s of their men had been killed and
many others wounded, they cried for quarter, which had several times
been offered them, but had been always stoutly denied. So we took
possession of the Admiral's ship and put on board all our wounded men,
including Captain Harris, who had been shot through both his legs. As
soon as this was done, we instantly sent some of our ships to go and aid
Captain Sawkins, who had been fighting against the second Spanish ship.
Indeed, to give our enemies their due, no men in the world ever fought
more bravely than these same Spaniards.

Coming up close under the Spaniard's side, we gave him a full volley of
shot and expected to have a like return from him, but of a sudden we saw
his men that were abaft the mast, blown up in the air, some of them
falling into the deck and others into the sea. This disaster was no
sooner seen by their valiant Captain than he leaped overboard, and in
spite of all our shot succeeded in rescuing some of his men, although he
was much burned in both his hands himself. But while he was rescuing
these men to reinforce the ship and renew the fight, another jar of
powder took fire and blew up several others upon the forecastle.

Under cover of the smoke from these explosions. Captain Sawkins led his
men on board and took the ship. Soon after I went on board myself, and
indeed, such a miserable sight I never saw in my life. For not one man
was to be found but was either killed, desperately wounded or horribly
burned with powder, in so much that their black skins were turned white
in several places where the powder had torn it from their flesh and
bones.

Having compassionated their misery, I afterwards went on board the
Admiral's ship, and here what I saw did much astonish me, and would
scarcely be believed by others than ourselves who saw it. There were
found on this ship only twenty-five men alive, where before the fight
there were four-score and six. And out of these twenty-five men, only
eight were able to bear arms, all the rest being desperately wounded,
and by their wounds totally unable to make any resistance. Their blood
ran down the decks in whole streams, and scarcely one place in the ship
was free from blood.

Having once possessed ourselves of two vessels of the little fleet,
Captain Sawkins asked the prisoners how many men there were on the
largest ship that we could see lying in the harbor of Perico, and also
how many were upon the smaller ships. Peralta,