noon
Soon afterwards we saw ahead a ship floating which we made out to be Dutch , and as we came up to her , we perceived that she was the _ Ostrich _ , the ship of the brave Krink , and terrible was the spectacle she exhibited . The masts , shot away by the board , hung trailing over the side , not a human being stood alive on her blood-stained decks , which were covered with corpses , lying were they had fallen when she had been abandoned on the previous day . There was no time to take her in tow , and we left her afloat on the ocean , the coffin of her hapless crew ; then onward we pressed under every sail we could carry . It was not until noon that we were near enough to open fire , and it was two o'clock , Dungeness being in sight , before the whole fleet got into action . To give an account of the battle would be to describe the scenes of the previous day . The gallant De Ruiter was well-nigh captured , and would have been so had not another brave Dutch captain come to his rescue . Well and courageously did our captains do their duty , imitating the example of the admiral , and carrying their ships as best they could alongside the Hollanders .