the arm by which this act of resistance was committed.  It was accordingly severed from his body by one stroke of a sabre, and no steps were taken either to bind up the wound, or to prevent his bleeding to death.  The captain, himself, had yet sufficient presence of mind left, however, to think of his own safety, and there being near him some clarified butter, he procured this to be heated, and while yet warm, thrust the bleeding stump of his arm into it.  It had the effect of lessening the effusion of blood, and ultimately of saving a life that would otherwise most probably have been lost.  The crew were then all made prisoners, and taken to a port of Arabia, from whence they gradually dispersed and escaped.  The vessels themselves were additionally armed, one of them mounting twenty guns, manned with Arab crews, and sent from Ras-el-Khyma to cruise in the gulf, where they committed many piracies.

In the year 1808, the force of the Joassamees having gradually increased, and becoming flushed with the pride of victory, their insulting attacks on the British flag were more numerous and more desperate than ever.  The first of these was on the ship Minerva, of Bombay, on her voyage to Bussorah.  The attack was commenced by several boats, (for they never cruize singly,) and a spirited resistance in a running fight was kept up at intervals for several days in succession.  A favorable moment offered, however, for boarding; the ship was overpowered by numbers, and carried amidst a general massacre.  The captain was said to have been cut up into separate pieces, and thrown overboard by fragments; the second mate and carpenter alone were spared, probably to make use of their services; and an Armenian lady, the wife of Lieut.  Taylor, then at Bushire, was reserved perhaps for still greater sufferings.  But was subsequently ransomed for a large sum.

[Illustration:  The Pirates striking off the arm of Capt.  Babcock.]

A few weeks after this, the Sylph, one of the East India Company’s cruisers, of sixty tons and mounting eight guns, was accompanying the mission under Sir Hartford Jones, from Bombay, to Persia; when being separated from the rest of the squadron, she was attacked in the gulf by a fleet of dows.  These bore down with all the menacing attitude of hostility; but as the commander, Lieut.  Graham had received orders from the Bombay government, not to open his fire on any of these vessels until he had been first fired on himself, the ship was hardly prepared for battle, and the colors were not even hoisted to apprise them to what nation she belonged.  The dows approached, threw their long overhanging prows across the Sylph’s beam, and pouring in a shower of stones on her deck, beat down and wounded almost every one who stood on it.  They then boarded, and made the ship an easy prize, before more than a single shot had been fired, and in their usual way, put every one whom they found alive to the sword.  Lieut.  Graham fell, covered with wounds, down