The ships suffered
accordingly: they were torn to pieces, and the slaughter was dreadful.
Never did British valour shine more conspicuous, nor never did our
marine, in an engagement of the same nature with any foreign enemy,
experience as rude an encounter. The springs of the Bristol's cable
being cut by the shot, she lay for some time exposed in such a manner as
to be most dreadfully raked. The brave Captain Morris, after receiving a
number of wounds, which would have sufficiently justified a gallant man
in retiring from his station, still, with a noble obstinacy, disdained
to quit his duty, until his arm, being at length shot off, he was
carried away in a condition which did not afford a possibility of
recovery. It is said, that the quarter-deck of the Bristol was at one
time cleared of every person but the commodore, who stood alone, a
spectacle of intrepidity and firmness, which has seldom been equalled,
never exceeded." When the firing ceased the Bristol and Experiment,
ships of fifty guns each, were left almost wrecks upon the water,
but the frigates had not suffered so severely. It was expected by the
Americans that most of them would be unable to pass the bar; but,
with the exception of the Actaeon frigate, which got aground at the
commencement of the action, all dropped down with the tide beyond the
reach of the guns in the fort. It is clear that Admiral Parker did all
that could have been done to effect his object, but skill and valour
were of no avail. The fortress was built of palmetto-wood, and therefore
it was little damaged; the shot which struck it being buried in its soft
materials. Then again, the bombs that were thrown into the fort were
instantly swallowed up in a morass that was constructed in the middle,
and therefore failed in their design. While the English ships, indeed,
were swept of their men, the loss of the garrison did not exceed ten men
killed and about twenty wounded. The Americans themselves accounted for
their victory by the strength of the fort; the care they had taken
to secure its approaches; the courage and skill displayed by Colonel
Moultrie, who commanded in the fort; and the presence of Lee on the
projecting point opposite the island. On the other hand, the English
attributed their defeat to the non-co-operation of the army, which
appears to have been declined by Parker, he having full confidence in
the powers of the fleet. But whatever may have been the cause of the
result, it i