But our captain would not give it up, although we all continued to near the French line-of-battle ships every minute--we ran in with the frigates, exchanging broadsides with them as fast as we could.

One of them lost her foretopmast, and dropped astern, and we hoped to cut her off, but the others shortened sail to support her.

This continued for about twenty minutes, when the French line-of-battle ships were not more than a mile from us, and our own commodore had made the signal of our recall, for he thought that we should be overpowered and taken.

But the _Sea-horse_, who saw the recall up, did not repeat it, and our captain was determined not to see it, and ordered the signal-man not to look that way.

The action continued, two of the French frigates were cut to pieces, and complete wrecks, when the French line-of-battle ships commenced firing.