n
gunners were unable to return. The hope of salvation lay in getting the
ship under way again or in boarding the _Shannon_. It was in this moment
that the battle was won and lost, for every gun of the British broadside
was sweeping the American deck diagonally from stern to bow, while the
marines in the tops of the _Shannon_ picked off the officers and seamen
of the _Chesapeake_, riddling them with musket balls. It was like the
swift blast of a hurricane. Lawrence fell, mortally wounded. Ludlow, his
first lieutenant, was carried below. The second lieutenant was stationed
between decks, and the third forsook his post to assist those who were
carrying Lawrence below to the gun deck. Not an officer remained on the
spar deck and not a living man was left on the quarter deck when the
_Chesapeake_ drifted against the _Shannon_ after four minutes of this
infernal destruction. As the ships collided, Captain Broke dashed
forward and shouted for boarders, leading them across to the American
deck. No more than fifty men followed him and three hundred Yankee
sailors should have been able to wipe the party out, but most of the
_Chesapeake_ crew were below, and, demoralized by lack of discipline and
leadership, they refused to come up and stand the gaff. Brave resistance
was made by the few who remained on deck and a dozen more followed the
second lieutenant, George Budd, as he rushed up to rally a forlorn hope.

It was a desperate encounter while it lasted, and Captain Broke was
slashed by a saber as he led a charge to clear the forecastle. Yet two
minutes sufficed to clear the decks of the _Chesapeake_, and the few
visible survivors were thrown down the hatchways. The guns ceased
firing, and the crew below sent up a message of surrender. The frigates
had drifted apart, leaving Broke and his seamen to fight without
reinforcement, but before they came together again the day was won. This
was the most humiliating phase of the episode, that a handful of British
sailors and marines should have carried an American frigate by boarding.

It must not be inferred that the _Chesapeake_ inflicted no damage
during the fifteen minutes of this famous engagement. Thirty-seven of
the British boarding party were killed or wounded and the American
marines--"leather-necks" then and "devil-dogs" now--fought in accordance
with the spirit of a corps which had won its first laurels in the
Revolution. Such broadsides as the _Chesapeake_ was able to delive