the Captain, I kept the brig away in the direction
of the ship. The sea was still running very high. As daylight
increased, we could see her clearly rolling in the trough of the sea,
and in an utterly helpless condition. For some time the mate could not
tell whether it was his own ship or not.

"Too likely," he observed, "for the Frenchman's shot had wounded some of
our masts, and she very probably lost them in the late gale."

Captain Schank and all the officers were quickly on deck, as were the
crew, and all eyes were turned to the wreck. As we drew near, we were
left in no doubt of her being a large Indiaman; and Mr Paul, the mate,
soon recognised her as the "Yarmouth Castle," to which he had belonged.
The signal of distress was flying on the stump of her mizzen-mast. As
we drew near, we discovered that the gale had otherwise severely handled
her. Most of her boats were gone, and her bulwarks stove in, probably
when the masts were carried away. As we passed a short distance to
windward of her, a person ran to the side with a large board, on which
was chalked, "Keep by us! Sprung a leak! Pumps choked! Captured by
Frenchmen!"

"Ay, ay," shouted Captain Schank, and his voice borne down by the wind
probably reached them. As we passed, several people rushed up to the
man who had shown the board, and tore it out of his hands. This showed
us that we must be careful when going alongside, lest the Frenchmen
should attempt to beat us back. The difficulty of communicating with
the ship was still very great, for the sea continued high and broken,
and she rolled very much. We accordingly wore round and hove to at a
little distance, intending to wait till the sea should go down.

The mate told us that there were a great many of the English crew and
Lascars left on board, and he thought, should they make the attempt,
they would be able to retake the ship from the Frenchmen. No attempt
was made, however, and at length, the weather moderating, a boat, of
which I took the command, was lowered, the brig being sufficiently near
at the time to fire into her, should the French prize crew offer any
resistance.

What was taking place on board the Indiaman we could not see, but just
as we got alongside several people appeared and hove ropes to us, and
assisted me with four of my men to get on board. I observed, as I
reached the deck, that a scuffle was taking place forward, and I then
found that the passengers and some