Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/98

92 THE CORNWALL COAST armed with eight 9-pounder carronades, a long gun of similar calibre for use as a chaser, and a crew of twenty-eight men and boys under the command of Captain James Cock, was within a few hours of dropping her anchor at Bridgetown, Barbadoes, when the first light of morning revealed two strange vessels cruising at no great distance. These vessels proved to be American privateers, the Tom, Captain Thos. Wilson, and the Bona, Captain Damaron. The former was armed with fourteen carronades, some 18- ^nd some 12-pounders, as well as two long 9-pounders, and carried 130 men. The latter had six 18- pounders, with a long 24-pounder mounted on a traverse, and a crew of ninety men. . . . This enor- mous preponderance of force was greatly increased in effective power by being divided between two opponents. A single enemy might be crippled by a single shot ; but if good fortune rid the Townshend of one antagonist in this way, there still remained the other to be reckoned, more powerful at every point than herself. " If ever circumstances justified surrender after a short resistance they were present in this case. It might even be thought that resistance was a useless sacrifice of life ; but such was not Captain Cock's view. He held it to be his plain duty not only to keep the mails out of the hands of the enemy — which could be done effectually by sinking them at any moment — but to use every means in his power to preserve them for their proper owners, and not to abandon hope of delivering them at the office of the post-office agent at Bridgetown until every chance of doing so was gone. Now, there were still two chances in his favour : first, that he might hold out until the