No doubt the action of the Englishmen was unauthorized, and probably was due to a misunderstanding; but the Americans were so incensed that it was difficult to restrain them from continuing the firing.  The enemy hailed a second time and called out they had surrendered.

The strength of the Hornet was 20 guns and 132 men; of the Penguin, 19 guns and 128 men.  The Hornet had 1 man killed and 11 wounded; the Penguin, 10 killed and 28 wounded.  She was so badly shattered that, after taking out her stores, her captors scuttled her.

In order to complete our history of the gallant Captain James Biddle it is necessary to carry the record in advance of some of the incidents that follow.

As has been stated, the Peacock and the Hornet had gone to Tristan d’Acunha in obedience to the orders of Commodore Decatur, to wait for him and the President, but the latter never arrived, for the good reason that she had been captured by the enemy.  Growing tired of waiting, Biddle and Captain Warrington, of the Peacock, started on an extended cruise, April 13, for the East Indies.

Doubling the Cape of Good Hope, they met with no incident of note until the latter part of April, when they sighted a large sail, which they believed to be a heavily laden East India merchantman.  A chase immediately began.  It continued a long time, and the Peacock was within a few miles, when she made the discovery that the stranger, instead of being a merchantman, was a ship of the line.  Captain Warrington signalled the startling fact to Biddle, and the two turned to escape.  Since the formidable vessel could not pursue both when they took different directions, she selected the Hornet for her prize.

All that Biddle could now hope to do was to out-sail his pursuer.  He put forth every effort known to the most skilful seamanship.  When night closed in, however, the pursuer had perceptibly gained.  Since the weather was perfectly clear and the two were in plain sight of each other, the enemy could keep up the chase all night.  Captain Biddle threw overboard some of his heavy spars, cut away the sheet anchor and flung several tons of kentledge into the sea.

This helped matters somewhat, but the stranger continued slowly to gain, and secured such a position that Captain Biddle was obliged to go about.  Still he could not shake off the bulldog at his heels, and at daylight he was near enough to begin barking with the bow guns.  Although the shot did not strike the Hornet, Captain Biddle dropped his remaining anchors into the sea, including six guns, launch, cables, and everything not absolutely necessary.

The lightening was so considerable that for the first time the Hornet began drawing away from her persistent pursuer.  At the end of a few hours, however, he began creeping up again, and Captain Biddle tumbled overboard all his guns except one, most of his shot, his extra spars, cutlasses, muskets, forge and bell, and indeed everything of which he could free himself.  Not only that, but the men lay down on the quarter deck to help trim the ship.