1. The British fleet arrived off Cumberland Head, and for a moment hung in the wind in line, in the position shown, off the head. They then sailed up abreast the American fleet and opened the battle, but the sloop _Finch_ (_d_) was almost instantly driven away by the fire of the American schooner _Ticonderoga_ (No. 3) and drifted toward Crab Island. 2. The British sloop _Finch_ (_d_) having been wrecked, she grounded on Crab Island. A little later the British sloop _Chubb_ (_a_), being disabled by the fire of the Yankee _Eagle_ (No. 1), drifted down between the lines, hauled down her flag, and was carried to the beach by an American midshipman. About the same time the British gun-boats drove the Yankee sloop _Preble_ away, and she sought safety at the beach. 3. This is about the position of the squadrons when the battle was going hard against the Americans. The _Eagle_ (No. 1) had been driven from the head of the line to a place between the _Saratoga_ (No. 2) and the _Ticonderoga_. The British brig _Linnet_ (_b_) was raking the _Saratoga_, dismounting the _Saratoga’s_ guns, while the gun-boats swarmed around the _Ticonderoga_ (No. 3). It was then that Macdonough winded the ship, brought a fresh battery into play, and won the victory. 4. The British, when trying to wind the _Confiance_ (_c_) around, as Macdonough had done with the _Saratoga_ (No. 2), got her stern toward the _Saratoga_, and there she hung, exposed to the raking fire of the _Saratoga’s_ fresh battery, and flesh and blood could not stand that. Meantime, the _Ticonderoga_ had driven away the British gun-boats. When the flag of the _Confiance_ came down, the _Saratoga_ was turned just enough to bring her broadside to bear on the _Linnet_ (_b_), and then the battle ended. The supreme moment of the battle had now come. Calling his men from their useless guns, Macdonough ordered them to drop the anchor that had been provided at the stern and then to clap on the spring that led in at the forecastle. In a moment the ship, impelled by the breeze and drawn by the spring hawser, began to swing as if on a pivot. Her stern was soon pointed at the enemy’s frigate. A raking shot from the enemy struck the _Saratoga’s_ bulwarks near Sailing-master Peter Blum as he directed the winding work, and the splinters literally tore all his clothes off of him. But he gathered up enough of the débris to wrap around his loins and so, dressed like a Cannibal islander, he continued his work. The British worked their guns furiously but, because of their fury, ineffectually, and the guns of the fresh Yankee battery were soon to come into play.