Our Admiral has ordeied our station off the Virgin Isles, where we have been very lucky, taking one or more prizes every week. Yesterday we arrived here with one, she was laden with cotton, silks, &c. and had on board besides 20 tons of saltpetre; we saw her about four A.M. and about two P.M. was along-side of her. We hailed her, but she gave us no answer, but laying her topsails aback, hawled up her ports, and gave us a broadside, when she filled her sails, and would have stood from us; but we gave her a handsome peppering before she struck; having raked her twice. When we went on board, the Captain would hardly answer any questions put to him, but we found by the ship's papers that his name was Theobald Dibnal, part owner of the vessel, which was called the Palm-Tree, and consigned to Philip Handle, merchant, at Savannah, in Georgia. We lost five men killed, and ten wounded, and the American ten killed and 15 wounded.
