As the Serapis kept her luff, sailing and working better than the
Richard, it was the intention of Captain Pearson to pay broad off,
across the Richard’s fore-foot, as soon as he had got far enough ahead.
But making the attempt and finding he had not room, he put his helm
down, to keep clear of his adversary, and this double movement brought
the two ships nearly in a line, the Serapis leading.
By these evolutions the English ship lost some of her way, while the
American, having kept her sails trimmed, not only closed, but actually
ran on board of her antagonist, bows on, a little on her starboard
quarter. The wind being light, much time was consumed in these
manœuvres, and nearly an hour had elapsed between the firing of the
first gun and the moment when the vessels got foul of each other, in
the manner just described. The English thought it was the intention of
the Americans to board; and for some minutes it was uncertain whether
they would do so or not, but the position was not safe for either party
to pass into the opposing ship.
There being at this time a complete cessation of the firing, Captain
Pearson hailed, and asked whether the Richard had struck. “I have not
yet begun to fight,” was the answer from Jones.
The Richard’s yards were then braced aback, and the sails of the
Serapis being full, the ships separated.
As soon as they were far enough apart, the Serapis put her helm hard
down, laid all aback forward, shivered her after sails, and wore short
round on her heel, with a view, most probably, of luffing up across
the Richard’s bow, in order to rake her. In this position the Richard
would have been fighting her starboard, and the Serapis her port guns;
but Jones, by this time, had become convinced of the hopelessness
of success against so much heavier metal; and so backed astern some
distance, filled on the other tack, and luffed up, with the intention
of meeting the enemy as he came to the wind, and of laying him athwart
hawse.
In the smoke and dim light, one or the other party miscalculated the
distance, for the vessels came foul again, the bowsprit of the English
vessel passing over the poop of the American. As neither had much way
the collision did but little injury, and Jones, with his own hands,
immediately lashed the enemy’s head-gear to his mizzen-mast. The
pressure on the after sails of the Serapis, which vessel was nearly
before the wind at the time, brought her hull round, and the two ships
gradually fell close alongside of each other, head and stern; the
jib-boom of the Serapis giving way with the strain. A spare anchor
of the English ship now hooked in the quarter of the American, and
additional lashings were got out on board the latter, to secure her
opponent in this position.
Captain Pearson, who was a brave and excellent officer, was fully aware
of his superiority in weight of metal; and he no sooner perceived that
the vessels were foul than he dropped an anchor, in the hope that the
Richard would drift clear of him. But, of course, such an expectation
was futile, as the yards were interlocked, the hulls pressed close
together, there were lashings fore and aft, and every projection aided
in holding the two ships together. When the cable of the Serapis took
the strain, the vessels slowly tended, with the bows of the Serapis and
the stern of the Richard, to the tide.
At this time the English made an attempt to board, but were repulsed,
with trifling loss. All this time there was a heavy fire kept up from
the guns. The lower ports of the Serapis having been closed as the
vessel swung, to prevent boarding, they were now blown off, to allow
the guns to be run out; and cases actually occurred in which the
rammers had to be thrust into the ports of the opposing ship, in order
to be entered in the muzzles of their proper guns. It was evident
that such a state of things could not last long. In effect, the heavy
metal of the Serapis, in one or two discharges, cleared all before it,
and the main-deck guns of the Richard were almost abandoned. Most of
her people went upon the upper deck, and a great number collected on
the forecastle, where they were safe from the battery of the Serapis;
continuing the fight by throwing grenades and using muskets.
At this stage of the action, then, the Serapis was tearing the American
to pieces, below, at each discharge of her battery; the latter only
replying to the English fire by two guns on the quarter-deck, and
three or four of her twelve-pounders. To the quarter-deck guns Jones
succeeded in adding a third, by shifting a gun from the port side; and
all these were used with effect, under his own eye, until the close of
the action.
He tried to get over a second gun, from the port side, but did not
succeed.
The fight must now have been decided in favor of the English, but for
the courage and activity of the people aloft. Strong parties were
placed in the tops, and, after a sharp and short contest, the Americans
had driven every man of the enemy from the upper deck of the English
frigate. After this they kept up so sharp a fire of small-arms upon the
quarter-deck of the English ship as to keep it clear, shooting down
many in the operation.
Thus, this singular condition of affairs obtained, that, while the
English had the battle very much to themselves, below, the Americans
had control of their upper deck and tops. Having cleared the latter,
some of the American seamen laid out on the Richard’s main-yard, and
began to throw hand grenades down upon the deck of the British ship;
while the men on the Richard’s forecastle seconded these efforts by
casting grenades, and other combustibles, through the ports of the
Serapis.
