HMS Iris steamed into Victoria harbor three days after Honeywell"s confrontation with Carr, with The Black Crow in tow. The once beautiful clipper had lost her rigging to fire; her decks scorched black as her hull. Bandaged men in black shirts lay about the deck. As the warship passed through the harbor, the crew shouted that these men had fought the pirates.
“Sunk three ships, they did! Three! Bloody damn heroes they are!”
The men aboard The Black Crow didn"t feel much like heroes. Of the sixty men in black shirts, twenty had died. Of the forty that survived the battle, all had wounds. Of the officers, only McCauley, Stump, and Crow remained. Crow sat with his back resting against the charred main mast, Bradford"s Mameluke sword across his knees.
The Iris had found The Black Crow adrif
