continualhy from the privateer to the shore; and it appeared, that they
went on shore full of men, and returned with only one or two; so that we
were in great hopes that we should find but few men to defend the
vessel. Mr Phillott looked at his watch, held it up to O'Brien, to
prove that he had complied exactly with the orders he had received from
the captain, and then gave the word to get the boats under weigh. The
painters were cast off by the bowmen, the guns were loaded and primed,
the men seized their oars, and in two minutes we were clear of the
rocks, and drawn up in a line within a quarter of a mile from the
harbour's mouth, and not half a mile from the privateer brig. We rowed
as quickly as possible, but we did not cheer until the enemy fired the
first gun; which he did from a quarter unexpected, as we entered the
mouth of the harbour, with our union jack trailing in the water over our
stern for it was a dead calm. It appeared, that at the low point under
the cliffs, at each side of the little bay, they had raised a water
battery of two guns each. One of these guns, laden with grape shot, was
now fired at the boats, but the elevation was too low, and although the
water was ploughed up to within five yards of the launch, no injury was
received. We were equally fortunate in the discharge of the other three
guns; two of which we passed so quickly, that they were not aimed
sufficiently forward, so that their shot fell astern; and the other,
although the shot fell among us, did no further injury than cutting in
half two of the oars of the first cutter.

In the meantime, we had observed that the boats had shoved off from the
privateer as soon as they had perceived us, and had returned to her
laden with men: the boats had been despatched a second time, but had not
yet returned. They were now about the same distance from the privateer
as were our boats, and it was quite undecided which of us would be first
on board. O'Brien perceiving this, pointed out to Mr Phillott that we
should first attack the boats, and afterwards board on the side to which
they pulled; as, in all probability, there would be an opening left in
the boarding nettings, which were tied up to the yard-arms, and
presented a formidable obstacle to our success. Mr Phillott agreed
with O'Brien: he ordered the bowmen to lay in their oars and keep the
guns pointed ready to fire at the word given, and desiring the other men
to pull their best. Eve