At length one man, in particular, became so bold as to take up his post
on the extreme end of the yard; and being provided with a bucket of
grenades and a match, he dropped the explosives upon the enemy, one of
them passing down the Serapis’ main hatchway. The powder boys of the
English ship had got up more cartridges than were needed at the moment,
and had carelessly laid a row of them along her main deck, parallel
with the guns.
The grenade which came down the hatch set fire to some loose powder on
the deck, and the flash passed to these cartridges, beginning abreast
of the main-mast, and running away aft.
The effect of the explosion was awful. More than twenty men were
instantly killed; many of them being left with nothing on them but the
collars and wrist-bands of their shirts, and the waist-bands of their
duck trowsers. This is often the effect of explosions in confined
places.
The official returns of Captain Pearson, made a week after the action,
show that there were no less than thirty-three wounded on board then,
still alive, who had been injured at this time; and thirty of them
were said to be in great danger.
Captain Pearson reported that the explosion destroyed nearly all the
men at the five or six aftermost guns of the Serapis; and, altogether,
nearly sixty of the Serapis’ men must have been instantly disabled by
this sudden blow.
The advantages thus obtained by the coolness and intrepidity of the
topmen of the Bonhomme Richard, in a measure restored the chances of
the fight, and, by lessening the fire of the enemy, enabled Jones to
increase his. And in the same degree that it encouraged the Americans
did it diminish the hopes of the English.
One of the guns, directed by Jones himself, had been for some time
firing against the main-mast of his enemy; while the two others were
assisting in clearing his decks with grape and canister. Kept below
decks by this double attack, where they had a scene of horror before
their eyes in the agonies of the wounded, and the other effects of
the explosion, the spirits of the English crew began to droop, and a
very little would have caused them to surrender. From this despondency
they were temporarily raised by one of the unlooked-for events which
characterize every battle, whether afloat or ashore.
After exchanging the ineffectual and distant broadsides with the
Scarborough, as already mentioned, the Alliance had kept standing off
and on, to leeward of the two principal ships, and out of the direction
of their shot, when, about half-past eight, she appeared, crossing the
stern of the Serapis, and the bow of the Richard, and firing, at such a
distance, and in such a way, that it was impossible to say which vessel
would suffer the most.
As soon as she had drawn out of range of her own guns, her helm was
put up, and she ran down near a mile to leeward, and hovered about,
aimlessly, until the firing had ceased between the Pallas and the
Scarborough, when she suddenly came within hail, and spoke both vessels.
Captain Cottineau, of the Pallas, earnestly entreated Captain Landais,
of the Alliance, to take possession of his prize, and allow him to go
to the assistance of the Richard, or else to stretch up to windward in
the Alliance, and go to the succor of the Commodore.
After some delay, Captain Landais took the very important duty of
assisting his consort into his own hands, and, making two long
stretches, under top-sails only, he appeared, at about the time at
which we have arrived in the story of the fight, directly to windward
of the two ships which were locked together in mortal combat. The head
of the Alliance was then to the westward. This ship then opened fire
again, doing at least as much damage to friend as foe. Keeping away a
little, she was soon on the port-quarter of the Richard; and some of
the people of the latter affirmed that her guns were discharged until
she had got nearly abeam.
Many voices now hailed, to inform the Alliance that she was firing
into the wrong ship; and three lanterns were shown in a line on the
off-side of the Richard, which was the regular signal for recognition
in a night action. An officer was then directed to hail, to command
Captain Landais to lay the enemy on board; and, the question being put
as to whether the order was understood, an answer was given in the
affirmative.
As the moon had now been up for some time, it was impossible not to
distinguish between the two vessels. The Richard was all black, while
the Serapis had yellow sides; and the impression among the people of
the Richard was that Landais had intentionally attacked her.
Indeed, as soon as the Alliance began to fire, the people left one or
two of the twelves on board the Richard, which they had begun to fight
again, saying that the English in the Alliance had got possession of
the ship and were helping the enemy.
The Alliance’s fire dismounted a gun, extinguished several
battle-lanterns on the main deck, and did much damage aloft. This ship
now hauled off to some distance, always keeping the Richard between her
and the enemy; and then she re-appeared, edging down on the port beam
of her consort, and hauling up athwart the bows of that ship and the
stern of her antagonist. The officers of the Richard reported that her
fire then recommenced, when by no possibility could her shot reach the
Serapis, except through the Bonhomme Richard. In fact, it appears that
this Landais was one of those men who, for generations, affected the
French character for seamanship and conduct in naval battles.
There were, and are, many excellent French seamen, and as builders of
vessels they are unexcelled. But some men, like Landais, at that time
had destroyed their reputation afloat.
Ten or twelve men appear to have been killed on the forecastle of
the Richard at this time, that part being crowded, and among them an
officer of the name of Caswell, who, with his dying breath, maintained
that he had received his death wound from the friendly vessel.
