Now he could distinguish the salt dried along Le Tigre's water-line; her quarterboats were lowered it and secured to the boat boom amidships; there was a line of laundry rigged forward and displaying a couple of dozen shirts in different bright colours.

Ramage noticed that the hammocks were not stowed in the nettings on top of the bulwarks: presumably they had been left slung below, in contrast to the Royal Navy's strict practice of having them stowed first thing every morning. Apart from clearing out the lowerdeck, it provided a thick canvas barricade against small arms fire.

Through the glass he could see a dozen men working on the mainyard and another dozen grouped round the foreyard. Obviously Le Tigre had sprung both yards; it looked as though a sudden change of wind (or a mistake by the men at the wheel) had resulted in the ship being caught aback, the wind on the foreside of the sails pressing the yards back against the masts. It was easy enough to do; and if that was what had happened, then Le Tigre was lucky to escape with only a couple of sprung yards; ships had been dismasted by being caught aback.

And that has passed another minute, Ramage realized, beginning now to feel excited rather than just tense: in another minute he would give the order to run the guns out; then number one gun on the starboard side would fire, and then the rest would follow in sequence.

There was one task remaining. He turned to Orsini and said sharply: "Lower the French colours and hoist our own!"

He turned to Aitken: "Run out the guns!"

He lifted the telescope to his eye again, watching the group of French officers. He saw one of them gesticulating and was conscious that behind him the Calypso's Tricolour had been hauled down. But it was too late for the French now; in a few moments the British colours would be hoisted and a few moments after that the first round of grapeshot would be smashing into her stern - he could hear the rumbling of the guns being run out.

He glanced aft, saw the British colours hoisted home, and looked forward again. Almost at once a gun gave a throaty cough and smoke streamed out of the Calypso's side; then there was a ripple of noise as the rest of the guns fired in succession.

The French frigate's stern seemed to pass quite leisurely along the Calypso's starboard side, giving the gunners plenty of time to aim, Ramage noted. And, as he watched, Le Tigre's transom appeared to dissolve in a cloud of dust, the stern lights of the captain's cabin beaten in as the grapeshot smashed their way through and went on the length of the ship, killing or maiming anyone in their path and flinging up lethal splinters.

Finally the last gun in the broadside had fired and Ramage was beginning to cough as the smoke billowed aft, curling along in oily coils to cover the quarterdeck. He turned to Aitken: "Ready to wear round? Now we'll give them the other broadside!"

A shouted order to the quartermaster set the men spinning the wheel, and Aitken's bellows through the speaking trumpet brought the Calypso round to larboard, her sails slatting as the wind passed across her stern. Seamen hauled at braces to swing the yards round and then others hardened in the sheets to trim the sails. Then Aitken shouted down to the gunners to prepare to fire the larboard broadside.

The Calypso did not have enough men to fire both broadsides at once and crews from the starboard guns ran across the deck to the other side. Gun captains hurriedly snatched up the lanyards and uncoiled them: second captains checked the quills in the vents and the priming powder before cocking the locks and standing back.

As Jackson and his crew ran across the deck Stafford exclaimed: "Did you see what we did, Jacko? Just about bashed his sternlights in!"

As Jackson reached for the lanyard coiled on the breech he grinned: "Yes, we've spoiled that French captain's furniture!"

By now the Calypso had swung round and was steering an opposite course across the frigate's stern. There were no last-minute aiming instructions: when they had loaded the gun they had left the barrel elevated just enough to hit the French frigate's stern; the wedge-shaped quoin adjusting the elevation of the barrel was pushed in more than three-quarters of its length, so that the barrel was horizontal.

Suddenly to Jackson's right the first gun of the broadside fired and was followed by the second, and by the time the French frigate's stern was passing the port in front of Jackson the deck was a swirling cloud of smoke.

Jackson waited until the battered sternlights were in his sights and then gave the lanyard a brisk tug. The gun barked and spewed smoke and flame before crashing back in recoil, and as soon as it was thrust hard up against the breeching, Rossi and the Frenchmen went into action: a water-soaked sponge was thrust down the bore, a powder monkey ran forward with a cartridge which Gilbert snatched up and cradled into the bore, Auguste pressed it in with the rammer and, as he felt it come hard up in the chamber of the breech, gave the rammer a sharp jab.

Albert slid in a wad which Auguste rammed home while Rossi stood by with the stand of grapeshot. He swung it up and into the muzzle helped by Louis and once again Auguste thrust with his rammer, helped by Rossi because of the weight of the grapeshot. Albert was ready with another wad, and as soon as it was rammed home he lifted his hand and the men ran to the tackles to run the gun out again. As soon as it had rumbled into position, Stafford thrust the pricker into the vent hole and wriggled it about to make sure the point had penetrated the cartridge case and made a passage for the powder. Then he slid in a quill and sprinkled priming powder on top. Now the gun was loaded and ready for the next broadside when the Calypso had worn again.

Jackson had coiled the lanyard ready and put it on the breech, and as soon as he saw that Stafford had finished he shouted and the crew ran back to their gun on the starboard side. By now the last gun of the larboard broadside had fired and yet again the Calypso's sails were slatting as she wore round clear of the rocky tip of the peninsula.

By now the Calypso was streaming smoke through all her gunports as she turned, drifting aft to the quarterdeck, where the smoke from the carronades already had Ramage, Aitken and Southwick coughing and wiping their eyes.

Ramage could see that with Le Tigre's transom now smashed in the grapeshot must be sweeping through the length of the ship below deck, and there could be few men left alive below.

"Orsini!" he shouted, "run round and tell all the officers at their quarters that I want their guns sweeping the Frenchman's decks HOW!"

Paolo ran off down the quarterdeck ladder, glad to have something to do in a battle in which up to now he had been only a spectator. He quickly found Hill and passed on the order, which the third lieutenant at once bellowed to his excited gun captains. Paolo ran on along the length of guns passing the word to the red-haired Kenton and finally the fourth lieutenant, William Martin.

At once the gun captains shouted orders to their crews, who snatched up handspikes, long iron-tipped levers, which were slid under the breeches of the guns and took the weight while the quoins were pulled further out to raise the elevation of the barrels.

The Calypso was now ready for her third run across the French frigate's stern and Ramage found himself wishing the wind would freshen to clear the smoke from the deck. The thought had hardly formed in his mind before the first gun in the starboard broadside was firing, followed in turn by the bronchitic coughing of the rest of the guns.

Ramage watched the grapeshot sweep the French ship's deck, seeing men fling up their arms as they were cut down.

Then the Calypso wore round again and the guns' crews ran across to the other side, snatched up handspikes and adjusted their aim. With quoins newly positioned and the captains sighting along the barrels to make sure the elevation was correct, in a matter of moments the first gun was firing, followed in sequence by the rest of the guns.