When I next looked the other ship was so close that I could make out her shape, a rakish cutter of fifty tons or so, built for speed and heavily canvassed. She was heeled over, and I could see the foaming bow wave and her sails straining at the sheets. The lights in the rigging were extinguished as I watched, and on her deck I could make out indistinct figures moving around. From that moment things happened very quickly. I heard a shouted order and the crash and thunder of the cutter’s sails, and saw her gybe and surge up alongside us, heeling wildly. It was an amazing display of seamanship, but not one I could appreciate, for with sudden insight I realised the full horror of what was happening. We were about to be boarded.