On May 1st, 1814, the “Hinchinbrooke,” to which Packet Captain James, so often distinguished as master of the “Duke of Marlborough,” had been promoted, was on her homeward passage from St. Thomas, and had reached the neighbourhood of the Azores—a favourite cruising ground of the American Privateers, and one on which their ravages were long unchecked by the presence of any British man-of-war—when the look-out at the masthead reported a suspicious-looking vessel to the eastward. The strange sail drew rapidly nearer. At half-past four she hoisted American colours, and was drawing on fast. She fired no gun, nor was any hail heard; and as Captain James bade his men reserve their fire for closer quarters, the two ships neared each other in grim silence for the best part of an hour. At twenty minutes past five they lay within pistol shot distance, and, as if at a preconcerted signal, the two broadsides roared out in the same moment. On this followed a tremendous cannonade. The American carried sixteen heavy guns, the calibre of which could not be ascertained. They were, however, certainly of greater weight than the “Hinchinbrooke’s” 9–pounder carronades, and at the short range at which they were discharged, did great execution on the Packet’s hull and rigging. This lasted for an hour; at the end of which time the Packet had suffered so much that Captain James was scarcely able, if he had wished it, to avoid the boarding attack which he saw the Americans were preparing. Indeed, confident in the strength of his nettings, and in the quality of his small handful of men, he may possibly have even welcomed the prospect of a hand-to-hand fight, wherein his men, who were doubtless growing restive under the long pounding of guns heavier than their own, might work off their suppressed fury, and perhaps gain an encouraging success. The assault was quickly upon them, delivered in great numbers, and with all the impetuosity which the Americans evinced in these attacks. Had the nettings been one whit less lofty, or less firmly secured, the Privateersmen must have gained a footing on the Packet’s deck. As it was, impassable though the nettings were, the small band of picked men led by Captain James to repulse them suffered heavily, one being slain outright, while three others, who could very ill be spared, received disabling wounds.