Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/288

 172 EXPLOIT OF AN ATHENIAN SHIP [ll shore to its aid. He, when he saw them weighing anchor, was alarmed, as they anticipated, for the safety of the town, which was undefended. Against his will and in great haste he embarked and sailed along the shore ; the land forces of the Messenians followed. The Peloponne- sians, seeing that the enemy were in single file and were already within the gulf and close to land, which was exactly what they wanted, at a given signal suddenly brought their ships round, and the whole line faced the Athenians and bore down upon them, every ship rowing at the utmost speed, for they hoped to cut off all the Athenian fleet. Eleven vessels which were in advance evaded the sudden turn of the Peloponnesians, and rowed past their right wing into the open water ; but they caught the rest, forced them aground, and disabled them. All the sailors who did not swim out of them were slain. Some of the empty ships they fastened to their own and began to tow away ; one they had already taken with the crew, but others were saved by the Messenians, who came to the rescue, dashed armed as they were into the sea, boarded them, and, fighting from their decks when they were being already towed away, finally recovered them. 91 While in this part of the engagement the Lacedae- The Lacedaemonians monians had the victory and routed the c^iase the eleven Athe- Athenian ships, their twenty vessels on nian ships, which had .1 • 1, • • ,1 1 escaped, to Naupacius. ^he right wmg Were pursumg the eleven One of these by a sudden of the Athenians which had escaped ittrtx sinks her pursuer, from their attack into the open water of the gulf These fled and, with the exception of one, arrived at Naupactus before their pursuers. They stopped off" the temple of Apollo, and, turning their beaks outward, prepared to defend themselves in case the enemy followed them to the land. The Peloponnesians soon came up ; they were singing a paean of victory as they rowed, and one Leucadian ship far in advance of the rest was chasing the single Athenian ship which had been left behind. There chanced to be anchored in the deep water a merchant