[Footnote 8]: The ship of the line Thesée (74), commanded by the celebrated de Kersaint, was lost in the night battle between Hawke and Conflans at Quiberon Bay, because in the midst of a terrific gale, with a very heavy sea on, the Frenchman unfortunately opened his lower deck ports to make use of his heavy battery in the action.
[Footnote 9]: There is a discrepancy in the various accounts of the armament of the Richard, some authorities asserting that all the guns on the main deck were 12-pounders and that the small guns on the poop and forecastle were 6-pounders. The probabilities are as I have stated.
[Footnote 10]: See Appendix No. II.
[Footnote 11]: In case of disaster, that is.
[Footnote 12]: The English learned this in 1812, when with the long eighteens of the Guerrière and the Java they tackled the long twenty-fours of the Constitution's broadside.
[Footnote 13]: From the author's novel, The Grip of Honor.
[Footnote 14]: See remarks on page 226.
[Footnote 15]: Doubtful.
[Footnote 16]: Possibly he might be an ensign.
[Footnote 17]: Some authorities imply that the flag had been nailed to the masthead, and that it was necessary for Pearson to go aloft in default of any one else in order to strike his colors. Nailing a flag to the masthead is a figure of speech, and I doubt the actuality of the performance. On the other hand, it would be easy and natural for Pearson to have nailed the ensign to a staff, which contemporary prints show that ships sometimes carried for the purpose of flying the colors. In the latter case it would be easy for Pearson to tear it down; in that hypothesis his whole action then and subsequently is understandable. If the flag had been nailed to the masthead it is extremely unlikely that he would have taken the time, trouble, and risk of going aloft to tear it down when by a simple word or two he could have surrendered his ship.