The bowsprit of the _Guerriere_ caught fast in the rigging of the _Constitution_, and the sailors on both ships tried to board. But soon the winds pulled the _Constitution_ clear, and as she forged ahead, down with a crash came the other masts of the British ship. They had been cut into splinters by the Yankee guns. A few minutes before she had been a stately three-masted frigate; now she was a helpless hulk. Not half an hour had passed since the _Constitution_ fired her first shot, and already the _Guerriere_ was a wreck, while the Yankee ship rode the waters as proudly as ever. Off in triumph went the "Old Ironsides," and hasty repairs to her rigging were made. Then she came up with loaded guns. The _Guerriere_ lay rolling like a log in the water, without a flag in sight. Not only her masts were gone, but her hull was like a sieve. It had more than thirty cannon-ball holes below the water-line. There was no need to fire again. Lieutenant Read went off in a boat. "Have you surrendered?" he asked Captain Dacres, who was looking, with a very long face, over the rail. "It would not be prudent to continue the engagement any longer," said Dacres, in gloomy tones. "Do you mean that you have struck your flag?" "Not precisely. But I do not know that it will be worth while to fight any more." "If you cannot make up your mind I will go back and we will do something to help you." "I don't see that I can keep up the fight," said the dejected British captain. "I have hardly any men left and my ship is ready to sink." "What I want to know is," cried Lieutenant Read, "whether you are a prisoner of war or an enemy. And I must know without further parley." "If I could fight longer I would," said Captain Dacres. Then with faltering words he continued, "but-I-must-surrender." "Then accept from me Captain Hull's compliments. He wishes to know if you need the aid of a surgeon or surgeon's mate." "Have you not business enough on your own ship for all your doctors?" asked Dacres. "Oh, no!" said Read. "We have only seven men wounded, and their wounds are all dressed." Captain Dacres was obliged to enter Read's boat and be rowed to the _Constitution_. He had been wounded, and could not climb very well, so Captain Hull helped him to the deck. "Give me your hand, Dacres," he said, "I know you are hurt." Captain Dacres offered his sword, but the American captain would not take it. "No, no," he said, "I will not take a sword from one who knows so well how to use it. But I'll trouble you for that hat." What did he mean by that, you ask? Well, the two captains had met some time before the war, and Dacres had offered to bet a hat that the _Guerriere_ would whip the _Constitution_. Hull accepted the bet, and he had won. All day and night the boats were kept busy in carrying the prisoners, well and hurt, to the _Constitution_. When daylight came again it was reported that the _Guerriere_ was filling with water and ready to sink.