combat the sea all around the
Saracens' ship seemed on fire, and the decks of the galleys that
attacked them were blazing with it in every direction. Great numbers
of Richard's men were killed by it.

But the superiority of numbers on Richard's side was too great, and
after a time the Saracens were subdued, before the ship had admitted
water enough through the scuttlings to carry her down. Richard's men
poured in on board of her in great numbers. They immediately proceeded
to massacre or throw overboard the men as fast as possible, and to
seize the stores and transfer them to their own ships. They also did
all they could to stop the leaks, so as to delay the sinking of the
ship as long as possible. They had time to transfer to their own
vessels nearly all the valuable part of the cargo, and to kill and
drown all the men. Out of twelve or fifteen hundred, only about
thirty-five were spared.

When, afterward, public sentiment seemed inclined to condemn this
terrible and inexcusable massacre, Richard defended himself by saying
that he found on board the vessel a number of jars containing certain
poisonous reptiles, which he alleged the Saracens were going to take
to Acre, and there let them loose near the Crusaders' camp to bite the
soldiers, and that men who could resort to so barbarous a mode of
warfare as this deserved no quarter. However this may be, the poor
Saracens received no quarter. It might be supposed that Richard
deserved some credit for his humanity in saving the thirty-five. But
his object in saving these was not to show mercy, but to gain
ransom-money. These thirty-five were the _emirs_, or other officers of
the Saracens, or persons who looked as if they might be rich or have
rich friends. When they reached the shore, Richard fixed upon a
certain sum of money for each of them, and allowed them to send word
to their friends that if they would raise that money and send it to
Richard, he would set them at liberty. A great proportion of them were
thus afterward ransomed, and Richard realized from this source quite a
large sum.

When Richard's soldiers found that the time for the captured ship to
sink was drawing nigh, they abandoned her, leaving on board every
thing that they had not been able to save, and, withdrawing to a safe
distance, they saw her go down. The sea all around her was covered
with the bodies of the dead and dying, and also with bales of
merchandise, broken weapons, fragments of the wreck