noon
This was no light task , for not only were we completely dismasted , but the hull of the ship was terribly knocked about , the carpenter reporting five feet of water in the hold and twenty-seven shot-holes between wind and water , apart from our other damages , which were sufficiently serious . Moreover , our `` butcher 's bill '' was appallingly heavy , the list totalling up to no less than thirty-eight killed and one hundred and six wounded , out of a total of two hundred and eighty ! The French having ceased firing , and manifesting an unmistakable anxiety to withdraw from our proximity , we bestowed but little further attention on them , for it quickly became clear to us that our own condition was quite sufficiently serious to tax our energies to the utmost . The first task demanding the attention of the carpenter and his mates was of course the stoppage of our leaks , and a very difficult task indeed it proved to be , owing to the rapidity with which the water was rising in the hold ; by manning the pumps , however , and employing the entire available remainder of the crew in baling , we succeeded in plugging all the shot-holes and clearing the hold of water by noon , when the men were knocked off to go to their well-earned dinner . Then , indeed , we found time to look around us and to ask ourselves and each other where the French were and what they were doing . There was no difficulty in furnishing a reply to either question , for our antagonists were only a bare four miles off , and close together . But bad as our own plight was , theirs was very much worse ; for we now saw that the frigate which we had raked so unmercifully was in a sinking condition , having settled so low in the water indeed that the sills of her main-deck ports were awash and dipping with every sluggish heave of her upon the low and almost imperceptible swell , while her own boats and those of her consort were busily engaged in taking off her crew .