Concluding Operations 179 



come on, the cutlass men began to clamber into the 

 rigging to go aboard the brig. Captain Biddle very 

 coolly stopped them, "it being evident from the be 

 ginning that our fire was greatly superior both in 

 quickness and effect." There was a heavy sea run 

 ning, and as the Hornet forged ahead, the Penguin's 

 bowsprit carried away her mizzen shrouds, stern 

 davits, and spanker boom; and the brig then hung 

 on her starboard quarter, where only small arms 

 could be used on either side. An English officer 

 now called out something which Biddle understood, 

 whether correctly or not is disputed, to be the word 

 of surrender; accordingly he directed his marines 

 to cease firing, and jumped on the taffrail. At that 

 minute two of the marines on the Penguin's fore 

 castle, not 30 feet distant, fired at him, one of the 

 balls inflicting a rather severe wound in his neck. 

 A discharge of musketry from the Hornet at once 

 killed both the marines, and at that moment the ship 

 drew ahead. As the vessels separated the Penguin's 

 foremast went overboard, the bowsprit breaking 

 short off. The Hornet at once wore, to present a 

 fresh broadside, while the Penguin's disabled condi 

 tion prevented her following suit, and having lost a 

 third of her men killed and wounded (14 of the 

 former and 28 of the latter), her hull being riddled 

 through and through, her foremast gone, mainmast 

 tottering, and most of the guns on the engaged side 



