possible, send him a frigate to divert some of
the fire he was under. The Glasgow, near me,
immediately weighed, but the wind had been
driven away by the cannonade, and she was
obliged to anchor again, having obtained rather
a better position than before.

"There were awful moments during the
conflict occasioned by firing the Algerine ships so
near us, and I had long resisted the eager
entreaties of several around me to make the attempt
upon the outer frigate, distant about one hundred
yards, which at length I gave in to, and Major
Gossett, by my side, who had been eager to
land his corps of marines, pressed me most
anxiously for permission to accompany
Lieutenant Richards in the ship's barge. The frigate
was instantly boarded, and in ten minutes in a
perfect blaze. A gallant young midshipman, in
rocket boat number eight, although forbidden,
was led by his ardent spirit to follow in support
of the barge, in which he was desperately
wounded, his brother-officer killed, and nine of
his crew. The barge, by rowing more rapidly,
had suffered less, and lost but two. The enemy's
batteries around my division were about ten
o'clock silenced, and in a state of perfect ruin
and dilapidation, and the fire of the ships was
reserved as much as possible to save powder,
and in reply to a few guns now and then bearing
upon us, although a fort on the upper angle of
the city, on which our guns could not be
brought to bear, continued to annoy the ships
by shot and shell during the whole time.

"The flotilla of mortar, gun, and rocket-boats,
under the direction of their respective artillery
officers, shared to the full extent of their power
in the honour of the day, and performed good
service; it was by their fire all the ships in the
port (with the exception of the outer frigate)
were in flames, which extended rapidly over the
whole arsenal, store-houses, and gunboats,
exhibiting a spectacle of awful grandeur, and
interest.

"The sloops of war which had been appropriated
to aid and assist the ships of the line,
and prepare for their retreat, performed not
only their duty well, but embraced every
opportunity of firing through the intervals, and were
constantly in motion. The shells from the
bombs were admirably well thrown by the
Royal Marine Artillery, and though directly
across or over us, not an accident, that I know
of, occurred to any ship. The whole was
conducted in perfect silence, and such a thing as
a cheer I never heard in any part of the line!
and, that the guns were well worked and
directed, will be seen for many years to come,
and remembered by these barbarians for
ever."

Salamé, the interpreter, gives one or two
affecting episodes of the battle. Having
recovered the little courage he had when he
found that the cockpit was two feet below water-
mark, he went there to lunch with the surgeon,
the chaplain, and the purser; but found,
to his dismay, that the carpenter had already
had to stop several holes where Algerine shot
had passed between wind and water.
Comforting himself, however, with Asiatic aphorisms
on the uncertainly of life, Salamé passed the
time in helping the wounded, after the surgeon
had seen to them. Some were blind, others
maimed; shattered legs and arms were every
moment being amputated, Salamé, fainting as
the first arm-bone was sawn through, was sent
to the magazine to hand up powder-boxes.

Seeing, he says, Lieutenant Johnstone laughing
as he was having a wound in his
cheek dressed, he entreated the wounded
lieutenant not to return to the deck. Johnstone
would, however, go, and was brought back in
two hours' time with his breast torn, and his
left arm hanging by a thread. The brave
fellow survived thirty-six days, and was buried
with great honours in the sea, near Plymouth,
eleven guns being fired, and the royal standard
waved over his coffin.

The Impregnable, unable to find her proper
place, owing to the smoke, got terribly mauled
by the relentless Eastern Battery. She was
hulled by no less than two hundred and sixty-
three shots, twenty of which passed between
wind and water. The explosion of a vessel
with one hundred and forty-three barrels of
gunpowder, under the walls of the battery,
somewhat relieved her, and enabled her to
eventually haul out with the fleet. She worked
very hard, and did splendid damage to the
pirates, discharging six thousand seven
hundred and thirty round-shot. Admiral Milne
gave orders to double-load every gun.

The Congreve rockets were of great service.
The Algerines took them for signals, until they
began to leap about and burst among the troops.
When their iron bolts struck in the wooden
houses, the fire soaked in like oil, and grew
fiercer for the water poured upon it.

All through the seven hours' firing, the old
sea-lion, Exmouth, though a stout man of sixty-
five, and worn with service in every climate, ran
about with a white handkerchief tied round his
waist, a round hat on his head, and a telescope
in his hand, shouting orders as active and
eager as the youngest middy in the fleet. He
received only two slight wounds, one in the
cheek, and the other in the leg; but his coat
was slit and torn by musket-balls, as if it had
been slashed by a madman's scissors. Many
of the Queen Charlotte's guns grew at last so
hot that they could not be safely used;
others recoiled until the wheels made deep
troughs in the deck, and there stuck; others
broke from their carriages. Mr. Stone, the
gunner, an old man of seventy, who had been
in thirty actions, said he never before used
so much powder, the Queen Charlotte having
expended thirty thousand four hundred and
twenty-four pounds of powder, and four
thousand four hundred and sixty-two rounds
of big shot. Exmouth's ship was placed at such
a fine angle, and with such consummate skill,
that she only lost nine men — less than almost
any other vessel in the squadron — though close
to the gun-batteries on the mole, and near to