232 THE CALF. OF THE SEA 



wounded) and rigging and masts shot away, she 

 came round so sharply as to stop ahnost entirely 

 dead, and lying thus she got a dreadful punish- 

 ment from her splendidly served foe. By six 

 o'clock she actually drifted back upon the 

 Shamioti. Broke's boarders were quite ready, 

 and, sword in hand, headed by their gallant 

 captain, they leaped upon the quarter-deck of the 

 Chesapeake and cleared the gangways with a 

 furious charge. No man withstood that onset of 

 British sailors armed with pike and bayonet, with 

 cutlass and pistol. The handful of Americans 

 who tried to stem the torrent were borne towards 

 the forecastle, where they soon choked the hatch- 

 way in their panic. Some, terror-stricken, jumped 

 into the sea ; others submitted and were confined 

 in the forecastle. Aboard the Chesapeake chaos 

 had come again. Lawrence, her brave and honour- 

 able captain, lay dying, and most of her officers 

 were killed or hurt. A few men in the shrouds, 

 however, kept up a brisk and galling fire. Broke 

 turned aside to order this to be put down. A 

 warning cry from the sentry over the prisoners 

 in the forecastle made him glance round, and just 

 in the nick of time. Three stalwart Yankees had 

 picked up weapons and were rushing upon him 

 savagely. He parried one man's pike and damaged 

 the fellow's face. The second man laid bare 

 Broke's skull and partially stunned him. The 



