he
rest of the watch were busy clearing away the wreck forward; and by the
time that the new spar was ready for swaying aloft we had overtaken the
rest of the convoy, when the commodore sent away a boat, with the first
lieutenant of the _Colossus_ in her, to receive my report. This I wrote
out and handed to him, retaining a copy to be handed to Captain
Vavassour; and after a little chat together our visitor instructed me to
retain command of the prize until the return of the _Europa_, and
meanwhile to take the place of that ship to assist in the protection of
the convoy. He also informed me that during our absence the _Astarte_
had captured the ship privateer that had been so busy on the outskirts
of the convoy a few hours before, while the boats of the _Colossus_ and
the _Astarte_ had recaptured no less than five merchantmen that had been
taken possession of by the marauders. As for the _Hebe_ and the
_Naiad_, they had vanished in the northern board, and as yet there were
no signs of their return.

Two days later we arrived at Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, the _Europa_
overtaking us in the offing, in company with the recaptured merchantman
of which she had gone in pursuit; while on the evening of the same day
the two gun-brigs also arrived, bringing in with them the five vessels
which they had started to recapture; thus the little squadron of
privateers which had waylaid us, and had made such a bold bid for booty,
not only gained nothing but lost their own ships as well, together with
a good many lives. But the heaviest loss of all was that sustained by
the unfortunate _Audacieuse_ in her blundering attack upon the
transport; for in addition to the seventy-two killed which we found on
board her when we took possession, nine more had died of their wounds
before we anchored in Carlisle Bay. The remaining twenty-four wounded,
together with those who had been hurt on board the other prizes, were
taken ashore and lodged in the hospital at Bridgetown, while the whole
of the prisoners were transferred to the _Colossus_. Gascoigne and I
fully expected that we should now be ordered to rejoin the _Europa_, but
instead of this, to our great delight, we were ordered to remain on
board, our crew being increased to twenty-six--that being as many as
Captain Vavassour could possibly spare us.

We remained in Carlisle Bay just twenty-four hours; which period we
utilised by refilling our water-tanks, laying in a bountiful stock of
fr