The stranger was a big ship, and sailed well; but she could not hold her own with the _Essex_, and by nine o'clock next morning we were alongside with the crew at quarters. We believed of a verity that this fellow would fight, since he had ten ports on a side, and once more did I feel too nervous for comfort; but no sooner were we in a position to open the battle than she surrendered, and we were in possession of the British whaler _Atlantic_, of three hundred and fifty-five tons burden, carrying twenty-four men. She had eight eighteen-pounders mounted, and might have held us in check long enough to show that English sailors are the gluttons at fighting which they claim to be. No sooner had we thrown a prize crew on board, and seen to it that the Britishers were secured where they couldn't make any trouble for our men, than the _Essex_ was put about in chase of the sail we had sighted during the night, our consorts following a long distance in our wake, unable to keep the pace we were setting. We came up with the chase about noon, and then were becalmed within two miles of her. She appeared to be heavily armed, and we were short-handed in consequence of having distributed so many men among the prizes taken thus far, as well as sending out the two boats, which had probably been picked up by some of our fleet before this time. To equip the fleet of small boats would require nearly every man and boy on board, leaving no one to handle the frigate in case the wind sprang up, and as we noted this fact--I mean as the old shellbacks discussed it--Master Hackett said to me with a long-drawn sigh of relief:-- "It's the luck of the _Essex_ to find Britishers so plentiful; but this time she's got more'n a mouthful, an' that fellow yonder is like to give us the slip unless our slow-movin' prizes work up this way before the wind rises." "Do you mean, Master Hackett, that we can't make any effort at capturing her?" I asked in surprise. "Look about an' see if that ain't the size of it. Do you reckon Captain Porter would strip his own ship, leavin' her helpless in case this 'ere calm ended with a squall?" It surely did not seem possible our commander would do anything of the kind, and my heart was heavy as I gazed at the Britisher lying so near at hand and we unable to so much as come up with her. Before our crew had much time for discussion we were startled, and some of the oldest hands almost frightened, by being called to man the boats; and our surprise may be imagined when we learned that every craft was to be sent off. I saw the old shellbacks looking at each other furtively, exchanging odd glances and shrugging their shoulders as much as to say that Captain Porter must have taken leave of his senses; but into the boats they went, and all hands followed until there were none left aboard the frigate except the captain himself, the chaplain, the captain's clerk, and the boatswain.