The lieutenant returned to his ship. Captain Humphreys of the _Leopard_ mounted the rail and shouted: “Commodore Barron must be aware that the orders of the admiral must be obeyed.” No reply was made to this, and the words were repeated. A shot was fired across the bows of the _Chesapeake_. Another one was fired in like manner, and then a whole broadside was discharged directly at the American ship. Being wholly unprepared for action, the _Chesapeake_ could make no reply, and for twelve minutes (some accounts say fifteen) she lay there helpless while the British seamen worked their guns. Her masts, rigging, and sails were shot to pieces. Three men were killed and eighteen wounded, Captain Barron being among the wounded. [Illustration: CAPT^N. SALUSBURY PRYCE HUMPHREYS. R.N.] It was deliberate, cold-blooded murder, done to compel three American citizens to return to the slavery on a British ship into which they had been kidnapped. And it succeeded in its object. Being, as said, wholly unprepared, no defence was made, and when Captain Barron saw that his crew were being killed uselessly, he hauled down his flag. Lieut. William H. Allen, on the _Chesapeake_, did manage to fire one gun by means of a coal carried in his bare hands from the galley fire, and the ball hulled the _Leopard_, but the flag was already down to the rail, and it was done only as a matter of honor. So the crew of the _Chesapeake_ were mustered on deck, the triumphant lieutenant returned, the four “deserters” were bundled over the rail into the British boat, and the _Chesapeake_ was left, with her dead and wounded, to work her riddled sails in the course back to Norfolk. The _Leopard_ sailed on. The unfortunate Jenkin Ratford was hanged at the fore yardarm, and the three who were acknowledged to be kidnapped American citizens were sentenced to receive 500 lashes from the cat. And what does the uninformed reader suppose the political leaders of the American republic did about it? They tore the Eagle from the American coat-of-arms and substituted the Porcupine--they asked the British government to disavow the act of Admiral Berkeley, and they ordered the building of 188 more gunboats for harbor defence! [Illustration: Taking Deserters from the _Chesapeake_.] APPENDIX TO VOLUME I PAY OF NAVAL SEAMEN IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE NAVY AS A NATIONAL ORGANIZATION. Commander-in-chief, $125 a month. Officers of a ship of twenty guns and upward: captain, $60; lieutenant, $30; master, $30; surgeon, $25; chaplain, $20; midshipman, $12; gunner, $15; seaman, $8. Officers of a ship of ten to twenty guns: captain, $48; lieutenant, $24; master, $24; surgeon, $21.66; midshipman, $12; gunner, $13; seaman, $8. The pay of the following was the same in any class of cruisers: armorer, $15; sailmaker, $12; yeoman, $9; quartermaster, $9; quarter-gunner, $8; coxswain, $9; cook, $12.