In these repeated close fights the Cornishmen met with heavy losses, Mr. Sidgman, master of the “Townshend” being killed, and six more sailors, making ten in all, desperately wounded. His crew was now so reduced in numbers that it was with the greatest difficulty that Captain Cock could continue to serve the guns, and at the same time to collect sufficient men to meet the constantly recurring boarding attacks. It was plain that this situation of affairs could not last. There was no sign of succour on the sea, and when Captain Cock looked aloft, he could not but admit that in the crippled condition of his ship, all chance of running her ashore was gone. The “Townshend” was in fact a mere wreck. Her bowsprit was shot in pieces. Both jib-booms and head were carried away, as well as the wheel and ropes. Scarcely one shroud was left standing. The Packet lay like a log on the water, while the Privateers sailed round her, choosing their positions as they pleased, and raking her again and again. Still Captain Cock held out. It was not until ten o’clock, when he had endured the attack of his two powerful enemies for nearly three hours, that he looked about him and recognized that the end had come. There were four feet of water in the hold, and the carpenter reported that it was rising rapidly. The Packet was in fact sinking. Nearly half the crew were in the hands of the surgeon. The rest, exhausted and hopeless of success, had already fought more nobly than even he could have foreseen, and were now being uselessly sacrificed. Still Captain Cock’s pride rebelled against surrender; and as he saw the colours he had defended so well drop down upon the deck, it is recorded that he burst into tears. There lies before the writer a faded yellow scrap of paper on which one of the American captains recorded in generous terms his opinion of his foe. It runs as follows: “I do certify that Captain James Cock, of the Packet brig ‘Townshend,’ captured this day by the private armed schooners ‘Tom’ and ‘Bona,’ did defend his ship with courage and seamanship, and that he did not strike his colours until his vessel was perfectly unmanageable and in the act of sinking. Sd., Thomas Wilson, on board the ‘Townshend,’ November 22nd, 1812.” Subjoined to this certificate is a statement of the force of the Privateers, as given above. The loss of the “Townshend” has already been indicated; that of the Privateers Captain Cock was allowed no opportunity of ascertaining. He believed, however, that it was heavy, and he mentions positively that the “Tom,” the larger of the two, had received so much injury in her spars, sails, and rigging, that it was the intention of her captain to put back to port to refit.