incredible, so that he recovered all the foists, and sunk two other Mahometan ships. The conflict continued with unabated fury from morning till the darkness of the night parted the combatants, and God so favoured the Christians that few of them were slain, though many were wounded. I must not omit to notice the zeal and courage displayed by Simon Martin, the captain of one of our ships, on the following occasion in this battle. It so happened that the brigantine in which I was, was at one time somewhat parted from the rest of our ships, on which four ships of the enemy assailed us all at once; and 150 of the Mahometans having boarded our vessel, constrained us to flee to the poop for safety. While we were in this extreme danger, Simon Martin leapt on board our vessel, invoking the name of Jesus to aid him, and fought with such desperate valour that he slew six of the enemy with his own bond. Encouraged by his gallantry, we came down from the poop to his assistance, and so handled the Mahometans that they leapt overboard for safety, when some of them were drowned and others escaped by swimming. Upon this our success, the enemy sent down four other foists to help those who were already engaged against us. But our captain took several empty casks in which gunpowder had been kept before, and placed them in such a manner on the side of our brigantine, that they seemed like large pieces of artillery, standing beside them with a _fire-stick_ or lighted match, as if about to discharge them. This device put the enemy in such fear that they departed from us.