ny advantages,
independent of our being very superior in men. Some few chase-guns were
fired during our approach, when, having ranged up within a cable's
length of her, we exchanged broadsides for half an hour, after which our
captain determined upon boarding. We ran our vessel alongside, and
attempted to throw our men on board, but met with a stout resistance.
The French gentleman, who was at the head of his men, with his own hand
killed two of our stoutest seamen, and mortally wounded a third, and,
encouraged by his example, his people fought with such resolution that
after a severe struggle we were obliged to retreat precipitately into
our own vessel, leaving eight or ten of our shipmates weltering in their
blood.

Our captain, who had not boarded with us, was much enraged at our
defeat, stigmatising us as cowards for allowing ourselves to be driven
from a deck upon which we had obtained a footing; he called upon us to
renew the combat, and leading the way he was the first on board of the
vessel, and was engaged hand to hand with the brave French gentleman who
had already made such slaughter among our men. Brave and expert with
his weapon as Captain Weatherall undoubtedly was, he for once found
rather more than a match in his antagonist; he was slightly wounded, and
would, I suspect, have had the worst of this hand-to-hand conflict, had
not the whole of our crew, who had now gained the deck, and were rushing
forward, separated him from his opponent. Out-numbered and
over-matched, the French crew fought most resolutely, but
notwithstanding their exertions, and the gallant conduct of their
leader, we succeeded in driving them back to the quarter-deck of the
vessel. Here the combat was renewed with the greatest obstinacy, they
striving to maintain this their last hold, and we exerting ourselves to
complete our conquest. The Frenchmen could retreat no further, and our
foremost men were impelled against them by those behind them crowding on
to share in the combat. Retreat being cut off, the French struggled
with all the animosity and rage of mingled hate and despair; while we,
infuriated at the obstinate resistance, were filled with vengeance and a
thirst for blood. Wedged into one mass, we grappled together, for there
was no room for fair fighting, seeking each other's hearts with
shortened weapons, struggling and falling together on the deck, rolling
among the dead and the dying, or trodden underfoot by the othe