kill and care, the first and second cutters,
under the command of Mr Howard, our second lieutenant, and O'Brien, one
of the midshipmen, at length managed to get alongside and put a
prize-crew of thirty-two men on board her. The boats quickly returned
to the ship with the intelligence that the prize was the twenty-six-gun
privateer _Belle Marie_ of Saint Malo, carrying a total crew of two
hundred and thirty men, of whom eighty-seven were at the moment away in
prizes, forty of them being on board the British East Indiaman
_Masulipatam_--the ship which had by this time passed out of sight in
the southern board. The weather conditions being unfavourable for the
transfer of the Frenchmen from the prize to the frigate, without the
loss of a great deal of valuable time, Captain Vavassour hailed Mr
Howard, instructing him to confine the prisoners below, and then, with
the aid of the carpenter's crew which we were about to send him, to
repair damages as well as he could, and make the best of his way to
Portsmouth. It was almost dark by the time that all the necessary
arrangements were completed and the boats once more hoisted in, when we
wore round and shaped a course which we hoped would enable us to
intercept and recapture the Indiaman before she could reach Saint Malo.

This course brought the wind about three points abaft the starboard
beam; it was consequently a leading wind, therefore, the business being
pressing, we not only showed all plain sail, to our topgallantsails, but
also set topmast and lower studdingsails to windward, the yards being
braced slightly forward. This was a heavy press of canvas to pile upon
the ship, with the wind where it was, and so heavy a sea running, but
the Captain evidently considered--as, indeed, did we all--that the
circumstances justified a certain measure of recklessness, for we had
all observed that the _Masulipatam_ was, at all events when going free,
almost as fast a ship as the _Belle Marie_; and haste was necessary if
we would overtake her before she reached her port.

By four bells in the first watch the wind had moderated sufficiently to
permit of our setting all three royals, as well as the weather
topgallant studdingsails; and half-an-hour later we sighted the craft of
which we were in pursuit about four points on our starboard-bow. She
was then about twelve miles distant, and only just distinguishable with
the aid of our best night glasses; and the fact that we were still s