192 THE CALL OF THE SEA 



against the other ships, for it was not possible to 

 miss ; and they made such haste to load again that 

 they loaded the guns with bags of powder, which 

 they had ready for this purpose made to measure, 

 so that they could load again very speedily. But 

 with this first discharge our men made such good 

 work that they brought down the mast of the flag- 

 ship, which fell over and stove in the ship and 

 killed many Moors ; and another shot hit it full 

 and passed through near the poop, which it 

 shattered much and killed and wounded many 

 people ; of the other large ships three were stove 

 in low down, so that they foundered and went to 

 the bottom, many people remaining on the water 

 swimming, who betook themselves to the paraos 

 and caught hold of the oars, so that they could 

 not row, and they could not get out of the way of 

 their own ships, which came against them and 

 capsized them, so that they so much embarrassed 

 one another that they all remained stuck close to 

 each other, and our ships fired into them for a 

 considerable time, for they fired into the thick with 

 their heavy guns, so that they shattered many in 

 pieces, killing many people, on account of which 

 there were shrieks and cries amongst the Moors. 

 The ships brailed up their sails to the yards and 

 discharged all their guns. The Moors, although 

 they were in such straits, fired much artillery 

 which they carried, and much of it threw shot like 



