he ship's upper battery to give them three
cheers. As the hostile vessel burned, she drifted so near the _Queen
Charlotte_ as nearly to involve her in the same fate.

From three to ten P.M. the battle lasted, steady disciplined valor
contending with a courage in no way inferior, absolutely insensible to
danger, but devoid of that coherent, skilful direction which is to
courage what the brain and eye are to the heart. "I never," wrote
Exmouth to his brother, "saw any set of men more obstinate at their
guns, and it was superior fire only that could keep them back. To be
sure, nothing could stand before the _Queen Charlotte's_ broadside.
Everything fell before it, and the Swedish consul assures me we killed
above five hundred at the very first fire, from the crowded way in which
the troops were drawn up, four deep above the gunboats, which were also
full of men. It was a glorious sight," he continues, "to see the
_Charlotte_ take her anchorage, and to see her flag towering on high,
when she appeared to be in the flames of the mole itself; and never was
a ship nearer burnt; it almost scorched me off the poop. We were obliged
to haul in the ensign, or it would have caught fire." He was himself
struck thrice, though not seriously injured. A cannon-ball carried away
the skirts of his coat, and one glass of the spectacles in his pocket
was broken, and the frame bulged, by a shot.

At ten P.M., the ammunition of the fleet running short, and its work
being substantially accomplished, the ships began to haul off. The sea
defences and a great part of the town were in ruins. "To be again
effective," wrote Exmouth, "the defences must be rebuilt from the
foundation." The flanking batteries and the hill forts continued to
annoy the vessels as they retired, but the spirit of the Dey was broken.
Towards eleven a light air from the land sprang up, which freshened into
a violent and prolonged thunderstorm, lasting for three hours; and the
flashes of heaven's artillery combined with the glare of the burning
town to illuminate the withdrawal of the ships.

The following morning the Dey signified his submission, and on the 30th
of August Lord Exmouth made known to the fleet that all the terms of
Great Britain had been yielded; that Christian slavery was forever
abolished, and that by noon of the following day all slaves then in
Algiers would be delivered to his flag. This was accordingly done, the
whole number amounting to 1642; which, with