"Guerriere" was too badly damaged to take in, so as soon as the wounded had been taken off, she was set on fire by her captors, "Constitution" returned to Boston, Massachusetts. Dacres wrote a report of the action to the commander of the North American Station, Vice-Admiral Herbert Sawyer. A court-martial was held on board HMS "Africa" at Halifax on 2 October. It found that Captain Dacres was justified in surrendering his ship to save the lives of his remaining crew. The court also found that the masts going overboard was due more to their defective nature than the fire of the enemy. Captain Dacres was later given command of the 38-gun fifth rate .