"
Both returned to the frigate. "Mr. Pearson's report is fully borne
out, Captain Wilson. It would be a most desperate enterprise to attack
with our boats. Half of them would be sunk before they got to the
chains; and even if they got past them, which I doubt, there is no
saying what difficulties and obstacles may be inside."
"And now about the frigate, Captain Chambers."
"Well, sir, that is for you to decide. I am quite ready to take the
schooner in; though with the plunging power of that battery raking her
fore and aft I say fairly that it would be a desperate enterprise, and
if she had not sufficient way upon her to carry away the chains
nothing could save her. As to the frigate, it seems to me that she
would run an equal risk with the schooner, with the additional danger
that there may not be water enough for her."
"Well, it certainly doesn't seem to be an easy nut to crack," Captain
Wilson said. "As we agreed before you started, we should not be
justified in risking both our vessels in assaulting a place which is
certainly extremely formidable, and where there may not be water
enough for the frigate to float. Still the question remains, what is
to be done? It is no use anchoring here and trying to starve them out;
they may have provisions enough to last them for years, for anything
we know.
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