The following Tuesday we were doing reloading exercises on the foredeck when the lookout cried, “Strange sails two points on the starboard bow.” The Captain called beat to quarters and I climbed my way to my perch on the tops. In the distance I saw two lines of ships sailing parallel in our direction. At first, I thought they must be French since I knew England didn’t have a squadron that big anywhere in the area, but as we got closer I saw there were four French ships and the other three were our own! They were not firing at each other so I reckoned neither side knew we were at war yet. Captain Barlow set a course for our line but the lead French ship (which I later learned was the Commerce de Bordeaux) saw this is turned to intercept us.
I’d been a Marine long enough to know the flags Midshipman Gascone was hoisting signaled ‘Enemy In Sight’. And with that all hell broke loose. From my perch I could see that almost every ship fired their guns at almost the same time. Our own guns of the Superb raked the bow of the Bordeaux starting a fire on her decks. Captain Isnor of the Defense split the French line between the Bordeaux and the Aquilon firing on both French ships, but his ship paid a terrible price for the bold move.
The air was thick with smoke, but to our good fortune the wind was blowing it back into the French fleet. Captain Barlow ordered grapples away as we closed with the Bordeaux, the brave Captain leading the charge of boarders himself onto the French ship. I’m proud to say our Marines made the task that much easier by our withering musket fire. It did not take long before the French captain surrendered. But the battle was not through by any means and Captain Barlow yelled to cut the grapples as he was reboarding the Superb. As I reloaded my weapon I looked to the other ships. The Defense was on fire after a devasting broadside from the Aquilon raked her stern. In the distance the French flagship, the massive Imperial, made a lumbering turn to follow in the wake of the Aquilon. As for the rest of the battle, the smoke obscured my view.
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