flying aloft,
and the begrimed cannoniers standing sternly beside their pieces.
After the firing of the enemy ceased, the ship Hermes was seen
drifting helplessly on a sand-bank, while the other vessels were
crowding all sail seaward. The former soon after grounded within six
hundred yards of the fort, whose guns opened on her anew with
tremendous effect, and she soon blew up. Out of the one hundred and
seventy who composed her crew, only twenty escaped. The other ships
suffered severely, and the total loss of the enemy was one ship
burned, and two hundred and thirty-two men killed and wounded, while
only eight of the garrison were killed. Nicholls effected his retreat
to Pensacola, where the governor received him as his guest, and threw
open the public stores to the soldiers. On the flag-staff of the fort
were "entwineda
powerful battery. Disregarding her position which rendered her
inviolable, the three vessels continued to approach, firing as they
did so, throwing their shot even into the town, doing considerable
damage. Lieutenant Shubrick, finding that the battery would not
protect him, and that the enemy had no intention of respecting the
neutrality of the port, struck his flag. The firing, however,
continued for some time after.

The English officer, when he came on board to take possession of her,
supposed she was an American vessel, but to his great chagrin found
that the whole squadron had succeeded, after a chase of several hours,
in recapturing a prize in a neutral port.

"Old Ironsides" swept proudly onward over the ocean, remaining
unconquered to the last, the glory of the navy and the boast of the
land.

The news of the victory over the Cyane