Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/164

136 motionless in the water in such a position that but few of her guns could bear on the enemy. The Néréide, close astern of the Bellone, commanded by Duperré, engaged that vessel on one side whilst Captain Pym in the Sirius attacked her on the other. The French sloop, the Victor, was meanwhile doing all in her power to aid the Minerve by firing at, and engaging the attention of, the Iphigenia.

The number of guns, the weight of metal, the inspiration of attack, all were in favour of the English, and Duperré saw that unless he used his brain to aid the physical power of his men his squadron must be destroyed. He put in force then a manoeuvre which he had arranged beforehand in concert with his captains. He signalled to them to cut their cables and let their vessels glide towards the shore. The result fully answered his anticipations. As his own vessel, the Bellone, glided slowly towards the shore, Captain Pym, with all the impetuosity of his nature, turned the Sirius in pursuit. Not following, however, the exact line the French commodore had taken, he dashed his vessel on to a shoal; and there she remained fixed, immoveable, and powerless.

Having thus rid himself of one enemy, Duperré, ordering his vessels to cast anchor, concentrated all the fire of the Bellone on the other, the Néréide, which, following the example of the Sirius, had likewise drifted on a shoal. Exposed to a most galling fire, the Néréide fought until most of her guns were disabled