I lean to the injury explanation the best

"Then at length we stood two cables away, Our cracked four-pounders made an awful din, But with one fat ball the Yank stove us in. The Antelope shook and pitched on her side. Barrett was smashed like a bowl of eggs, and the maintrunk carried off both me legs. So here I lay in my twenty-third year..."

From Barretts Privateers

Mike