If, Therefore,
We Attempted To Board And Were Beaten Off, Leaving Any Of Our Men
Behind, The Enemy Would Learn Our Strength, Or Weakness Rather, And
Might Go To The Harbour And Retake Our Prize, In Spite Of Every Thing We
Could Do To Hinder.
Our ammunition also was now very short, and we had
only, enough to engage for a few glasses longer.
All these circumstances
being duly considered, together with the difficulty of procuring masts,
and the time and provisions we must spend before we could get them
fitted we resolved to desist from any farther attempt upon the enemy,
since our battering her signified little, and we had not sufficient
strength to carry her by boarding. We determined therefore to keep her
company till night, and then to lose her, after which to make the best
of our way to the harbour where we had left our prize, to secure her.
We had engaged this ship first and last about seven glasses, during
which we in the Duke had eleven men wounded, three of whom were scorched
with gun-powder. I was again unfortunately wounded by a splinter in my
left foot, just before the arms chest was blown up on the quarter-deck;
and so severely that I had to lie on my back in great pain, being unable
to stand. Part of my heel-bone was struck out, and all the foot just
under the ankle cut above half through, my wound bleeding very much
before it could be stopped and dressed, by which I was much weakened.
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