It is impossible to describe, even with the fulness of the official records, every action which took place during this war; and yet where all were gallant there is some injustice in making a selection. One would willingly linger over the story of how Captain Elphinstone in the “Manchester” fought the “York Town” through a whole day, and did not surrender till his last round of ammunition had been fired; of how Captain White in the “Princess Charlotte” beat off an unknown American vessel in three separate actions extending over four days, during the whole of which time the enemy kept in company; or of Captain Caddy’s plucky conduct when the “Governor Tompkins,” a Privateer of ten long 9–pounders, a long 24–pounder on a traverse, and ninety-nine men, captured his Packet, the “Mary Anne,” after a fight in which the latter was reduced to a mere wreck. These fine stories must be summarized; but one fight which occurred about this time takes rank among the greater actions of the Falmouth Service, and deserves a fuller description. The “Express,” Captain John Quick, sailed from Rio de Janeiro on March 23rd, 1813, having on board, in addition to the mails and despatches, about £20,000 in specie. There seems to have been something in the smell of specie which attracted Privateers, for the “Express,” which had made her outward voyage without sighting any suspicious vessel, encountered near the Cape Verde Islands the “Anaconda,” an American Privateer, carrying sixteen long 9–pounders, and a hundred and twenty men. This formidable adversary chased the “Express,” and, after a long pursuit, brought her to action. Unfortunately no account has been preserved of the details of the fight. We are told that it lasted for an hour at close quarters, and it is clear that the cannonade during that hour must have been very fierce, for the record says that “the Packet’s sails were cut in pieces fore and aft, the main and foremast very badly wounded, the main-topmast shot away, the fore-topsail yard shot away, the foreyard badly wounded, the main and forestay shot away, the main and fore-rigging very badly cut, the braces fore and aft and the topsail-sheets shot away, all the rigging fore and aft in a most shattered condition, four of the starboard guns dismounted (the ‘Express’ carried only eight), several shot between wind and water, three feet and a half of water in the hold, and the Packet actually sinking.” To such a condition had Captain Quick’s ship been reduced before he judged it consistent with his honour to surrender. And this in face of a Post-Office regulation, never yet repealed, which instructed him that “the idea of resistance, except against Privateers of the smallest class, must be abandoned.” So far from abandoning resistance, this gallant captain fought his ship till she was sinking under him, and would certainly have gone down carrying her brave defenders with her had the surrender been delayed a few minutes longer.