On the Lakes 315 



pecially by the raking fire of the gunboats, her first 

 lieutenant, Mr. Garland, being mortally wounded, 

 and Captain Barclay so severely injured that he was 

 obliged to quit the deck, leaving his ship in the 

 command of Lieutenant George Inglis. But on 

 board the Laurence matters had gone even worse, 

 the combined fire of her adversaries having made 

 the grimmest carnage on her decks. Of the 103 

 men who were fit for duty when she began the ac- 

 tion, 83, or over four-fifths, were killed or wounded. 

 The vessel was shallow, and the ward-room, used as 

 a cock-pit, to which the wounded were taken, was 

 mostly above water, and the shot came through it 

 continually, killing and wounding many men under 

 the hands of the surgeon. 



The first lieutenant, Yarnall, was three times 

 wounded, but kept to the deck through all ; the only 

 other lieutenant on board, Brooks, of the marines, 

 was mortally wounded. Every brace and l^owline 

 was shot away, and the brig almost completely dis- 

 mantled ; her hull was shattered to pieces, many shot 

 going completely through it. and the guns on the 

 engaged side were by degrees all dismounted. Perry 

 kept up the fight with splendid courage. As the 

 crew fell one by one, the commodore called down 

 through the skylight for one of the surgeon's as- 

 sistants; and this call was repeated and obeyed till 

 none was left; then he asked, "Can any of the 

 wounded pull a rope?'* and three or four of them 

 crawled up on deck to lend a feeble hand in placing 

 the last guns. Perry himself fired the last effective 



