rter-of-an-hour
earlier and hauled to the wind a trifle, as though to intercept us; and
as I emerged from the hatchway the drummers began to beat to quarters,
Mr Percival, the third lieutenant, having gone into the fore-topmast
crosstrees to reconnoitre, and from that lofty outlook having not only
confirmed my conjecture as to the leading ship being undoubtedly a
frigate, but also expressed his conviction that she was a foreigner.

By the time that we were all ready to engage, if need were, the strange
frigate was hull-up; and as she had hauled her wind still farther, and
threatened to weather us if we did not mind what we were about, we
tacked ship, when it soon became apparent that the _Europa_ was much the
faster vessel of the two; we, therefore, stood on until we were sure of
our ability to pass across the other vessel's bows upon the next tack,
when we went about again, and at the same time hoisted our colours. To
this challenge the stranger promptly replied by hoisting Dutch colours,
thus declaring herself to be an enemy, which declaration our lads
greeted with three mighty cheers.

Both ships were now close-hauled, on opposite tacks, the Dutchman
heading to the northward upon the port tack, while the _Europa_, on the
starboard tack, was heading up high enough to render it certain that we
should be able to cross his bows at about the distance of a cable's
length. It was Captain Vavassour's intention to do this, if he could,
pouring in a raking broadside at the proper moment; but the Dutchman
soon let us know that he was not to be caught so easily, for when he
arrived at about four points on our lee-bow he suddenly went in stays,
giving us his starboard broadside as he did so, and the next moment a
storm of 32-pound shot came hurtling about our ears, crashing through
our bulwarks, killing two men and wounding five poor fellows, besides
cutting up our rigging a good deal. We immediately luffed and returned
the compliment, giving him the whole of our port broadside, main-deck
and upper-deck guns; and when the smoke blew away we had the
satisfaction of seeing that we had shot away his jib-booms, thus
depriving him of a considerable amount of head-sail at a most critical
moment. Moreover, the loss of his jibs caused him to miss stays and
hang in the wind so long that, taking advantage of the opportunity,
Captain Vavassour bore up, and, passing close athwart his stern, raked
him most effectively with our starboard