At this
moment Lord Exmouth was seen waving his hat on the poop to the idlers on
the beach to get out of the way, then a loud cheer was heard, and the
whole of the Queen Charlotte's tremendous broadside was thrown into the
batteries abreast of her; this measure was promptly taken, as the smoke
of a gun was observed to issue from some part of the enemy's works, so
that the sound of the British guns was heard almost in the same instant
with that to which the smoke belonged. The cheers of the Queen Charlotte
were loudly echoed by those of the Leander, and the contents of her
starboard broadside as quickly followed, carrying destruction into the
groups of row-boats; as the smoke opened, the fragments of boats were
seen floating, their crews swimming and scrambling, as many as escaped
the shot, to the shore; another broadside annihilated them. The enemy was
not slack in returning this warm salute, for almost before the shot
escaped from _our_ guns, a man standing on the forecastle bits, hauling
on the topsail buntlines, received a musket bullet in his left arm, which
broke the bone, and commenced the labours in the cockpit.
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