Duclerc,
at the head of the main body, after losing heavily, barricaded himself in
a stone warehouse on the quay, round which his foes gathered thickly.
While there the bells of the city rang out merrily, a sound which he
fancied to be made by his own men, who he thought were thus celebrating
their victory. In reality it signified the victory of the Portuguese, who
had fallen upon, defeated, and slaughtered one of his detachments. A
second detachment, which had entered and begun to plunder the magazine,
was set upon by the rabble and completely butchered. Duclerc's defence
soon grew hopeless, and he was forced to surrender at discretion. The
Portuguese sullied their victory by acts of cruel reprisal, many of the
prisoners in their hands being murdered. In all nearly seven hundred of
the French were killed and wounded. Six hundred, including the wounded,
were taken prisoners, and of these many died through bad treatment in the
prisons. Duclerc was murdered some-months after being taken. Soon after
the fight the squadron appeared off the port, where its officers, learning
of the loss of the assailants, squared their yards and sailed away for
France.
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