After crossing the bows of the Richard and the stern of the Serapis,
delivering grape as he passed, this “lunatic Frenchman” ran off to
leeward again, standing off and on, and doing absolutely nothing for
the remainder of the fight. It was as if a third party, seeing two men
fighting, should come up and throw a stone or two at them both, and
then retire, saying he had rather the little fellow whipped.
The fire of the Alliance certainly damaged the Bonhomme Richard, and
increased her leaks; and the latter vessel by this time had leaked so
much through her shot-holes that she had begun to settle in the water.
Many witnesses affirmed that the most dangerous shot-holes received
by the Richard were under her port bow and port-quarter; or, in other
words, where they could not have been received from the Serapis. But
this is not entirely reliable, as it has been seen that the Serapis
luffed up on the port-quarter of the Richard in the commencement of
the action, and, forging ahead, was subsequently on her port bow,
endeavoring to cross her fore-foot. These shots may very possibly have
been received then, and as the Richard settled in the water, have
suddenly increased the danger. On the other hand, if the Alliance did
actually fire while on the bow and quarter of the Richard, as appears
by a mass of testimony, the dangerous shot-holes may have very well
come from that ship.
Let the injuries have been received from what quarter they might,
soon after the Alliance had run to leeward again an alarm was spread
throughout the Richard that she was sinking.
Both the contending ships had been on fire several times, and the
flames had been extinguished with difficulty; but here was a new enemy
to contend with, and, as the information came from the Carpenter, whose
duty it was to sound the pump-well, it produced a good deal of alarm.
The Richard had more than a hundred English prisoners on board; and the
Master-at-Arms, in the hurry of the moment, and to save their lives,
let them up from below. In the confusion of such a scene, at night, in
a torn and sinking vessel, the Master of the letter-of-marque that
had been taken off the north of Scotland, passed through a port of the
Richard into one of the Serapis, where he reported to Captain Pearson
that a few minutes would probably decide the battle in his favor, or
carry his enemy down, as he (the Captain of the privateer) had been
liberated in order to save his life.
Just at this moment the gunner of the Bonhomme Richard, who had not
much to do at his quarters, came on deck, and not seeing Commodore
Jones, or Mr. Dale, both of whom were occupied with the liberated
prisoners, and believing the Master (the only other superior officer of
the ship) to be dead, he ran up on the poop, to haul down the colors,
and, as he believed save all their lives.
Fortunately, the flag-staff had been shot away, and as the ensign
already hung in the water, he had no other means of letting his
intentions be known than by bawling out for quarter.
Captain Pearson now hailed, to inquire if the Richard demanded quarter,
and Commodore Jones, hearing the hail, replied “No.”
It is probable that the reply was not heard; or if heard, supposed to
come from an unauthorized source; for, encouraged from what he had
heard from the escaped prisoner, by the cries, and by the confusion
which appeared to reign on board the Richard, the English Captain
directed his boarders to be called away, and, as soon as they were
mustered, he directed them to take possession of the prize. Some of the
Englishmen actually got upon the gunwale of the American ship, but,
finding boarders ready to repel boarders, they precipitately retreated.
The Richard’s topmen were not idle at this time, and the enemy were
soon driven below again, with loss. In the meantime Mr. Dale (who was
afterwards Commodore Dale) had no longer a gun which could be fought,
and he mustered the prisoners at the pumps, turning their consternation
to account, and probably keeping the Richard afloat by this very
blunder that had come so near losing her.
Both ships were now on fire again, and both sides, with the exception
of a very few guns on board each vessel, ceased firing, in order to
turn to and subdue this common enemy.
In the course of the battle the Serapis is said to have been on fire no
less than twelve times; while, towards its close, as will be seen in
the sequel, the Bonhomme Richard had been burning all the time. As soon
as order was restored in the American ship, after the gunner’s call for
quarter, her chances of success began to increase; while the English,
driven under cover, appeared to lose the hope of victory. Their fire
slackened very materially, while the Richard again brought a few guns
to bear.
It was an example of immense endurance, on either side; but as time
went on, the main-mast of the Serapis began to totter, and her
resistance, in general, to lessen.
About an hour after the explosion, or about three hours and a half
after the first gun was fired, and about two hours and a half after the
ships were lashed together, Captain Pearson hauled down his colors with
his own hands, his men refusing to expose themselves to the fire of the
Richard’s tops.
As soon as it was known that the English colors were down, Mr. Dale got
upon the gunwale of the Richard, and, laying hold of the main-brace
pendant, swung himself on board the Serapis. On the quarter-deck he
found the gallant Captain Pearson, almost alone, that officer having
maintained his post throughout the whole of this close and murderous
engagement, proving himself a man of great nerve and ability.
