to deem it
a duty to give her a broadside before settling down to its particular
place in the line, and finding its own special antagonist or
antagonists--for several of the English ships engaged two of the enemy
at once. The _Theseus_ (Captain Miller), after bringing down the main
and mizzen-masts of the _Guerrier_, anchored inside the _Spartiate_ and
engaged her.

Meanwhile, on the other side of this vessel, Nelson's ship, the
_Vanguard_, bore down on the foe with six flags flying in different
parts of the rigging, to guard against the possibility of his colours
being shot away! She opened a tremendous fire on the _Spartiate_ at
half pistol-range. The muscular British tars wrought with heroic energy
at the guns. In a few minutes six of these guns, which stood on the
fore-part of the _Vanguard's_ deck, were left without a man, and three
times afterwards were these six guns cleared of men--so terrific was the
fire of the enemy.

Other four of the British vessels sailed ahead of the _Vanguard_ and got
into action. One of these--the _Bellerophon_ (Captain Darby)--engaged
the gigantic _L'Orient_, which was so disproportionately large that the
weight of ball from her lower deck alone exceeded that from the whole
broadside of her assailant. The result was that the _Bellerophon_ was
overpowered, 200 of her men were killed or wounded, all her masts and
cables were shot away, and she drifted out of the line. Her place,
however, was taken by the _Swiftsure_, which not only assailed the
_L'Orient_ on the bow, but at the same time opened a steady fire on the
quarter of the _Franklin_.

Before this time, however, the shades of night had fallen on the scene.
The battle began at half-past six in the evening--half-an-hour
afterwards daylight was gone, and the deadly fight was lighted only by
the lurid and fitful flashing of the guns.

Those vessels of the English squadron which happened to be in rear were
some leagues astern when the fight began, and it was so dark when they
entered that extreme difficulty was experienced in getting in. One of
these--the _Culloden_ (Captain Trowbridge)--sounded carefully as she
went, but got aground, where she remained helpless during the action,
despite the efforts of the _Leander_ and _La Mutine_ brig to get her
off. She served, however, as a beacon to the _Alexander_ and
_Swiftsure_.

The latter ship, on entering the bay, fell in with the drifting and
disabled _Bellerophon_, which