In such frantic haste did the British handle their guns, that they fired three shots to the Yankees' two. The latter did not fire till they saw something to fire at. As a result, most of British balls went whistling overhead, and pitching over the _Wasp_ into the sea, while most of the Yankee balls swept the decks or bored into the timbers of the _Frolic_. But you must not think that the shots of the _Frolic_ were all wasted, if they did go high. One of them hit the maintopmast of the _Wasp_ and cut it square off. Another hit the mizzen-topgallantmast and toppled it into the waves. In twenty minutes from the start "every brace and most of the rigging of the _Wasp_ were shot away." The _Wasp_ had done little harm above, but a great deal below. The _Frolic_ could have run away now if she had wanted to. But her captain was not of the runaway kind. The fire of the _Wasp_ had covered his deck with blood, but he fought boldly on. As they fought the two ships drifted together and soon their sides met with a crash. Then, as they were swept apart by the waves, two of the _Wasp's_ guns were fired into the bow-ports of the _Frolic_ and swept her gun-deck from end to end. Terrible was the slaughter done by that raking fire. The next minute the bowsprit of the _Frolic_ caught in the rigging of the _Wasp_, and another torrent of balls was poured into the British ship. Then the Yankee sailors left their guns and sprang for the enemy's deck. The captain wanted them to keep firing, but he could not hold them back. First of them all was a brawny Jerseyman named Jack Lang, who took his cutlass between his teeth and clambered like a cat along the bowsprit to the deck. Others followed, and when they reached the deck of the _Frolic_ they found Jack Lang standing alone and looking along the blood-stained deck with staring eyes. Only four living men were to be seen, and three of these were wounded. One was the quartermaster at the wheel and the others were officers. Not another man stood on his feet, but the deck was strewn with the dead, whose bodies rolled about at every heave of the waves. When the men came running aft the three officers flung down their swords to show that they had surrendered, and one of them covered his face with his hands. It hurt him to give up the good ship. Lieutenant Biddle, of the _Wasp_, had to haul down the British flag. Never had there been more terrible slaughter. Of the 110 men on the _Frolic_ there were not twenty alive and unhurt, while on the _Wasp_ only five were dead and five wounded. The hull of the _Frolic_ was full of holes and its masts were so cut away that in a few minutes they both fell. Thus ended one of the most famous of American sea-fights. It was another lesson that helped to stop the English from singing "Britannia rules the waves."