great, that the bows and fore-channels of the Eagle were full of men, with ropes in their hands, ready to assist the schooner’s crew.
On the 8th Mar. following, the Crafty had one of her carronades dismounted in an action with several Spanish gun-vessels belonging to the Algeziras flotilla; and on the following day, she was captured, in a small bay near Tetuan, after a long and most desperate resistance, by a detachment consisting of El Generalissimo and El Huron, each mounting two 24-pounder carronades and two long sixes, with a complement of 70 men; and la Pastora, of two 18-pounder carronades, 2 sixes, and 70 men: – the whole having on board, in addition to their regular crews, a number of useful volunteers, and commanded by a most gallant officer, who had received no less than three steps of rank in his Catholic Majesty’s marine, for the capture of as many British national vessels.
In the midst of the conflict. Lieutenant Spencer was badly wounded in the forehead, eyes, and nose, by a shot striking the lock of a gun that he was pointing, in the hope of sinking El Generalissimo, her crew having just been repulsed in their first attempt to board, and her bowsprit being still over the Crafty’s quarter. At the close of the battle, he was again struck down by the blow of a cutlass on the left side of the head, and his assailant was in the act of stabbing him in the breast, when the master of the schooner, who was loading a musket, seeing the imminent danger of his commander, fired the iron ramrod through the Spaniard’s body, and killed him on the spot. The total loss sustained by the British in this sanguinary affair, was 3 slain and 13, including Mr. Matthew M‘Laughlin, master’s-mate, Mr. John Poore, midshipman, and Mr. Samuel Wadland, clerk, wounded. Among those who lost their lives on the opposite side, were the Spanish commodore and his captain, both of whom fell by the same ball, when attempting to board the Crafty. Each gun-vessel had at least as many men killed and wounded as the British schooner, including a large proportion of officers. Had the commodore survived, he would have been rewarded with a pension, and the rank of rear-admiral.
