Five minutes sufficed us to span the narrow stretch of water that separated us from our late antagonist; and upon climbing the side we were received at the gangway by an officer of some twenty-five years of age, whose head was swathed in a blood-stained bandage, and who handed his sword to Percival with a dignified bow.  This officer, who spoke English quite well, informed us that the ship which we had captured was the Dutch frigate _Gelderland_, of forty guns, homeward-bound from the East Indies with the two ships in sight under convoy.  He further informed us that his name was Van Halst, and that at the beginning of the action he had been third lieutenant, whereas, in consequence of the heavy loss inflicted by our raking broadsides, he was now the ship's commanding officer.