“All eyes from the Spartan were of course directed to the quarter in which the boats were chasing; and it was not until one minute past ten that a slight scintillation of firing was observed, without any report. This soon after ceased, and not a doubt existed in the mind of any one on board the Spartan, that the attack had been successful. We had now got the breeze, and were steering for the scene of action, every one expecting to see the polacre approaching with the boats accompanying her, but a most melancholy disappointment awaited us. The oars of a boat were at length heard. When within reach of the boat she was hailed; and the answer told the melancholy tale of their defeat, and that the boats were all on their return filled with the dead and dying. The following was the sad list of sufferers:—Killed, one lieutenant, two midshipmen, twenty-four seamen: wounded, one lieutenant (mortally), and thirty-seven seamen; scarcely ten men out of about seventy being untouched. The dead were laid side by side on the main deck, in order to be prepared for burial, being sewed up in hammocks. The wounded were carried into my cabin, the only part of the ship where there was sufficient space for their accommodation in dressing their wounds; and while this was doing, which took up the greater part of the night, the lower deck was prepared for their reception; all the hammocks, mess tables, and chests being removed for the purpose; a measure which became absolutely necessary in that warm climate, lest the air below, infected by the numbers wounded, should have generated disease amongst the healthy part of the ship’s company. The number of these was so much diminished by this fatal event, that there was little difficulty in finding accommodation for them under the half deck and forecastle; so that the whole extent of the Spartan’s ’tween decks became a most convenient and well ventilated hospital. On the following morning the dead were brought up for burial, and arranged along the starboard waste hammocks, with a man to each, for the purpose of launching the body overboard at the proper time; the bodies of the second lieutenant and his midshipman were in coffins at the gangway. I could with difficulty get through the mournful service, and at the words ‘commit their bodies to the deep,’ when the whole were launched into the ocean, an universal sensation was experienced by the ship’s company. The effect may be imagined, but it cannot be described. Four and twenty active young men in the prime of life, in all the energy of the seaman’s character, buoyant with spirits and health only a few hours before, now gone to their awful account. This was indeed an awakening scene, and undoubtedly left a deep, although perhaps but a transitory impression on all who witnessed it.”