ABSTRACT
Captain Laurent was a tall man, fair and with light hair : he wore mustachios, and was very fond of amusing himself on board his ship with music: violins and trumpets were his favourite instruments. He was remarkable for superior manners and address. In the Spanish service he was employed against the buccaneers, from whom he took a great many prisoners. At last, however, he was taken by them, and having been offended by the Spaniards, he determined to join the buccaneers, and got the command of a vessel with them. He was cruizing as a single ship when he fell in with two Spanish galleons, each of sixty guns, from which he found it impossible to escape by running away: he therefore made an animated speech to his crew, and concluded by telling them, that the only chance of escape was by fighting. He ordered a man to stand by him with a lighted match, ready to blow up the vessel if they should be overpowered, and at the same time ran in between the two vessels, and poured in a welldirected fire of musketry, which killed forty-eight of the Spaniards. The action continued for some time, when the main-mast of the largest ship was carried away, and her consort not daring to board, Captain Laurent escaped with flying colours.
