charles Stewart, Constitution slipped out of Boston in December 1814 and cruised off Portugal and Madeira. On the evening of 20 February she met the small frigate Cyane and the ship-sloop Levant sailing together. In a moonlit action that lasted under an hour, Stewart handled his ship so that neither British ship could rake her, backing and filling to fire into each in turn and raking both, until first Cyane and then Levant struck. Stewart took his prizes to Porto Praya in the Cape Verde Islands, where in March a British squadron of three frigates surprised them at anchor. Constitution and Cyane escaped, but Levant was retaken in the harbour. Neither side knew the war had ended two months before.