Page:Wonderful adventures of sixteen British seamen.pdf/16

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on the bosom of a pond. Instead of one such shot, however, five-and-twenty double shots of grape and canister were sent by deliberate aim among the boats of Arica, and caeh shot struck its allotted portion of the line of attaek. At the scene which presented itself when the smoke eleared away, even the drugger's erew were appalled. The grape had swept the entire line, earrying death and destruetion before it; and the eannons roar was in an instant sueeeeded by the loud shrieks of the wounded and drowning. Several boats were sunk, others were fast sinking, while those that swam were soon overloaded by sueh as had scrambled into them, or had been pieked out of the water; some of the craft, indeed, were in this way swamped, and their erew suffered to perish, for there existed no means of saving them. All around was eovered with shattered planks, drifting oars, and the still buoyant bodies of tho killed, while here and there were seen wounded soldiers, sailors, and eitizens, engaged in an ineffeetual struggle for life.

The surviving boats soon mado for Ariea, and the authorities there wisely resolved to make no farther attempts to disturb the new masters of the Minerva. One of these, the same Tom Martin whoso name has been already mentioned, and from whom this narative has been chiefly derived, was informed, somo years afterwards, that the Minerva's fatal broadsido eonsigned to eternity upwards of 150 men!

Not in the least surprising ineident in the fortunes of Mackay and his shipmates remains to be related. After having deliberately put the ship in proper sailing trim, they stood out to sea, in order to eatch the trade-wind, which, at the distanee of 150 miles from the land, blew at that time from