"The enemy was not long in making his repairs, and both ships next took a position on the starboard quarter of the _Essex_, where it was not in the power of the latter vessel to bring a single gun to bear upon him, as he was too distant to be reached by carronades. His fire was very galling, and it left no alternative to Captain Porter between submission and running down to assail him. He gallantly decided on the latter. But by this time the _Essex_ had received many serious injuries in addition to the loss of her topmast. The only sail that could be got upon the ship to make her head pay off was the flying jib, which was hoisted when the cable was cut, and the vessel edged away with the intention of laying the _Phoebe_ aboard. "The foretopsail and the foresail were not let fall, though for want of tacks and sheets they were nearly useless. Still the _Essex_ drove down on her assailants, closing near enough to open with her carronades. For a few minutes the firing on both sides was tremendous, the people of the _Essex_ proving their discipline and gallantry at that trying moment in a way to justify all the high expectations that had been formed of them, though their decks were already strewn with killed, and the cockpit was crowded with the wounded. This work proved too hot for the _Cherub_, which hauled off a second time, nor did she come near enough to use her carronades again, during the remainder of the action keeping up a distant fire with her long guns. "The _Phoebe_ discovered no disposition to throw away the immense advantage she possessed in her long eighteens; and when she found the _Essex's_ fire becoming warm she kept edging off, throwing her shot at the same time with fatal effect, cutting down the people of her antagonist almost with impunity to herself. By this time many of the guns of the American ship were disabled, and the crews of several had been swept away. One particular gun was a scene of carnage that is seldom witnessed in a naval combat, nearly three entire crews falling at it in the course of the action. Its captain alone escaped with a slight wound. "This scene of almost unresisting carnage had now lasted nearly two hours, and finding it impossible to close with his adversary, who chose his distance at pleasure, Captain Porter felt the necessity of taking some prompt measure if he would prevent the enemy from getting possession of his ship. The wind had hauled to the westward, and he saw a hope of running her ashore at a spot where he might land his people and set her on fire. For a few minutes everything appeared to favor this design, and the _Essex_ had drifted within musket-shot of the beach when the wind suddenly shifted from the land, paying the ship's head off in a way to leave her exposed to a dreadful raking fire. Still, as she was again closing with the _Phoebe_, Captain Porter indulged a hope of finally laying that ship aboard.