D'Iberville's aim was not to fight a naval battle but to secure the fort at Nelson. Accordingly, spreading the _Pelican's_ sails to the wind, he steered south-west, leaving the other ships to follow his example. Ice must have obstructed him, for he did not anchor before Nelson till September 3. The place was held by the English and he could find no sign of his other ships. He waited two days, loading cannon, furbishing muskets, drilling his men, of whom a great many were French wood-runners sick with scurvy. On the morning of the 5th the lookout called down 'A sail.' Never doubting but that the sail belonged to one of his own ships, d'Iberville hoisted anchor and fired cannon in welcome. No answering shot signalled back. There were sails of three ships now, and d'Iberville saw three English men-of-war racing over the waves to meet him, while shouts of wild welcome came thundering from the hostile fort to his rear. D'Iberville did not swerve in his course, nor waste ammunition by firing shots at targets out of range. Forty of his soldiers lay in their berths disabled by scurvy; but he quickly mustered one hundred and fifty able-bodied men and ordered ropes to be stretched, for hand hold, across the slippery decks. The gunners below stripped naked behind the great cannon. Men were marshalled ready to board and rush the enemy when the ships locked. The _Hampshire_, under Captain Fletcher, with fifty-two guns and sixty fighting men, first came up within range and sent two roaring cannonades that mowed the masts and wheel-house from the _Pelican_ down to bare decks. At the same time Grimmington's _Dering_ and Smithsend's _Hudson's Bay_ circled to the other side of the French ship and poured forth a pepper of musketry. D'Iberville shouted orders to the gunners to fire straight into the _Hampshire's_ hull; sharpshooters were to rake the decks of the two off-standing English ships, and the Indians were to stand ready to board. Two hours passed in sidling and shifting; then the death grapple began. Ninety dead and wounded Frenchmen rolled on the _Pelican's_ blood-stained decks. The fallen sails were blazing. The mast poles were splintered. Railings went smashing into the sea. The bridge crumbled. The _Pelican's_ prow had been shop away. D'Iberville was still shouting to his gunners to fire low, when suddenly the _Hampshire_ ceased firing and tilted. D'Iberville had barely time to unlock the _Pelican_ from the death grapple, when the English frigate lurched and, amid hiss and roar of flame in a wild sea, sank like a stone, engulfing her panic-stricken crew almost before the French could realize what had happened. Smithsend at once surrendered the _Hudson's Bay_, and Mike Grimmington fled for Nelson on the _Dering_.