They were good shots both of them.

The mate's ball struck the water some twenty yards in front of her forefoot, and smashed her bow planking some three feet above the waterline; while the captain's struck her bulwark, tore along her deck, and went out astern, doing some damage by the way, I reckon.
"We could see there was some confusion on board.

They hadn't reckoned that we carried such heavy metal, and our luck in getting both shots on board must have surprised them.

Then her bow paid off, there was a puff of smoke amidship, and a ball from the long swivel gun buzzed overhead, passing through our mainsail without touching mast or stay.
"So far we had the best of it, and the men looked more cheerful than they had done from the first moment when the pirates showed from among the trees.

After that we kept up a fire from the stern guns as fast as we could load.