Before I Could Reach The Ship, I Could
Distinctly See A Large Ship, With A Spanish Flag At Her
Fore-Topmast-Head, And Her Fore-Topsail A-Back.
At this sight, two of my
three men were ready to faint, and if it had not been for
My boatswain,
I doubt if I should have got on board; and if the Spanish admiral had
acted with vigour, he might have taken the ship long enough before I got
to her. It is bare justice to Mr Coldsea to say, that he fired so
smartly on the Spaniard as to induce him to act with great precaution,
which had been quite unnecessary if he had known our weakness. His
caution, however, gave me the opportunity of getting on board: and, in
the mean time, my officers were so unwilling to leave our guard-gun
ashore, that they spent a great while in getting it into the boat, so
that I was afraid the enemy would attack us before our people could get
on board. The Spaniard was, however, in no hurry, thinking, no doubt,
that we could not well escape him, yet was within pistol-shot of us
before the last of our men got on board, being about fifty in all. We
now cut our cable, but our ship fell round the wrong way, so that I had
just room enough to fall clear of the enemy. Being now close together,
the formidable appearance of the enemy struck an universal damp on the
spirits of my people; some of whom, in coming off from the shore, were
for jumping into the water and swimming on shore, which a few actually
did.
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