To add to the general gloom, on the morning of the 23d, news came from San Juan del Sur that the schooner Granada had gone out of the harbor to engage a Costa Rican brig, and the people of the town had watched the fight by the flashes of the guns, until a broad bright light, accompanied by a loud noise as of thunder, led them to suppose one of the vessels had been blown up. Couriers arrived at Virgin Bay from time to time during the night of the 23d, announcing it as the general impression at San Juan that Fayssoux had blown up his schooner rather than let her fall into the hands of the enemy. This report, while it shows the opinions held by the people as to the inevitable result of a conflict between a vessel of the size of the Costa Rican brig and the little schooner, also indicates the idea they had formed of the character of the commander of the Granada. The failure of the schooner to enter the harbor during the night confirmed the impression of the townspeople; and at Virgin Bay few, besides the general-in-chief, doubted the correctness of the conclusions drawn from the light and the explosion. On the morning of the 24th, however, the schooner was seen coming into port, and although her deck seemed covered with more than her complement of men, she cast anchor as usual in the harbor. In a little while the news spread that it was the enemy’s vessel which had been blown up the night before. The log of the schooner for the 23d tells the story thus: “Commences with light breezes from the N. and E., and pleasant. At 4 P.M. saw a sail off the harbor; hove up anchor, and stood out to her. At 5h. 45m. she hoisted Costa Rica colors. At 6, within four hundred yards of her; she fired round shot and musketry at us. At 8 we blew her up. At 10 we had taken from the sea her captain and forty of her men. Her name was Once de Abril, Capt. Antonie Villarostra; crew, 114 men and officers; guns 4, 9 lbs. calibre. The captain states that he was about surrendering when she blew up. All were lost and killed but those that I picked up. I had one man, Jas. Elliot, killed; Mathew Pilkington dangerously wounded, Dennis Kane seriously, and six others slightly. Light breezes; stood in for the harbor.” The simplicity of the narrative reveals a feature in its author’s character; but it needs the commentary of the schooner’s size, and crew, and armament, to make its fall force felt. The Granada was about seventy-five tons burden, and had on board during the action with the Once de Abril twenty-eight persons all told, and among them were a boy and four citizens of San Juan. She carried two six-pound carronades, and had not more than 180 rounds of ball and canister. No wonder the people on shore imagined that a fight of two hours at close distance (for they knew, they said, Fayssoux would bring the brig to close work), had disabled the Granada to such an extent as to induce her commander to blow her up.