e time bullets came
flying round the boats from a number of the pirate crew who had been
landed, and been stationed under shelter among the trees which grew
close to the shore of the harbour. Still the British boats pulled
steadily on in two divisions, Captain Walcott's intention being to board
the pirate on both sides at once. Each of the pinnaces carried
carronades, which were now rapidly fired, while the marines began to
blaze away, thus partially, by the smoke which circled round them,
concealing the boats and preventing the pirates from taking exact aim.
As the boats approached, the deck of the pirate was seen crowded with
men, and boarding nettings triced up. Three-quarters of an hour had the
British seamen been exposed to her fire, as well as to that from the men
on shore, when Captain Walcott issued the order to dash alongside. For
a few moments the pirates ceased firing, being employed in loading all
their guns in the hopes of sending their assailants with one broadside
to the bottom. Three hearty cheers were given, and so rapidly did the
boats approach that the shots flew over them, and before the schooner's
guns could be reloaded, the boats were up to her, and the seamen began
climbing on board--no easy matter, for the sides were unusually high,
and had been greased all over so as to render it as difficult as
possible. At that moment the pirate crew losing heart, began to leap
overboard and swim towards the shore, in the hopes of preserving their
lives. Many, however, were cut-down before they could make their
escape, while others were captured in the water. Among them Aragonez
himself was taken, with 27 besides, 10 were killed, and 15 wounded;
while the English lost 1 man killed and 4 wounded in this most gallant
affair. Captain Walcott then sent a requisition to the governor of
Barracoa, which induced him to dispatch a party in search of those who
had escaped into the woods, when sixteen more were captured and
immediately put to death by the Spaniards. The _Tyne_ then sailed with
her prisoners for Jamaica, when two of them turning king's evidence,
their chief and the remainder of the miscreant band were executed. The
affair may well take rank with any of the most brilliant boat services
on record, and Admiral Rowley expressed in a general order his sense of
the admirable skill and courage with which the enterprise had been
carried out. That most graphic of writers, Michael Scott, who spent
many y