merchant ships, as well as the men of war, consisting of the
_Esmeralda_, a large 40-gun frigate, and two sloops of war, were
moored under the guns of the castle, within a semicircle of fourteen
gun-boats, and a boom made of spars chained together."

"Lord Cochrane, having previously reconnoitred these formidable defences
in person, undertook, on the 5th of November, 1820, the desperate
enterprise of cutting out the Spanish frigate, although she was known to
be fully prepared for an attack. His Lordship proceeded in fourteen
boats, containing 240 men--all volunteers from the different ships of
the squadron--in two divisions, one under the orders of Captain Crosby,
and the other under Captain Guise, both officers commanding the Chileno
squadron."

"At midnight, the boats having forced their way across the boom, Lord
Cochrane, who was leading, rowed alongside the first gun-boat, and
taking the officer by surprise, proposed to him, with a pistol at his
head, the alternative of silence or death. No reply being made, the
boats pushed on unobserved, and Lord Cochrane, mounting the
_Esmeralda's_ side, was the first to give the alarm. The sentinel on the
gangway levelled his piece and fired, but was instantly cut down by the
coxwain, and his Lordship, though wounded in the thigh, at the same
moment stepped on the deck, the frigate being boarded with no less
gallantry on the opposite side by Captain Guise, who met Lord Cochrane
midway on the quarter-deck, as also Captain Crosby, and the afterpart of
the ship was soon carried, sword in hand. The Spaniards rallied on the
forecastle, where they made a desperate resistance, till overpowered by
a fresh party of seamen and marines, headed by Lord Cochrane. A gallant
stand was again made on the main deck, but before one o'clock the ship
was captured, her cables cut, and she was steered triumphantly out of