into close action with the "Defiance,"
and was then attacked in succession by the "Dreadnought" and the "Tonnant."
The "San Juan" fought till half her men were _hors de combat_, several guns
dismounted, and two of the masts down. As long as Churucca lived the
unequal fight was maintained. For a while he seemed to have a charmed life,
as he passed from point to point, encouraging his men. He was returning to
his quarter-deck, when a ball shattered one of his legs. "It is
nothing--keep on firing," he said, and at first he refused to leave the
deck, lying on the planking, with the shattered limb roughly bandaged. He
sent for his second in command, and was told he had just been killed.
Another officer, though wounded, took over the active command when at last
Churucca, nearly dead from loss of blood, was carried below. He gave a last
message for his wife, sent a final order that the ship should be fought
till she sank, and then said he must think only of God and the other world.
As he expired the "San Juan" gave up the hopeless fight. The three ships
all claimed her as their prize, but it was the "Dreadnought" that took
possession.

The French "Swiftsure," once English, was won back by the "Colossus," after
a fight in which the "Orion" helped for a while. With her capture one-third
of the enemy's whole force, including several flagships, was in English
hands. The victory was won; it was now only a question of making it more
and more complete.

Shortly after three o'clock the Spanish 80-gun ship "Argonauta" struck to
the "Belleisle," which had been aided in her attack by the English
"Swiftsure." A few minutes later the "Leviathan" took another big Spaniard,
the "San Agustino," carrying her with a rush of boarders. It was about four
o'clock that, after an hour of hard fighting, the "San Ildefonso" hauled
down her colours to the "Defence." About this time the French "Achille" was
seen to be ablaze and ceased firing. In the earlier stages of the fight she
had been engaged successively with the "Polyphemus," "Defiance," and
"Swiftsure." Her captain and several of her officers and nearly 400 men had
been killed and wounded when she was brought to close action by the
"Prince." Her fore-rigging caught fire, and the mast coming down across the
decks started a blaze in several places, and the men, driven from the upper
deck by the English fire, had to abandon their attempts to save their ship.
She was well alight when at last she str