The scarcity of Packets was already so great that it may be presumed that the “Prince Edward,” which left Falmouth in the middle of December, and was captured off Barbados, was carrying out more mails than one; while this blow was instantly followed by the loss of two successive homeward mails, carried by the “Prince Ernest” and the “Portland.” It can scarcely be conceived that the brave crew of the latter vessel surrendered without struggle; but still, fight or no fight, the mails were gone. This was more than the patience of the merchants could bear. To lose in one month at least two outward and two homeward mails—and it is quite possible that on board the three Packets even more mails had been stowed—was almost sufficient to bring their business to a standstill. The inconvenience was mounting to an intolerable pitch. They applied for a conference with the Postmaster General; and had scarcely done so when the news arrived that the “Roebuck,” homeward bound from the Leeward Islands, and the “Swallow,” outward bound on the same voyage, had both been captured by a single Privateer. There was the same story of overwhelming force against which the Packets could not contend. The captor of the “Roebuck” was a Nantes Privateer, “La Liberale,” carrying over two hundred men, and armed with eighteen 18–pounder guns, and it may be stated by the way that the captured officers told a remarkable story of the elfish mischievousness of the victors, who seemed to have behaved more like riotous schoolboys than like seamen. “On the enemy taking possession of the Packet,” says Captain Servante, “they plundered her of every cabin and ship-store; and what they did not take with them, they wilfully destroyed or threw overboard. Several new sails they cut to pieces and divided among them; and a suit of sails that were bent to the yards, little the worse for wear, they suffered to blow to pieces, there not being a seaman among them who would venture aloft to take them in.”