"Commodore Barron gave the orders to fire, but there wasn't a gun ready. The gunner had been ordered to fill the powder-horns with priming powder, but when they were wanted it was found that he had neglected to do so. After a while some priming powder was brought, but there were no matches lighted, and the loggerheads were not hot enough. While we were trying to fire one of the guns the Leopard kept pouring broadsides into us, and we couldn't reply, because everything was in confusion." "Didn't we fire a gun at all? I had an impression we did," I remarked. "Yes, we fired one gun, and only one, but it wasn't until after Commodore Barron had ordered the flag hauled down. Just as the ensign reached the taffrail one gun was fired from the second division of the ship, and it was discharged by means of a coal brought from the galley in the fingers of Lieutenant Allen, the officer of the division." "Of course the Leopard stopped firing as soon as our colors were lowered, and Commodore Barron immediately sent a boat on board the British ship to say that the Chesapeake was at the disposal of the English captain. The latter sent two of his officers to muster the American crew, and the three men who were claimed to be deserters from the Melampus, and one from the Halifax, were taken away. Commodore Barron then sent another note to the captain of the Leopard, saying that he was ready to give up his ship. The latter declined to take possession of the Chesapeake and sailed away, and there was nothing for us to do but return to Hampton Roads. "Three of our crew were killed on the spot, and eighteen were wounded, eight of them badly and ten slightly. Twenty-one round shot struck the Chesapeake's hull, and her lower rigging was badly cut up by grape-shot. She was in no condition to go to sea; we went to Norfolk and in a few days a part of the crew was discharged. I was one of those sent away, and so you see my voyage up the Mediterranean was a very short one. "One of these days, and it won't be a very long time either, we'll have to go to war with England, and just show her what our ships can do in fighting trim. The Leopard had a great advantage over us in having a perfectly trained crew, while ours had had no training at all. Give us a chance, and we'll teach the British a lesson they won't forget very soon." I may as well continue the history of this affair by telling how it turned out. The unfortunate deserters were taken to Halifax, where they were tried by a court-martial and sentenced to be hung. The three Americans were reprieved, on condition that they should re-enter the British service. The deserter from the Halifax, who was really an English subject, was hung. One of the three Americans who had been impressed into the Melampus died in the British service; the other two, after five years of captivity, were restored to the deck of the ship from which they had been taken.