where they were first put in irons and then clapped safely
under hatches; after which I visited first the _Belle Diane_ and then
the Indiaman. I must confess I was astonished when I beheld the effect
of our fire upon the former; I could scarcely credit that so much damage
had been inflicted by our six-pounders in so short time, her stern above
the level of the covering-board being absolutely battered to pieces,
while the shot had also ploughed up her decks fore and aft in long,
scoring gashes, so close together and crossing each other in such a way
as showed what a tremendous raking she had received. She began the
action with fifty-seven men, all told, out of which eighteen had been
killed outright, and the remainder, with one solitary exception, more or
less seriously wounded. Looking upon the paths our shot had ploughed
along her deck, I was only surprised that any of her people were left
alive to tell the tale. In addition to this, five of her twelve guns
were dismounted, and her rigging had been a good deal cut up; but this
was now of course all knotted and spliced by Lindsay's people. She was
a very fine vessel, of three hundred and forty-four tons measurement,
oak built, copper fastened, and copper sheathed to the bends, very
shallow--drawing only eight feet of water--and very beamy, with most
beautiful lines. Her spars looked enormously lofty compared with our
own, as I stood on her deck and gazed aloft, and her canvas had
evidently been bent new for the voyage. She had only arrived in West
Indian waters a week previously, from Brest, and the _Black Prince_ was
stated to be her first prize.

Having given the _Diane_ a pretty good overhaul, and satisfied myself
that her hull was sound, I gave Lindsay his instructions, and then
proceeded on board the _Black Prince_, where I arrived in good time for
breakfast, and where I made the acquaintance, not only of her skipper--a
fine, grey-headed, sailorly man named Blatchford--but also of her
thirty-two passengers, eighteen of whom were males, while the remainder
were of the gentler sex, the wives and daughters mostly of the male
passengers. There were no young children among them, fortunately. My
appearance seemed to create quite a little flutter of excitement among
the petticoats, and also not a little astonishment, apparently; for I
overheard one of the matrons remark to another, behind her fan, "Why, he
is scarcely more than a _boy_!"

The _Black Prince_ was