Sighting an armed schooner slightly heavier than his own vessel, he made for her and was unperturbed when the royal ensign streamed from her gaff.

Clearing for action, he closed the hatches so that none of his men could hide below.
The two schooners fought in the veiling smoke until the American could ram her bowsprit over the other's stern and pour her whole crew aboard.
In the confined space of the deck, almost two hundred men and lads were slashing and stabbing and shooting amid yells and huzzas.

Lieutenant Barrette, the English commander, only twenty-five years old, was mortally hurt and every other officer, excepting the surgeon and one midshipman, was killed or wounded.

Two-thirds of the crew were down but still they refused to surrender, and Captain Diron had to pull down the colors with his own hands.

Better discipline and marksmanship had won the day for him and his losses were comparatively small.
Men of his description were apt to think first of glory and let the profits go hang, for there was no cargo to be looted in a King's ship.
Other privateersmen, however, were not so valiant or quarrelsome, and there was many a one tied up in London River or the Mersey which had been captured without very savage resistance.