In spite of widespread antiwar sentiment in Massachusetts, there was broad popular enthusiasm for the astonishing series of early victories scored by the small but effective U.S. Navy. This hand-colored broadside contains a whole string of puns and plays on words: the “Wasp” and “Hornet” stinging John Bull are the names of two U.S. Navy ships. John Bull cries out that he is “Hull’d already,” a reference to Captain Isaac Hull of the frigate Constitution, and one of his attackers declares “… you’ll have a Bane to your Bridge, Friend Johnny”—a play on the name of a later commander of the Constitution, Captain William Bainbridge.