eeting the captain of the port, and our waiting there, &c., I was quite
surprised to see how his lordship was altered from what I left him in
the morning; for I knew his manner was in general very mild, and now he
seemed to me _all-fightful,_ as a fierce lion, which had been chained in
its cage, and was set at liberty. With all that, his lordship's answer
to me was, '_Never mind, we shall see now_;' and at the same time he
turned towards the officers, saying, '_Be ready_,' whereupon I saw every
one with the match or the string of the lock in his hand, most anxiously
expecting the word '_Fire_'!

"No sooner had Salame returned, than his lordship made the signal to know
whether all the ships were ready, which being answered in the
affirmative, he directly turned the head of the Queen Charlotte towards
shore, and, to the utter amazement of the Algerines, ran across all the
batteries without firing or receiving a single shot, until he brought up
within eighty yards of the south end of the mole, where he lashed her to
the mainmast of an Algerine brig, which he had taken as his direction,
and had then the pleasure of seeing all the rest of the fleet, including
the Dutch frigates, taking up their assigned stations with the same
precision and regularity. The position in which the Queen Charlotte was
laid was so admirable that she was only exposed to the fire of three or
four flanking guns, while her broadside swept the whole batteries, and
completely commanded the mole and marine, every part of which could be
seen distinctly from her quarter-deck. Up to this moment not a shot had
been fired, and the batteries were all crowded with spectators, gazing
in astonishment at the quiet and regularity which prevailed through all
the British ships, and the dangerous vicinity in which they placed
themselves to such formidable means of defence. Lord Exmouth, therefore,
began to conceive hopes that his demands would still be granted; but the
delay, it appeared, was caused by the Algerines being completely
unprepared for so very sudden an approach, insomuch that their guns were
not shotted at the moment when the Queen Charlotte swept past them, and
they were distinctly seen loading them as the other ships were coming
into line. Anxious, if possible, to spare unnecessary effusion of blood,
his lordship, standing on the quarter-deck, repeatedly waved his hat as
a warning to the multitudes assembled on the mole to retire, but his
signal was unhe