Next in importance to the Dutch war was the struggle with the piratical states in the Mediterranean, which still continued. Though it was marked by many brave exploits it left surprisingly little trace in the naval literature of Charles the Second’s time. There were many engagements worthy of record. On December 19-29, 1669, for instance, Captain John Kempthorne in the Mary Rose, a forty-eight-gun ship, beat seven Algerines, and preserved the merchantmen under his charge. Kempthorne was knighted for this service on April 30, 1670. A picture of the fight was engraved by Hollar, which will be found in Ogilby’s _Africa_, and the incident apparently inspired a ballad too. The picture of the action at Greenwich bears the following inscription: ‘Two we burnt and two we sank and two did run away, And one we carried to Leghorn Roads to show we’d won the day.’ These lines are almost identical with two lines in _Captain Mansfield’s Fight with the Turks at Sea_ (printed on p. 86). The ballad on Mansfield’s fight is perhaps an eighteenth century version, or imitation, of one on Kempthorne. Often merchantmen successfully defended themselves. About October 1671, Captain John Baddison, of the Swallow, a merchantman of 180 tons and twenty-six men, fought an Algiers ship of thirty-eight guns and 220 men, and not only repulsed two desperate attacks, but captured four of the Turks who boarded him. A poem entitled _An Encomium on that Worthy Exploit of Captain John Baddison_ was published in 1671. The only copy known is in the possession of Lord Crawford, who has kindly permitted me to extract the following narrative of the engagement: