When we landed we found that the ball had cut the poor man in two; and what made the circumstance more particularly interesting was, that he was evidently a man of consequence.  He was well dressed, had on black breeches and silk stockings; he was reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and still grasped the book, which I took out of his hand.

We have often heard of the miraculous powers ascribed to a chance shot, but never could we have supposed that this devilish ball could have gone so far, or done so much mischief.  We buried the remains of the unfortunate gentleman in the sand; and having selected two or three bullocks out of the herd, shot them, skinned and divided them into quarters, loaded our boat, and returned on board.  I had taken the book out of the hand of the deceased, and from his neck a small miniature of a beautiful female.  The brooch in his shirt I also brought away; and when I gave an account to the captain of what had happened, I offered him these articles.  He returned them all to me, desired me to keep them until I could see any of the friends of the deceased, and appeared so much distressed at the accident, that we never mentioned it afterwards; and in the course of the time we were together, it was nearly forgotten.  The articles remained in my possession unnoticed for many years.

Two days after, we fell in with a vessel of suspicious appearance; and it being calm, the boats were sent in chase.  They found her, on their approach, to be a xebeque under French colours; but these they very soon hauled down, and showed no others.  As we came within hail they told us to keep off, and that if we attempted to board they should fire into us.  This was not a threat likely to deter a British officer, and particularly such fire-eaters as ours.  So to it we went, and a desperate struggle ensued, the numbers being nearly equal on both sides; but they had the advantage of their own deck and bulwarks.  We got on board, however, and in a few minutes gained possession, with a loss, on our side, of sixteen; and on that of our opponent’s of twenty-six, killed and wounded.

But great was our sorrow and disappointment when we discovered that we had shed the blood of our friends, while we had lost our own.  The vessel, it appeared, was a Gibraltar privateer; they took us for French, our boats being fitted with thoels and grummets for the oars, in the French fashion; and we supposed them to be French from their colours and the language in which they hailed us.  In this affair we had three officers killed or wounded, and some of our best men.  The privateer was manned by a mixed crew of all nations, but chiefly Greeks; and although ostensibly with a commission signed by the Governor of Gibraltar, were no doubt little scrupulous as to the colours of any vessel they might encounter, provided she was not too strong for them.

After this unfortunate mistake we proceeded to Malta:  the captain expecting a severe rebuke from his admiral, for his rashness in sending away his boats to attack a vessel without knowing her force.  Fortunately for him, the admiral was not there; and before we met him, the number of prizes we had taken were found sufficient in his eyes to cover our multitude of sins, so the affair blew over.