not bring his ship into the line of battle till some time after the
engagement had become general. With his characteristic forecast and
activity of (which may not improperly be called) practical
imagination, he had made arrangements to meet every probable
contingency. All the shrouds and sails of the ship not absolutely
necessary for its immediate management, were thoroughly wetted, and
so rolled up that they were as hard and as little inflammable as so
many solid cylinders of wood; every sailor had his appropriate place
and function, and a certain number were appointed as the fire-men,
whose sole duty it was to be on the watch if any part of the vessel
should take fire; and to these men exclusively the charge of
extinguishing it was committed. It was already dark when he brought
his ship into action, and laid her alongside L'Orient. One
particular only I shall add to the known account of the memorable
engagement between these ships, and this I received from Sir
Alexander Ball himself. He had previously made a combustible
preparation, but which, from the nature of the engagement to be
expected, he had purposed to reserve for the last emergency. But
just at the time when, from several symptoms, he had every reason to
believe that the enemy would soon strike to him, one of the
lieutenants, without his knowledge, threw in the combustible matter:
and this it was that occasioned the tremendous explosion of that
vessel, which, with the deep silence and interruption of the
engagement which succeeded to it, has been justly deemed the
sublimest war incident recorded in history. Yet the incident which
followed, and which has not, I believe, been publicly made known, is
scarcely less impressive, though its sublimity is of a different
character. At the renewal of the battle, Captain Ball, though his
ship was then on fire in three different parts, laid her alongside a
French eighty-four; and a second longer obstinate contest began. The