NEW-YORK Aug. 13th, 1796.
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EXTRAORDINARY BEHAVIOUR OF TWO COMMANDERS,
IN A SEA FIGHT BETWEEN THE FLEETS OF CÆSAR AND POMPEY, OFF CUBA.
In the height of the action the two rivals, now grown enemies, Menas and
Menacrates, happened to descry one another at the same instant.
Immediately they left every other pursuit, and with all their art, and
strength of oars, threatening and shouting, rushed upon one another. The
shock was terrible: Menas’s ship had her brazen beak beat off with a
part of her bow; and Menecrates’s galley had a tier of her oars stripped
clear off, by the board. But when the grappling irons were thrown, and
the ships made fast along side, there ensued the most desperate
engagement that had ever been seen between two captains. It began with
showers of darts, stones, arrows, spears. Then the bridges were thrown
for boarding, where a cruel battle joined, foot to foot, and shield to
shield: there was not a blow given in vain. They fought for some time,
with equal fury and success, and the crews of both were generally either
killed or wounded, when an accidental circumstance seemed to give Menas
the advantage: his ship was higher than the enemy’s; his men fought as
from a rising ground, and the blows and shot from above gave the
superiority. Yet he was run through the arm with a dart, which was got
out; but his adversary, Menecrates, was pierced through the thigh by a
Spanish barbed javelin, which they durst not try to move. But, though
disabled from fighting, he kept the deck, encouraging his men, till
seeing them all cut down, and the enemy ready to clear the deck, he
sprang overboard and perished in the sea.
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_NEW-YORK._
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