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His Great
Exploits
The affair of the Ranger, so brilliantly conducted,
the short, energetic cruise in narrow seas, so near the
British naval stations, gave Jones a great reputation
for gallantry in Paris. The delays and difficulties,
however, incidental to the wretched state of the
American finances abroad, and the imperfect relation of
his country with the French court, were well calculated
to cool any enthusiasm excited by his conquest; and a
man of less vivacity and perseverance than Jones might
have dropped the service. He persevered. His lieutenant,
Simpson, after various refractory proceedings, had
sailed home in the Ranger, when an arrangement was
finally made with Le Ray de Chaumont, the negotiator of
the French court, to furnish a jointly equipped and
officered fleet, of which Jones was to take command.
Five vessels were thus provided, including the American
frigate Alliance. An old Indiaman, the Duke de Duras,
fell to the lot of Jones.
In compliment to Dr. Franklin, one of the
commissioners, and especially in gratitude for a hint
which he had accidentally lighted upon in an odd number
of that philosopher's almanac, to the effect that
whoever would have his business well done must do it
himself--a suggestion by which Jones had greatly
profited in giving a final spur to his protracted
negotiations--he changed the name of his vessel, by
permission of the French Government, to the Bon Homme
Richard.
Jones at length set sail, on August 14th, with his
squadron. Landais, an incompetent Frenchman in the
American service, was in command of the Alliance. It was
altogether a weak, mongrel affair. The Bon Homme Richard
was unseaworthy, her armament was defective, and in her
motley crew Englishmen and foreigners outnumbered the
Americans. The plan of the cruise was to sail round the
British Islands from the westward. At Cape Clear the
commander parted with two of the smaller vessels of the
squadron, which now consisted of his own ship, the
Alliance, the Pallas, and the Vengeance. The service
was, however, far more impaired by the insubordination
of Landais, who evinced great jealousy of his superior.
Several prizes were taken, one of them by Jones off Cape
Wrath, at the extremity of Scotland. Traversing the
eastern coast, he arrived, with the Pallas and the
Vengeance, at the Firth of Forth, and entertained the
bold idea of attacking the armed vessels at the station,
and putting not only Leith, but possibly the capital,
Edinburgh itself, under contribution. He would certainly
have made the attempt--indeed, it was in full
progress--when it was defeated by a violent gale of
wind.
Jones now continued his course southwardly, casting
longing eyes upon Hull and Newcastle, when, having been
joined by the Alliance, the squadron suddenly, off
Flamborough Head, fell in with the Baltic cruisers, the
Serapis, forty-four, Captain Pearson, and the Countess
of Scarborough, twenty, Captain Piercy, convoying a
fleet of merchantmen. Jones at once prepared for action.
The combat which ensued, between the Serapis and the Bon
Homme Richard, is one of the most remarkable in the
annals of naval warfare, for the circumstances under
which it was fought, the persistence of the contest, and
the well-matched valor of the commanders. The engagement
was by moonlight, on a tranquil sea, within sight of the
shore, which was crowded with spectators, who thronged
the promontory of Flamborough Head and the piers of
Scarborough. After various preliminary manoeuvres on the
part of the English commander to shelter the
merchantmen, the engagement began at half-past seven in
the evening, with a series of attempts of the Bon Homme
Richard to come to close quarters with her antagonist.
At the first broadside of Jones's vessel, two of the old
eighteen-pounders mounted in her gun-room burst, with
fearful destruction to the men. This accident compelled
the closing of the lower ports, and produced a still
greater inequality between the combatants that at the
start, for the Serapis was not only a well-constructed,
well-furnished man-of-war, thoroughly equipped, while
the Bon Homme Richard had every disadvantage in these
respects; but the absolute weight of metal was, at the
outset, greatly in favor of the Englishman. The Richard
then passed to windward of the Serapis, receiving her
fire, which did much damage to the rotten hull of the
old Indiaman. Jones next attempted a movement to get
into position to rake his antagonist from stem to stern,
which resulted in a momentary collision. There was an
effort to board the Serapis, which was repulsed, when
Captain Pearson called out, "Has your ship
struck?" and Jones instantly replied, "I have
not yet begun to fight." The ships then separating,
were brought again to a broadside encounter, when Jones,
feeling the superior force of the Serapis, and her
better sailing, was fully prepared to take advantage of
the next position as the ships fell foul of one another,
to grapple with his opponent. He himself assisted in
lashing the jib-stay of the Scrapis to the mizzenmast of
the Richard.
