ir wind, with plenty of it,
we passed between the advanced frigates like an arrow. It seemed to me
like entering the gates of hell. As we flew rapidly along, and our
own ships disappeared in the intense darkness, I thought of Dante's
inscription over the portals:--"You who enter here, leave hope
behind."

Our orders were to lay the vessel on the boom which the French had
moored to the outer anchors of their ships of the line. In a few
minutes after passing the frigates we were close to it; our boat was
towing astern, with three men in it--one to hold the rope ready to let
go, one to steer, and one to bale the water out, which, from our rapid
motion, would otherwise have swamped her. The officer who accompanied
me steered the vessel, and I held the match in my hand. We came upon
the boom with a horrid crash; he put the helm down, and laid her
broadside to it. The force of the tide acting on the hull, and the
wind upon the foresail, made her heel gunwale to, and it was with
difficulty I could keep my legs; at this moment, the boat was very
near being swamped alongside. They had shifted her astern, and there
the tide had almost lifted her over the boom; by great exertion they
got her clear, and lay upon their oars: the tide and the wind formed
a bubbling short sea, which almost buried her. My companion then got
into the boat, desiring me to light the port-fire, and follow.

If ever I felt the sensation of fear, it was after I had lighted this
port-fire, which was connected with the train. Until I was fairly in
the boat, and out of the reach of the explosion--which was inevitable,
and might be instantaneous--the sensation was horrid. I was standing
on a mine; any fault in the port-fire, which sometimes will happen,
any trifling quantity of gunpowder lying in the interstices of the
deck, would have exploded the whole in a moment: had my hand trembled,
which I am proud to say it did not, the same might have occurred. Only
one minute and a half of port-fire was allowed. I had therefore no
time to lose. The moment I had lit it, I laid it down very gently, and
then jumped into the gig, with a nimbleness suitable to the occasion.
We were off in a moment: I pulled the stroke oar, and I never plied
with more zeal in all my life: we were not two hundred yards from her
when she exploded.

A more terrific and beautiful sight cannot be conceived; but we were
not quite enough at our ease to enjoy it. The shells flew up in the
air to