The credit due to Captain Kirkness for this exploit is not lessened by the fact that the enemy hung back from action, for this was a stroke of luck on which he could not have calculated. He risked a fight against overwhelming odds—for the “Rattlesnake” alone could have blown the “Queen Charlotte” out of the water—and by his courage and audacity saved the merchants of this country and of Demerara from very serious losses, which nothing but his interposition could possibly have averted. Time has dealt hardly with the records of the Falmouth Service, and the historian, anxious to do justice to the memory of every officer whose conduct was distinguished, searches in vain among the brown and dusty papers for full reports of many a stubborn fight. Eighty years of neglect have broken frequent gaps in what might have been a continuous story. As a rule the Post-Office actions were not reported either in the Gazettes or in the public press; and thus it happens that when the original letters are not forthcoming, the details of the whole story are irretrievably lost. Such is the case with Captain Hartney’s fight in the “Montagu” on February 1st, 1813. Captain Hartney had on board no less than £16,000 in bullion, a fact of which the Privateer which attacked him may have got wind. At any rate she fought with great obstinacy. The battle raged for three hours within pistol shot, till at last the Americans sheered off, in the very nick of time, for the Falmouth men had fired away the whole of their grape, canister, and double-headed shot, and had only a few round shot left. So ended triumphantly what was evidently a gallant fight, about which we would gladly know more than the scanty record tells. In June the “Duke of Montrose,” Captain Blewitt, was in mid-Atlantic, outward bound for Halifax, when, on the 9th of that month, she encountered an American Privateer of superior force. The crew of the “Duke of Montrose” were in a high state of training, having succeeded, about five months previously, in beating off the assault of a similar craft, which they repulsed after an action of six hours, never having allowed her to close with them during the whole of that long period. The confidence in themselves and in their officers which they won on that occasion stood them in good stead now; and, as they watched the onset of their powerful adversary, every man was cool and confident of success.