According to "Burla Negra" crew member Nicholas Fernandez, "A few days after the capture and destruction of the English ship ["Morning Star"], we fell in with a richly laden American ship (the "Topaz") bound from Calcutta to Boston, to the crew of which no more mercy was shewn than to that of the Morning Star - having laden our brig with a portion of the most valuable part of her cargo, the crew (with the exception of the captain and three hands, who were taken on board the brig) were all put to death, and the ship set on fire! and in a few days after, the captain and two of the three hands shared the fate of their companions! - we had now indeed from repeated instances, become so familiarized with the shedding of human blood, that the shrieks and groans of the devoted victims were about music to our ears! and the work of human butchery was performed as deliberately and with as much unconcern as the butcher would dispatch one of the brute animals of his flock!"