The _Argus_ was promptly cleared for action, and the men, though in many cases drunk with the wine of the captured wine-ship, and in all cases weary from lack of sleep, took their stations. For an hour the _Argus_ tacked and filled, trying to get up to windward of the enemy, but without avail, and so shortened sail and at 6 o’clock wore around before the wind with her port-guns bearing on the enemy, and at that moment opened fire at a range of perhaps two hundred yards. The _Pelican_ replied with a full broadside and at 6.04 A.M. a ball struck Captain Allen, hurling him across the deck and tore off one leg. It was a mortal wound, but Allen struggled up till he rested his weight on his elbow and then continued to direct the battle until, after four minutes, he fainted from loss of blood and was carried below. Lieutenant William H. Watson then took command, but four minutes later he, too, was cut down. A grape-shot struck his head and he was carried below unconscious. Then came William Howard Allen to take command of the quarter-deck and carry on the battle. It had been a losing fight, thus far, and so it continued for the reason that the British guns were served better than the American. The rigging of the _Argus_ was already badly cut up. Nevertheless, when the _Pelican_ strove to wear across the stern of the _Argus_, Lieutenant Allen luffed up across the bows of the _Pelican_, where at short range he was able to deliver a raking broadside. But the Yankee crew, instead of cutting the life out of the enemy, merely fired into the air. [Illustration: The _Argus_ Captured by the _Pelican_, _August 14, 1813_. _From an engraving by Sutherland of the painting by Whitcombe._] Then the after-sails of the unfortunate _Argus_ became unmanageable because the braces were all shot away, and she swung around before the wind so that the _Pelican_ was able to pass astern of her at 6.18 P.M. and rake her aft and fore. Holding this position by a skilful use of her sails, the _Pelican_ fired broadside after broadside into the helpless Yankee, for fifteen minutes, cutting the stern, the rudder, and wheel-ropes to pieces, while the Americans could scarcely make a reply. Then the _Pelican_ filled away and, running ahead, took a position off the starboard bow of the _Argus_, and there raked her with a fresh battery for ten minutes more, while the wind drifted the _Argus_ down until she fell aboard the _Pelican_. At that the British prepared to board, but the American flag was hauled down and the fighting ceased.