Then followed a running fight with the frigate’s bow chasers, throwing shot short but continuously, and the shot of the _chasse-marée_ occasionally passing through the _Eagle’s_ sails or falling aboard. As was often the case, “the English and French privateers gradually outdistanced the larger and heavier vessel, as the breeze was light, and by six in the afternoon had dropped her hull down.... An hour later those aboard the _Eagle_ were relieved to see the frigate give up the chase, and stand away for the French coast.... All these hours the two smaller craft had scarcely changed the positions they occupied when first they got within range of the long gun each apparently carried.... And so the fight went on until almost dusk, when a lucky shot from the bow chaser of the Frenchman brought the mainsail of the _Eagle_ down on deck with a run.... Three of her crew had been killed or seriously injured, and half a dozen more were hurt. Now overtaking the English boat hand over hand the Frenchman (who afterwards proved to be the _Belle Etoile_ of Brest) came alongside, and, after pouring in a broadside of six guns, crashed into the _Eagle_. Luckily for the Polperro men, the mainsail proved a barrier for a moment or two to the advance of the Frenchmen, who swarmed over the after bulwarks, and in the delay pistols were used to such effect as well as cutlasses that half a score of Frenchmen were put out of action. Inch by inch, however, the superior numbers of the _Belle Etoile’s_ crew gained possession of the _Eagle’s_ deck, and drove the crew into the waist; but by good luck one of the latter had thoughtfully (!) loaded one of the smaller guns with pistol bullets, and he and two companions had managed to get the piece inboard and had trained it on the Frenchmen, who were pressing the Polperro men from the fore part of the ship.... There was an explosion, which lit up the vessel and the smoke-grimed and bloody faces of the combatants, and a whole row of Frenchmen fell riddled with balls, which but for the close range would have spread more happily (!) and swept away the whole lot.” This diversion decided the day or rather night, and we are told that, “rallying with lusty cheers, the Polperro men not only drove the Frenchmen overboard and back on to their own deck, but followed them up, and after twenty minutes’ bloody work, which caused the deck of the _Belle Etoile_ to run red, succeeded in gaining the mastery.... After the mainmast had been ‘fished’ and a fresh yard hoisted, the _Eagle_ and her prize, the crew of which was twenty men stronger, and of four more and heavier guns, laid a course for Falmouth, which was reached next day in safety, after speaking one of His Majesty’s cruisers.”