John wanted the attack to start at once, certain that his small core of courage would diminish if he had to wait a moment. He stood with his landing party at the side of the pinnace and watched the fire boats go in through the mouth of the harbour. The two little barges were loaded with explosives and tar and were rowed with a single oar by a volunteer. The rower’s task was to get the little craft through the choppy water at the harbour mouth and then as close as he dared to the moored shipping, despite the rain of musket fire which came down from the trapped ships. He was to light the coil of pitch rope which served as a fuse, point the boat in the right direction and then plunge into the sea and swim as fast as he could back to the English ships while the fire boat, smouldering with its cargo of explosives, was supposed to float up against the enemy shipping.

‘At least I wasn’t ordered to do that,’ Tradescant whispered miserably to himself, watching the little boat head towards the harbour mouth and seeing a cannonball splash with horrid weight into the water beside it.

The boat bobbed in, the sailor’s head just visible, they saw the flame of the fuse and his swift dive into the water, and then … nothing. The fuse had gone out and they heard the ironic cheers of the pirates as the fire boat bobbed uselessly against the wooden sides of their ships.

‘A free gift of powder and explosives to our enemies,’ Captain Pett said savagely. ‘Stand down, everyone, there will be no attack until the tide is up tomorrow.’

Tradescant spent a sleepless night, with the taste of fear like cold sweat on his lips, and in the morning showed a white face on deck at the head of his landing party. He checked them over. They all had muskets primed and ready, they all had brightly glowing fuses palmed confidently in their hands. One man had the scaling ladder and he was wearing a helmet Tradescant had managed to scrounge in Majorca. Tradescant nodded to his troop with affected confidence and was irritated to see, by the hidden smile one from another, that they saw and understood his pallor.

‘Soon be over, sir,’ one of them said cheerfully. ‘And you’re either dead or safe in minutes.’

‘Thank you,’ John said repressively, and went to the ship’s rail to watch the fire boats go in.