As the Englishman approached, Captain Barney saw his immense superiority in men and metal, but determined to make a fight. Calling his officers and men around him, he said: “If I direct you to prepare for boarding you are to understand me as meaning that you are to remain at your guns, and be ready to fire the moment the word is given. If on the contrary I order you to give him a broadside, you are to consider me as calling for boarders, and to hold yourselves ready to board as soon as we gain a proper position.” A little later the Englishman ranged up within a dozen yards or less, and in a loud voice demanded that the _Hyder Ali_ strike her colors. “Hard a port your helm--do you want him to run aboard us?” bawled Captain Barney to the man at the wheel of the _Hyder Ali_. “The ready witted seaman understood his cue and clapped his helm hard a starboard. The enemy’s jib boom caught in the fore rigging of the _Hyder Ali_ and there remained entangled during the short but glorious action that ensued. The _Hyder Ali_ thus gained a raking position of which she availed herself to its utmost benefit. More than twenty broadsides were fired in twenty-six minutes and scarcely a shot missed its effect; entering in at the starboard bow and making their way out through the port quarter. In less than half an hour from the firing of the first broadside the British flag waved its proud folds no longer in the breeze.” [Illustration: Fight of the _Hyder Ali_ with the _General Monk_, 1782. _From a painting by Crépin at the Naval Academy, Annapolis._] This quotation is from a “Biographical Memoir” of Barney, made from his private papers by Mary Barney. Having captured the _Monk_, Barney stood up the Delaware, drove the _Fair American_ ashore, and easily escaped the frigate. A comparative statement of the forces of the combatants is worth giving. The British ship carried a crew of 136 men; the American, 110. The British ship was armed with sixteen twelve-pounders and two long sixes--she could throw 102 pounds of metal at a broadside; the American carried sixteen six-pounders--she could throw forty-eight pounds of metal at a broadside. The British had more than twice the metal and they had a much greater number of men--men, too, who had long been fighting together, while the American crew had not been on board a month. The comparison of losses is equally significant. The _Monk_ lost twenty men killed and thirty-three wounded--fifty-three out of 136. The _Hyder Ali_ lost four killed and eleven wounded. The first lieutenant, purser, surgeon, boatswain, and chief gunner were among the _Monk’s_ killed, and her captain was severely wounded. It is said that the _General Monk_ had captured sixty American vessels in two years. [Illustration: A Relic of Two Revolutionary Captains: Bill of Lading for John Barry Signed by Joshua Barney. _From the original at the Lenox Library._]