the _Boscawen_ were
fairly jumping for joy. "Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!" they yelled.

And well might they cheer, for had they not won one of the pluckiest
sea-fights of all history? The enemy is said to have had one hundred
and thirteen killed and drowned, while the casualties of the
_Boscawen_ amounted to but one killed and seven wounded. "And this,"
says an old chronicler of the spirited affair, "was due to the fact
that the British privateer had a bulwark of elm-planking, man-high,
around her deck. It was so fashioned that there was a step on which
the marines could mount and fire, and then come down in order to load.
Furthermore, this elm-wood did not splinter; but kept out the bullets,
and closed up around the holes made by shot."

At any rate, it was a glorious victory, and when--a few hours
later--the _Sheerness_ came back with the other French vessel a prize,
the total capture amounted to six vessels: homeward bound traders from
Martinique, provided with letters of marque, and with about six guns
each. Their crews were undoubtedly undisciplined and ill-used to
shooting, else how could they have done so badly with the _Boscawen_?

The prizes were headed for the English coast and arrived at King's
Road, Bristol, in a few days, where a swarm of eager sight-seers
crowded about the shattered craft.

"My! My!" said many. "This Walker is another Drake. He is a valiant
soul!"

And so thought the British Admiralty, for they sent him a letter (upon
his reporting to them) which read:

"We cannot too highly congratulate and commend you upon the
seamanship and courage which you have displayed in the capture of
these French vessels. Your daring and ability should always make your
name one to be revered by those Britishers who follow the sea. May
your future career upon the ocean but add to the laurels which you
have already won!"

And were they not right?

Seldom has such a feat been accomplished, and seldom has one vessel
come off victorious against such odds. If you love a game warrior,
cheer for George Walker, for he deserves it. If you are an admirer of
the fighting quality in a man, give three times three for the
privateersman who had the nerve to sail into eight vessels,--and won
out.

So much, indeed, did the British owners of the privateer vessels think
of Captain Walker, that he was now placed in command of four ships,
known as "The Royal Family of Privateers," for each was named after
some member of the