Part 4 (2/2)

”What s.h.i.+p is that?” repeated the other in a louder voice through his trumpet. ”Answer or I shall fire into you.”

Jones made no reply, knowing that it was useless, but continued to edge near his antagonist. A minute later both s.h.i.+ps discharged a broadside at the same moment, the gloom being lit up by spouts of crimson flame, while the thunder ”shook the mighty deep” and the sulphurous smoke rolled slowly upward and drifted through the rigging. Then again came a minute or so of impressive stillness, while the crews of both looked around to learn the results of the awful tempest of round shot, grape and canister of which they had been the targets.

Sad work, indeed, had been done, for from each vessel rose the cries of the wounded and dying--cries that inspired their companions to revenge and caused them to hasten the reloading and firing of the cannon. But unfortunately the _Bonhomme Richard_ suffered from her own guns as well as from those of the enemy. On the lower gun deck was an improvised battery of six 18-pounders, two of which burst, killing most of the men at work there and tearing away the deck above them. The remainder of the men refused to serve the other guns, and thus the _Bonhomme Richard_ was deprived of the services of her heaviest battery, in addition to the serious loss in dead and wounded.

Captain Jones forged ahead, crossing his enemy's bow, while the latter came up on his port quarter. They were within a biscuit's toss of each other, wrapped in dense smoke, lit up by the jets of flame which were continuous. Mingled with the terrific booming was the spiteful rattle of musketry from the tops and yells and cries of the wounded. The decks of the _Bonhomme Richard_ were slippery with blood, which increased until the men, as they ran to and fro, splashed in it, like children playing in a mud puddle, and it was the same on the _Serapis_. It found its outlet through the scuppers and crimsoned the deep blue of the ocean.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGHT BETWEEN ”BONHOMME RICHARD” AND ”SERAPIS.”]

Some of the shots from the _Serapis_ pierced the _Bonhomme Richard_ under the water line, causing her to leak badly. Deprived of his 18-pound guns by reason of the accident mentioned, Jones was forced to rely upon his 12-pounders. They were worked for all that was in them, but the whole fourteen were silenced in little more than half an hour and seven of the quarter deck and forecastle guns were dismounted. She was left with three 9-pounders, which, being loaded and aimed under the eye of Jones himself, did frightful execution on the deck of the enemy.

An hour had pa.s.sed and the men were fighting furiously, when the full moon appeared above the horizon and lit up the fearful scene. The _Serapis_ attempted to cross the bow of the _Bonhomme Richard_, but miscalculated and the _Bonhomme Richard_ shoved her bowsprit over the other's stern. In the lull that followed, when each expected his antagonist to board, Captain Pearson called out:

”Have you struck?”

”Struck!” shouted back Jones; ”I am just beginning to fight!”

The _Serapis_ made another effort to get into position to rake the American, but in the blinding smoke she ran her jibboom afoul of the starboard mizzen shrouds of the _Bonhomme Richard_. Captain Jones himself lashed the spar to the rigging, knowing that his only chance was in fighting at close quarters, but the swaying of the s.h.i.+ps broke them apart. At that instant, however, the spare anchor of the _Serapis_ caught on the American's quarter and held the two vessels, as may be said, locked in each other's arms.

They were so close, indeed, that the English gunners could not raise the lower port lids, and they blew them off by firing their cannon through them. The men on each s.h.i.+p in loading were forced to push their rammers into the ports of the other vessel. The _Bonhomme Richard_ was set on fire by burning wads, but the flames were speedily extinguished.

The explosion of the American's lower guns at the opening of the battle had made her helpless against the corresponding battery of the enemy, which pounded away until a huge, yawning gap was opened. Some of the shots went clean through the battered hull and splashed into the water, hundreds of feet distant. The disadvantage was more than offset by the concentration of the Americans on the upper deck and in the rigging. The fire of the _Bonhomme Richard_ became so terrible that every officer and man of the enemy kept out of sight, observing which an American seaman crawled out on the main yard, carrying a bucket of hand grenades which he threw wherever he saw a man. He did this with such excellent aim that he dropped one through the main hatchway and into the gunroom. It fell into a heap of powder and produced an explosion that was awful beyond description, for it killed and wounded thirty-eight men and really decided the battle.

