The enemy’s fleet having got under way on the 17th or 18th October, we also weighed; but were obliged to anchor, the enemy having made demonstrations to attack us. They, however, gave up the point for fear of the batteries; and we soon after left the Bay and joined the fleet preparing to anchor in Tetuan Bay, until his lordship was made acquainted of the combined fleet being at sea and standing up the Straits. The next morning, the 19th of October, the weather ‘rather hazy, a kind of a mizzle,’ the admiral made the signal to prepare for battle, the wind having shifted to the eastward, and the enemy in sight. His lordship soon after made the signal to bear up and sail large through the Gut, it not being his intention to engage until clear of the Straits. The enemy’s fleet stood after us with every sail they could pack. It was a very beautiful sight to observe the evolutions of the two fleets and a fair trial of who could sail best. I well remember the Victory, Edgar, Raisonnable, and Royal William, with their topsails on the cap, running ahead of some with topgallant sails set. Our old ship, once called the Flying Panther, would have out-sailed any of them, had her masts not been altered. As we and the old Buffalo were not in the line of battle, because we had charge of the convoy before we saw them safe in, we imagined our station would be with the frigates to look on and see the fun, and we were laughing to think we should have a cool view of a battle, and one of the officers (who had read a little) observed he should be like Scipio the Younger, who, when sent on a mission to Africa, saw from an eminence a battle between that old vagabond Masinissa and the poor Carthaginians that lasted from morning until night. ‘But mortal joys, alas! are fleeting;’ for behold Lord Howe made our signal to come within hail; and while passing under the stern of the Victory we received directions to take our station in the line of battle between the Ruby and the Foudroyant in the van division. Nothing more about Scipio and Masinissa! The Buffalo was sent to the rear between the Union, 90, and Vengeance, 74. What do you say to that, Lieutenant Marshall, in your Naval Biography?
It took the fleet the whole day to clear the Gut. The next morning, off Cape Spartel, the signal was made to form the line of battle on the starboard tack and to prepare for action; the enemy coming down in line of battle abreast, with light winds and every sail set, making numerous signals, which had a very fine effect, as every ship repeated the signal and their fleet had the appearance of being dressed in colours. Our line was drawn up in the finest style, and so close and correct that you could only see the ship ahead and the other astern.
So close their order, so disposed their fight,
As Pallas’ self might view with fixed delight;
Or had the God of war inclined his eyes,
The God of war had owned a just surprise.
Owing to the light winds and the enemy repeatedly hauling up and then bearing away, it was near 6 P.M. before he formed his line. A three-decker (supposed to be the Royal Louis) leading his van began the action by firing into the Goliath, who led ours. The action continued from 6 P.M. until ¾ past 10; the van and rear chiefly engaged; the centre had little to do. The enemy’s centre extended to our rear-most ship, so that eleven or twelve of them (the whole of their rear) never fired a shot. We had four killed and sixteen wounded; among the former Mr. Robert Sturges, midshipman doing duty as mate, a gentleman highly respected and lamented by every officer and man on board. I was placed with another youngster under his care, and he took the greatest pains to teach us our duty. He was as brave a fellow as ever lived, and when his thigh was nearly shot off by the hip, he cheered the men when dying. It was a spent shot that killed him, and weighed 28 pounds; and what was remarkable, it took off at the same time the leg of a pig in the sty under the forecastle.[[23]]
I had a very narrow escape while standing on the quarter deck with Captain Forrester of the marines. The first lieutenant (the late Admiral Alexander Fraser) came up to us, and while speaking a shot passed between us and stuck on the larboard side of the quarter deck. We were very close at the time, so that it could only have been a few inches from us. It knocked the speaking trumpet out of Fraser’s hand, and seemed to have electrified Captain Forrester and myself. The shot was cut out and weighed either 12 or 18 pounds—I forget which. Our rigging fore and aft was cut to pieces; the booms and boats also, and every timber head on the forecastle, with the sheet and spare anchor stocks, were shot away, and the fluke of the latter. Our side, from the foremost gun to the after, was like a riddle, and it was astonishing that we had not more killed and wounded. Several shot-holes were under water, and our worthy old carpenter (Mr. Cock) had very near been killed in the wing, and was knocked down by a splinter, but not materially hurt. The enemy set off in the night and could only be seen from the masthead in the morning. It was supposed they went for Cadiz.
A curious circumstance took place during the action. Two of the boys who had gone down for powder fell out in consequence of one attempting to take the box from the other, when a regular fight took place. It was laughable to see them boxing on the larboard side, and the ship in hot action on the starboard. One of our poor fellows was cut in two by a double-headed shot on the main deck, and the lining of his stomach (about the size of a pancake) stuck on the side of the launch, which was stowed amidships on the main deck with the sheep inside.[[24]] The butcher who had the care of them, observing what was on the side of the boat, began to scrape it off with his nails, saying, ‘Who the devil would have thought the fellow’s paunch would have stuck so? I’m damned if I don’t think it’s glued on!’
We had a fellow by the name of Mulligan who ran from his quarters and positively hid in the coppers! and had put on the drummer’s jacket. When the firing had ceased he was seen coming out, and was taken for the poor drummer, and ran forward taking off the jacket, which he hid in the round house; but one of the boatswain’s mates observed the transaction and Mr. Mulligan got well flogged just as the action was over. The poor drummer had greatly distinguished himself, and had taken off his jacket in the heat of the action, which this fellow stole to hide his rascality.