"Or do nothing. Which many a captain would do. We weren't exactly at war with France at that time - I think the term the captain used was 'a state of hostility under a truce' - but no one cared much for the French then as now.

"Still, the captain was not one to stand by and let them die. So, over the objections of his officers, he ordered a rowboat be filled with supply enough to allow the French ship a fighting chance. He maintained that you might be allowed to kill them in combat, but that this was different. He was a man of honor, I suppose." One that Gibbs clearly admired some.

"We even kept an eye on them as they tossed their dead overboard, as they followed in our wake around the cape."