At that moment, when it all seemed over, Captain Landais fired a broadside from the _Alliance_ into the _Bonhomme Richard_. Captain Jones called to him in G.o.d's name to desist, but he circled about the two s.h.i.+ps and fired again and again into his ally, killing and wounding a number of men and officers. It was believed that the _Alliance_ had been captured by the enemy and had joined in the attack on the _Bonhomme Richard_, which was so injured that she began slowly to sink. Having wrought this irreparable damage, the _Alliance_ drew off and ceased her murderous work.

Jones incited his prisoners to desperate pumping by the report that the _Serapis_ must soon go down and that the only way to save themselves from drowning was to keep the _Bonhomme_ afloat. An officer ran to the quarter deck to haul down the colors, but they had been shot away. He then hurried to the taffrail and shouted for quarter. Jones, being in another part of the s.h.i.+p, did not hear him. The British commander mustered his men to board the American, but they were driven back by the firing from the rigging of the _Bonhomme Richard_. The condition of the latter could not have been more desperate. She was so mangled that she began to settle, most of her guns had been disabled, a fire that could not be checked was already close to her magazine and several hundred prisoners were stealing here and there, waiting for a chance to strike from behind.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD-TIME BATTLEs.h.i.+PS.]

A deserter had slipped on board of the _Serapis_ in the confusion and acquainted the commander with the frightful plight of the American.

After firing with renewed ardor for several minutes Captain Pearson again called to know whether Jones had surrendered. He shouted back a defiant negative, and, pistol in hand, ordered his men to the guns, threatening to kill the first one who refused. All knew his temper too well to hesitate, and the battle was renewed with greater fury than before. Captain Pearson could not believe the condition of the _Bonhomme Richard_ as bad as was represented by the deserter. He had lost a great many men, all his guns were silenced, and, being utterly unable to make any further defence, he hauled down his flag with his own hands.

The surrender was just in time to save the _Bonhomme Richard_, which was in danger of going down and blowing up. The united efforts of both crews were necessary to extinguish the flames before they reached the magazine. She was kept afloat through the night, while the wounded and prisoners were transferred to the _Serapis_. Then the battered and riddled old hulk plunged downward bow foremost into the depths of the German Ocean.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MEDAL PRESENTED BY CONGRESS TO CAPTAIN JOHN PAUL JONES.]

This battle has never been surpa.s.sed in heroism. Both sides fought with a bravery that has given the conflict a place by itself in naval annals, and it will always stand as a proof of the dauntless courage of the Anglo-Saxon beyond the reach of those of the Latin race. The _Bonhomme Richard_ had 42 guns and the _Serapis_ 50; the American crew numbered 304 and the English 320. The killed on each side was 49; the wounded on the _Bonhomme Richard_ was 116 and on the _Serapis_ 117, there being a difference of only one in the total of killed and wounded.

The battle lasted three hours and a half.

The _Countess of Scarborough_ made a gallant resistance for two hours, when she was so crippled that she was compelled to surrender to the Frenchman. An investigation into the treacherous conduct of Captain Landais caused many to believe him insane, though others were convinced that he was inspired by intense jealousy of Captain Jones. He was discharged from both the French and American navy. Benjamin Franklin was among those who believed he deserved punishment for his perfidy.

The _Serapis_ and _Countess of Scarborough_ were refitted and given to France, while Captain Jones was placed in command of the _Alliance_. He was loaded with honors in France, the king presenting him with a gold sword, and when he sailed for the United States he gave another exhibition of his superb seamans.h.i.+p by eluding the blockaders that were waiting for him outside of Texel, running through the Straits of Dover and then defiantly standing down the English Channel in full view of more than one of the largest British fleets. He reached the United States in June, 1780, without mishap.

Congress gave Captain Jones a vote of thanks, and, had the war continued, no doubt he would have rendered more brilliant service for the country he loved so well, but before he could be given a fitting command hostilities ceased. He had won a world-wide reputation and accepted the appointment of rear-admiral in the Russian navy, but gained no opportunity to display his marvelous prowess. He died in Paris in 1792.

<script>