The ships became now closely entangled for their full
length on their starboard sides; so near were they
together, that the guns of one touched the sides of the
other, and in some places where the port-holes met, the
guns were loaded by passing the rammers into the
opposite vessel. Every discharge in this position was of
course most deadly, and told fearfully upon the rotten
hull of the Richard. To add to Jones's embarrassment, he
was repeatedly fired upon by Landais, from the Alliance,
which always kept her position with the Richard between
her and the enemy. This extraordinary circumstance is
only to be accounted for by an entire lack of presence
of mind in the confusion, or by absolute treachery. The
Serapis poured in her fire below from a full battery,
while the Richard was confined to three guns on deck.
She had efficient aid, however, in clearing the deck of
the Serapis, from the musketry and hand-grenades of her
men in the tops. One of these missiles reached the lower
gun-deck of the Serapis, and there setting fire to a
quantity of exposed cartridges, produced a destruction
of life, an offset to the fearful loss of the Richard by
the bursting of her guns in the opening of the
engagement. The injury to the Richard, from the wounds
inflicted upon her hull, was at this time so great that
she was pronounced to be sinking, and there was a cry
among the men of surrender; not, however, from Jones,
who was as much himself at this extremity as ever.
Seeing the English prisoners, who had been released
below, more than a hundred in number, rushing upon deck,
where in a moment they might have leaped into the
Serapis, and put themselves under then country's flag,
he coolly set them to working the pumps, to save the
sinking ship. Human courage and resolution have seldom
been more severely tried than in the exigencies of this
terrible night on board the Richard. Jones continued to
ply his feeble cannonade from the deck, levelled at the
mainmast of the adversary. Both vessels were on fire,
when, at half-past ten, the Serapis struck.
The loss in this extraordinary engagement, which
outstrips and exaggerates the usual vicissitudes of
naval service, was of course fearful. The entire loss of
the Richard is estimated by Cooper at one hundred and
fifty, nearly one-half of all the men she had engaged.
Captain Pearson reported at least one hundred and
seventeen casualties. The Bon Homme Richard was so
riddled by the enemy's fire, and disembowelled by the
gun-room explosion, that she could not be saved from
sinking. When the wind freshened, the day after the
victory, she became no longer tenable; her living
freight was taken from her, and Jones, in the forenoon
of the 25th, "with inexpressible grief," saw
her final plunge into the depths of the ocean.
While the engagement of the Richard and Serapis was
going on, the Pallas, better officered than the
Alliance, captured the other English vessel, the
Countess of Scarborough. The two prizes were carried to
the Texel, where the squadron enjoyed the uneasy
protection of Holland. Jones himself had a more
satisfactory reception in an enthusiastic greeting on
the Exchange at Amsterdam, and a brilliant triumph,
illuminated by the smiles of the fair sex, shortly after
in Paris. In October, 1780, he left for America in the
Ariel, bearing with him a gift from the king, a
gold-mounted sword, with the inscription on the blade:
Vindicati Maris Ludovicus XVI. Remunerator Strenuo
Vindici--"Louis XVI., rewarder, to the valiant
defender of a liberated sea." The voyage was
interrupted, at its outset, by a severe storm off the
harbor, in which Jones displayed his usual heroism. The
vessel was refitted, and after a partial action on the
high seas with a mysterious stranger, reached
Philadelphia in February, 1781.
top
Introduction
| Apprenticeship
| Early Adventures
| Return To Scotland
| His Greatest Exploits
| Service in France
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