In less than half an hour our ship had been so fearfully mauled that she looked like little more than a heap of debris. Judging by appearances, no doubt, the "Temeraire", now hailed us to surrender and not prolong a useless resistance. My reply was instantly to order some soldiers who were near me to fire back; which they did with great alacrity. At the same moment almost, the main mast of the "Redoutable" fell on board the English ship. The two topmasts of the "Temeraire" then came down, falling on board of us. Our whole poop was stove in, helm rudder and stern post all shattered to splinters, all the stern frame, and the decks shot through. All our own guns were either smashed or dismounted by the broadsides of the "Victory" and the "Temeraire" ... The hull itself was riddled, shot through from side to side; deck beams were shattered, port lids torn away or knocked to pieces. Four of our six pumps were so damaged as to be useless. The quarter-deck ladders were broken, which rendered communication with the rest of the ship very difficult. Everywhere the decks were strewn with dead men, lying beneath the debris. Out of a crew of 634 men we had 522 "hors de combat"; of whom 300 were killed and 222 wounded nearly all the officers among them ... The batteries and upper decks were practically abandonedbare of men and were unable longer to offer any resistance. No one who had not seen the state of "Redoutable" could ever form an idea of her awful condition. Really I know of nothing on board that had not been hit by shot.