two other ensigns rolled into a ball ready to be fastened to the
haulyard and hoisted in case of need. But her guns were well loaded,
alternately with two round shot and a hundred and fifty musket balls,
and with one round and one double-headed shot in each gun. The enemy
hauled up within two hundred yards of the mizen beam and cheered. The
_Shannon_ cheered in return, and then the bravest held his breath for a
time. A moment more and the _Shannon's_ decks flashed fire. With
deliberate aim each gun along her sides was discharged, and the enemy,
in passing, fired with good effect his whole broadside. The _Shannon's_
shot, however, told upon the rigging of the _Chesapeake_, and upon her
men, and after two or three broad sides, the _Chesapeake_ in attempting
to haul her foresail up fell on board the _Shannon_, whose starboard
bower anchor locked with the _Shannon's_ mizen chains. The great guns,
with the exception of the _Shannon's_ two aftermost guns ceased firing.
The _Chesapeake's_ stern was beaten in, and her decks swept. There was
now a sharp fire of musketry from both sides, but Captain Broke
perceiving that the _Chesapeake's_ men had left their guns, called up
his boarders, at the same time ordering the two ships to be lashed
together. And Mr. Stevens, the _Shannon's_ boatswain, set about the
execution of the latter order. His left arm was hacked off by the
enemy's marines, and he was mortally wounded by a shot from the
_Chesapeake's_ tops. He proceeded, nevertheless, in fastening the two
ships together, and then dropped in death between the vessels. Captain
Lawrence was wounded and carried below, when Captain Broke, at the head
of his boarders, leapt upon the _Chesapeake's_ quarter-deck. The
enemy's crew were soon overpowered and driven below. Forcing his way
forward, the _Shannon's_ men shut down the _Chesapeake's_ hatches and
kept up a fire on the men in the tops, while the _Shannon's_ men at the
same time, under Mr. Smith, forced their way from the foreyard to the
_Chesapeake's_ mainyard, and soon cleared the tops. Captain Broke was
at this time assailed furiously by three American sailors, who had
previously submitted, and was knocked down by the butt end of a musket,
but as he rose he had the satisfaction of seeing the American flag
hauled down and the proud old British union floating over it in
triumph. Fifteen minutes had only elapsed and the _Chesapeake_ was
entirely in the hands of the British. There was on