Captain Bull could spare no man from the deck of his ship; and was thus unable to retaliate. He was now, however, within about twelve leagues of Barbados; and there was a good chance of running under shelter of the island, if he were not first dismasted. At the end of an hour, however, during which he maintained a stout resistance, it was clear that he could not much longer manœuvre his ship, which had suffered greatly in her spars and rigging. Two more of his men were down. He himself was almost wholly incapacitated by a rifle bullet which had pierced both cheeks; and at this juncture, the Privateer ran suddenly alongside, the “Duke of Marlborough” refused to obey her helm, the French made fast their grapplings, and were pouring down in overwhelming numbers upon the Packet’s deck, when Captain Bull, perceiving that further resistance was hopeless, ordered the mail to be sunk, tore up his private signals, and struck his colours. The French captain knew how to appreciate a gallant enemy; and Captain Bull always acknowledged the kindness shown to him, and to the wounded. The “Duke of Marlborough” was navigated into Guadeloupe, where the unwounded sailors were thrown into what Captain Bull described as “the most horrible dungeon that can be conceived, where they had scarcely sufficient air to breathe.” Fortunately they were not kept long in this confinement, but were liberated after a short captivity, and permitted to return to England. It may be useful to remark at this point that these French Privateers, of which such numbers were sent out from Guadeloupe and Martinique, were not only formidable by reason of the numbers of their crews and the weight of metal which they carried, but even more on account of the desperate courage with which they attacked. Many a sloop of the British Navy, armed and manned with a force far superior to that of the Post-Office Packets found it no child’s play to encounter one of these ocean free-lances, and some had reason to regret having challenged them. The “General Erneuf” was widely known and dreaded in the Caribbean Archipelago, as was also her sister ship, “La Dame Erneuf.” The career of the latter vessel was stopped in 1805 by H.M. brig “Curieux,” after a very sharp action, in which, as Captain Bettesworth testifies in his report, the French had “30 killed and 41 wounded.” And “in justice to his gallantry,” the captain adds, “I must say he never struck whilst there was a man on his decks.”