“As Jones drew near he perceived that the British vessel was disposed to fight, and was preparing to allow the merchantmen to escape during the engagement. He at once put the Wasp under short fighting canvas, and bore down toward the Frolic, which had lost her main-yard in the gale; she now lashed her damaged yard on deck, carried very little sail, and hoisted Spanish colors to decoy the stranger and permit her convoy to escape.
“By half-past eleven the ships were not more than sixty yards apart and began firing—the Wasp her port, and the Frolic her starboard battery. The sea was rolling heavily under a stiff breeze. The Frolic fired very rapidly, delivering three broadsides to the Wasp’s two, both crews cheering loudly; as the ships wallowed through the water abreast of each other the Americans fired as the engaged side of their ship was going down, aiming at the Frolic’s hull, while the English fired while on the crest of the sea, their shot going high. The water flew in clouds of spray over both vessels, they rolling so that the muzzles of the guns went under.”
“Then they couldn’t fire, could they, uncle?” asked Eric.
“Yes,” replied Captain Raymond; “in spite of that the firing was spirited and well directed. In five minutes the Wasp’s main-top mast was shot away. It fell with the main-top-sail, and lodged so as to make the head-yards unmanageable during the rest of the battle. A very few minutes later her gaff and main-topgallant-mast were shot away, and very soon her condition seemed helpless.
“But the Frolic had been still more seriously injured in her hull and lower masts. She had fired from the crest of the wave, the Wasp from the trough of the sea, sending her shot through the hull of the Frolic with destructive effect. There was a great slaughter among her crew, but the survivors kept on with dogged courage.
“At first the two vessels ran side by side, but the Wasp gradually forged ahead, throwing in her fire from a position in which she herself received little injury.
“At length the bowsprit of the Frolic passed in over the quarter-deck of the Wasp, forcing her bows up in the wind. This enabled the Wasp to throw in a close, raking broadside with most destructive effect.
“They were so close together that the Americans struck the Frolic’s side with their rammers in loading, and they began to rake the British vessel with dreadful effect.