The Britishers were at such a distance that we might easily, by hugging the land, give them the slip, and then the chase would begin.
There was no time for tongue wagging. Every man stood at his post ready for the next command which might be given, and Phil and I, sheltered by the starboard rail and the forecastle-deck, were breathlessly watching the old ship's gallant fight against both the elements and the enemy.
On the maintop four men stood ready to loose the canvas after we passed the danger point, and it was to me as if we had already doubled the bluff when there was a great crash, a swaying of the ship as if she had received a deadly wound, and we saw the maintopmast with its raffle of cordage trailing in the water alongside, pounding and threshing against the side as if bent on staving in the planks.
The four brave seamen went with the spar; but no effort could be made to save them. It was a case of holding on hard and running for dear life, otherwise the Essex would soon have been piled up on the rocks with all hands battling to keep off death a few seconds longer.
Phil gripped my arm till it was as if an iron band encircled it, and I believe of a verity that I ceased to breathe for a full minute.
To run before the wind with our top hamper dragging astern would have been to throw ourselves into the arms of the enemy, and while one portion of the crew were trying to cut away the wreckage, the remainder did their best to put the frigate about.
Even green lads like Phil and me understood that we could not beat up to our old anchorage, even though the frigate had not been wounded, and we gazed anxiously aft to learn what might be the course whereby we should slip past the Britishers and the yet more dangerous headlands.
That question was speedily answered when the Essex was headed directly across the harbor entrance to its northeastern side, and the anchors were let go within a pistol shot of the shore, just under a bluff on which was the Chilian battery.
I drew a long breath of relief. The ship was no more than three miles from the town; she lay hard by the land, and equally as much, if not more so, within a neutral port as before.