t inland sea. We coasted down its
shores, touching first at Barcelona, for we were not then at war with
Spain, and then at Marseilles, from which port we struck across for
Sicily, intending to call at Palermo. But on the way there we fell in
with a Barbary corsair. Our captain was a brave man, and determined to
fight to the last, as he had a very valuable cargo on board. The fight
began early in the morning, and the pirate tried at first to ram our
ship with his sharp beak; but the wind was good, and our ship was so
nimble, and answered her helm so well, that we were able to avoid the
rushes of the corsair, although he nearly had us on one occasion.
Finding that these tactics did not answer, he drew off and, turning his
broadside to us, lacked us through and through with his ordnance until
we were a mere floating wreck, and half our ship's company lay dead on
our decks. We replied as well as we could; but, being only a
merchant-ship, we were not nearly so heavily armed as the corsair; and,
our men being untrained in warfare, very few of our shot hit him, so
that the rascal was but little the worse. Their captain then hailed us,
and asked whether we would surrender; but the master of the _Delight_
shouted back that if he wanted the ship he must come and take her.

"Whereat he came at us again, and laid himself alongside us, we not
being able to move by this time, owing to our having lost all our masts,
and being so encumbered with wreckage that we could do nothing. About a
hundred fierce and bloodthirsty ruffians swarmed aboard us and began to
cut us down and drive us toward the fore-part of the ship, while we, on
our side, fought bravely enough with what weapons we could lay our hands
on. But at last our gallant captain fell dead, cut down by the scimitar
of a gigantic blackamoor, and the rest of us--very few by that time, I
can assure you,--seeing this, threw down our arms and surrendered to the
corsairs. There were then but seventeen of us left, all told, and not
one of us but had his wound to show as the result of the fight. Five
out of that seventeen, indeed, were so badly wounded that they died of
their hurts before the corsair reached her port, leaving only twelve of
us, all Englishmen, to be sent into slavery. After the corsairs had
removed us to their own ship, they stripped the _Delight_ of all that
she carried, transferring all her cargo to their own hold. They were
greatly pleased at the result of