No sooner had the ship been brought to anchor than we understood how Captain Porter proposed to supply us with ammunition. It was reported, by one of the marines, as a matter of course, that the _Essex_ would on the next morning make a short cruise by herself, leaving the prizes in the bay. Our old shellbacks were perfectly satisfied on hearing this news. The only way in which more powder could be procured, was by taking it from the Britishers, and we had no doubt but that we should soon pick up an armed whaler who would be forced to supply us. Well, to make a long story short, we cruised from the 24th of August until the 15th of September without seeing anything in the form of a sailing craft, and all hands were growing discouraged when, in the early morning, a ship was reported apparently lying to a long distance to the southward, and to windward. There was no hope of coming up with her if we began the business boldly, for she had a big advantage of us in position; therefore our commander set about playing a trick which might bring the stranger into our hands with but little labor. Our light yards were sent down, and the frigate otherwise disguised until she had much the look of a whaler. Then she was slowly kept turning to windward, each moment drawing nearer the Britisher, for by this time we had settled in our minds that the stranger was one of the enemy's ships. This trick worked to a charm, and by noon we were so near that it was possible to see that our intended prize was fast to a whale, which she was cutting in, at the same time drifting rapidly down on us. An hour later we were no more than four miles apart, and then it was that the Britisher began to scent our trick. He had come to the conclusion that a big ship like ours, even though she might be a whaler, would not loaf around in that fashion unless for mischief; and once this idea was in his head the skipper cast off from his prize, making all sail to windward. There was no longer any reason why we should keep the disguise. Our yards were hoisted once more, and with everything drawing we began the chase, each man of our crew watching the progress eagerly, for the capture of this ship meant something more than taking a prize. We could see that she was pierced with six ports on a side, and it was reasonable to suppose that on board was powder enough to provide us with as much as might be needed until another armed Britisher could be overhauled. Not until four o'clock in the afternoon did we come near enough to pitch a few shots ahead and over her, when she hove to under our lee, and a mighty shout of mingled satisfaction and triumph went up from the crew. This prize was the _Sir Andrew Hammond_, of three hundred and one tons, twelve guns, and thirty-one men.