on the subject, and ordered the ships to
keep under way, being of opinion that the less injured ships might the
better help the crippled ones. Our ship was less injured than most; for
we only had our main-topmasts wounded. Our prize, however, was in a
very crippled condition. She had lost her fore and mizzen-masts by the
board, and as it was late in the afternoon before we took possession of
her, after which we had to secure the prisoners and send them on board
our ship and the _Minotaur_, it was nearly night before we could begin
putting the ship to rights. We had then in the dark to work away to set
up a jury, fore, and mizzen-mast. We laboured all night, and by the
morning had them both standing. The morning after that
never-to-be-forgotten battle broke dark and lowering, giving every
indication of a gale. How little prepared to encounter it were the
greater portion of the ships which had been engaged in the desperate
struggle! Down came the gale upon us from the westward. Every instant
it increased, and very soon our two jury-masts were carried away,
leaving us a helpless wreck on the raging waters. The Spanish coast was
under our lee, and towards it we were rapidly driving.

"A lee shore, on any occasion, is not a pleasant object of
contemplation, but still worse was it for us when we remembered that it
was inhabited by our enemies, whose ships we had just so soundly
thrashed. We tried to range one of our cables to bring up, but it was
useless to trust to it a moment, it had been so much injured by the
shot. It soon became evident that if the gale continued, we should
drive ashore or go down. Anxiously we looked out to windward, but in
the prospect on that side there was very little to cheer us, and still
less was there on the other side, where a few miles off only the sea
broke on the rock-bound, inhospitable shore. Towards that shore we were
rapidly driving. The gale came down on us stronger and stronger.
`There's no help for it!' exclaimed our commanding officer with a deep
sigh, for he felt, as we all did, that it was very hard to win a prize
and to have helped to win a great victory, and then to lose our prize
and perhaps our lives. `Up with the helm--keep her dead before the
wind!' he added, going forward with his glass, as did the other
officers, looking out for a spot free from rocks into which to run the
ship. Evening was coming on, and he saw that it was better to go on
shore in the day-