A close engagement ensued within half pistol shot distance, which was vigorously supported on both sides. It had lasted only a short time when the jib-boom of the Privateer ran into the “Montagu’s” main rigging, and a party of twenty boarders came swarming out along it, dropping from it on the deck of the Packet. A desperate struggle followed, and the schooner, having brought an 18–pounder swivel to bear, sent repeated charges of grape and chain-shot among the Cornishmen. A great number of the latter were hit. Captain Norway was wounded severely in the leg, but refused to go below, though the enemy were by this time retreating, and the Packetsmen drove them back upon the main-boom, along which they had come. At this moment by some wrench of the vessels the main-boom was unshipped, and ten of the retreating Americans fell into the sea. The rest were either killed or piked overboard. None of them regained their own ship.
The affair lasted only a few minutes. Just before it ended a chain-shot struck Captain Norway in the body, cutting him almost in two. The surgeon, Mr. Ure, who saw the captain stagger, ran up to catch him, but as he held his commander in his arms his own head was shattered by a round shot, and the two men fell to the deck together. Two seamen were killed in this sharp encounter, and four wounded, so that the force of the “Montagu” was now reduced to twenty-four men and boys, while the Americans were still nearly a hundred.
When the captain fell the command devolved on Mr. Watkins, the master. The Privateer probably perceived that her true tactics were to remain at close quarters with one of her antagonists, in which her great superiority in men gave her an enormous advantage, and at all hazards to avoid placing herself in a position in which both could manœuvre round her. Up to this moment, moreover, the “Lady Mary Pelham” had taken no part in the fight. Had she, too, closed with the Privateer the case of the Americans would have been desperate; and they, well knowing this, resolved to make a final effort to carry the “Montagu” before her consort had plucked up courage to assist.
Accordingly, the Privateer sheered over on the larboard quarter of the “Montagu,” and prepared to board in overwhelming numbers. The musketry fire from her tops was very galling, and to this the “Montagu” could make hardly any effectual reply, having scarcely more men left than were needed to work the guns. Those few were dropping fast. Mr. Watkin’s left hand was shattered by a ball, and almost immediately afterwards he was shot through the body, and carried below incapable of giving any further orders. The mate and the carpenter were both severely wounded, and the gunner, Mr. Hensell, was called up from below to take the command, and do what he could with the ship. The colours were shot away, but were immediately re-hoisted. The pendant remained flying throughout the action.
When the gunner came on deck, seeing nearly half the crew killed or disabled, and the Americans preparing to board in great numbers, he judged it prudent to sink the mail. This was scarcely done before the enemy were upon them once more, and the handful of men remaining were summoned to repulse them. There was a second desperate scuffle. Four only of the enemy set foot on the deck of the “Montagu.” One was killed as he reached it. Another was recognized as a Packetsman who had deserted at New York, and for such as he there was no quarter. The other two, of whom one was the first lieutenant of the Privateer, were made prisoners and sent below.
In this second fight the cook was mortally wounded, and the total number of casualties brought up to eighteen—a heavy loss out of a complement of thirty-two.
It is now necessary to turn to the “Lady Mary Pelham,” which vessel had, it will be remembered, been ordered by Captain Norway to take up her station ahead of the “Montagu,” on the starboard bow. From this position an easy manœuvre would have laid her also alongside the Privateer.
At this crisis, however, the incompetence of her lawyer commander began to exhibit itself. His orders betrayed so absolute an ignorance of the management of a ship in action that after some precious minutes had been wasted Mr. Carter and Mr. Pocock, the master and the mate, jointly represented to him the propriety of deputing to the former the conduct of the fight. They understood that he had done so; but at the moment when the seamanship of Mr. Carter was about to repair the follies of the commander, the helm was suddenly shifted, and the “Lady Mary Pelham” sheered away from the fight.
Mr. Carter attributed this alteration of the ship’s course to cowardice on the part of the steersman; and knowing only one punishment for such an action in presence of the enemy, he ran towards him, drawing a pistol as he did so, when the man cried out, “Don’t kill me, sir, it was the captain’s order.” The proper position of the Packet could not be regained until all the fighting which has been described had occurred. The “Lady Mary Pelham” then, however, intervened, and maintained a cannonade for some time. She was not engaged close alongside; she sustained very slight damages; her captain received a ball through his thigh, and one seaman was slightly hurt. There were no other casualties.
The Privateer sheered off soon after four o’clock. She was evidently much damaged; and both the Packets chased her, but she outsailed them.