Given the drubbing it'd given all comers for decades, the RN had earned a bit of hubris.
True enough.
Incidentally, I've always found it somewhat amusing that the US Navy has made a big deal about Lawrence's "don't give up the ship", ignoring the fact that Chesapeake surrendered less than five minutes later.
The US didn't ignore it, the skipper was put on trial for cowardice.
The British consul had already tried that approach, with a distinct lack of sucess, so a slightly more coercive approach was needed.
Records show otherwise. Your ship refused to set port and meet with an american court. Besides, if they failed once, why not try again. They were a tax ship out at sea. Those boys weren't going anywhere.
#2 - I do see what you're saying - assuming that those customs and usages were actually in custom and usage with other nations, rather than falsely assumed or rhetorically devised merely to justify those orders. And even if they were common usages, is a fusillade the proper response to a denial?
For this you have to understand England's practices with treaties and by extention, American practice. Throughout history, England has been one of the few nations to stick to its treaty bounds whatever they may be. The problem lies in that they think that everyone else will to. This was a huge boil point for the Revolution. England the Seven Years War was over but the fighting over here never ended. French and Indian raids continued and England wouldn't allow the Colonies to defend themselves, not would they send aid. Instead the began taxing the Colonies to pay off England's war costs. We all know how this ended.
The US was at the time a trade nation built on the open sea lanes and claimed only waters that were within cannon shot. This allowed ships to remain close to shore for reasons I have stated before but also meant that the US saw anything past this point to be High Seas and there for free to use by anynation that so wished. Since the US capt had no orders to allow any searches he was bound to refuse. This is where the US and UK are very much alike. We have to have orders for what we do. Treaties are protected and enforced. Law and Order are of massive matter to us both. The two ships were under different orders and neither served the other.
