six o'clock
`` Good morning , gentlemen , '' the young captain said gayly . `` We have a fine morning for our amusement . I wish the wind would freshen a little more so as to take this lubberly old ship faster through the water . '' At six o'clock the leading vessel of the French squadron opened fire , and at the signal her consorts all followed her example . Some of them were now almost abreast of the Resolution , and the iron shower tore through her sails and cut her rigging . She answered with a broadside from both sides , and the battle commenced in earnest . In all the annals of British seamanship there is no more heroic story than that of the fight between the Resolution and the six French men of war .