Just as Mr. Dale addressed the English Captain the First Lieutenant of
the Serapis came up from below, to inquire if the Richard had struck,
as her fire had entirely ceased. Mr. Dale informed the English officer
that he had mistaken the position of things, the Serapis having struck
to the Richard, and not the Richard to the Serapis. Captain Pearson
confirming this, his surprised subordinate acquiesced, offering to go
below and silence the guns on the main deck, which were still playing
on the American ship. To this Mr. Dale would not consent, but passed
both the English officers at once on board the Bonhomme Richard. The
firing below then ceased. Mr. Dale had been closely followed to the
quarter-deck of the Serapis by a midshipman, Mr. Mayrant, with a party
of boarders, and as the midshipman struck the quarter-deck of the
prize, he was run through the thigh with a boarding pike, in the hands
of a man who was ignorant of the surrender. Thus did the close of this
remarkable sea-fight resemble its other features in singularity, blood
being shed, and shot fired, while the boarding officer was in amicable
discourse with his prisoners.
As soon as Captain Pearson was on board the Bonhomme Richard, and
a proper number of hands sent to Mr. Dale, in the prize, Commodore
Jones ordered the lashings to be cut, and the vessels to be separated,
hailing the Serapis, as the Richard drifted from alongside of her, and
ordering her to follow his own ship. Mr. Dale had the head-sails of the
Serapis braced sharp aback, and the helm put down, but the vessel did
not obey either the canvas or the helm. Mr. Dale was so surprised and
excited at this that he sprang from the binnacle, to see the cause, and
fell, full length, on deck. He had been severely wounded in the leg,
by a splinter, and until that moment had been ignorant of the injury.
He had just been picked up and seated, when the Master of the Serapis
came up and informed him of the fact that the ship was anchored. By
this time Mr. Lunt, the Second Lieutenant, who had been away in the
pilot-boat, had got alongside, and came on board the prize, when Mr.
Dale gave him charge, the cable was cut, and the ship followed the
Richard, as ordered.
Although this protracted and bloody contest had now ended, the victors
had not done with either dangers or labors. The Richard was not only
sinking, from shot-holes, but she was on fire, so that the flames had
got within the ceiling, and extended so far that they menaced the
magazine; while all the pumps, in constant use, could barely keep the
water in the hold from increasing.
Had it depended upon the exhausted crews of the two combatants the
ship must soon have foundered; but the other vessels now sent men on
board to assist. So imminent did the danger from the fire become, that
all the powder left was got on deck, to prevent an explosion. In this
manner did the night of the battle pass, with one gang always at the
pumps and another fighting the flames, until about ten o’clock in the
forenoon of the 24th, when the fire was got under.
Before daylight that morning eight or ten Englishmen, of the Richard’s
crew, had stolen a boat of the Serapis, and made their escape, landing
at Scarborough. Several other men of the Richard were so alarmed at the
condition of the ship that, during the night, they jumped overboard and
swam to the other vessels. At daylight an examination of the ship was
made. Aloft, on a line with those guns of the Serapis which had not
been disabled by the explosion, the timbers were nearly all beaten in,
or beaten out, for in this respect there was little difference between
the two sides of the ship. It is said, indeed, that her poop and
upper-decks would have fallen into the gun-room, but for a few futtocks
which the shot had missed.
So large was the vacuum, in fact, that most of the shot fired from
this part of the Serapis, at the close of the action, must have gone
through the Richard without touching anything. The rudder was cut from
the stern-post, and her transoms were nearly driven out of her. All the
after part of the ship, in particular, that was below the quarter-deck,
was torn to pieces; and nothing had saved those stationed on the
quarter-deck but the impossibility of elevating guns which almost
touched their object.
The result of the examination was to convince every one of the
impossibility of carrying the Richard into port, in the event of its
coming on to blow.
Commodore Jones reluctantly gave the order to remove the wounded, while
the weather continued fair.
The following night and a portion of the succeeding day were employed
in this duty; and about nine in the morning the officer who was in
charge of the ship, with a party at the pumps, finding that the water
had reached the lower deck, at last abandoned her.
About ten, the Bonhomme Richard wallowed heavily, gave another roll,
and went down, bows foremost.
The Serapis suffered much less than the Richard, as the guns of the
latter were so light, and so soon silenced; but no sooner were the
ships separated, than her main-top-mast fell, bringing with it the
mizzen-topmast. Though jury-masts were erected, the ship drove about,
nearly helpless, in the North Sea, until the 6th of October, when the
remains of the squadron, with the two prizes, got into the Texel, the
port to which they had been ordered to repair.
In this battle an unusual number of lives were lost; but no
authenticated report seems to have come from either side. The English
stated the loss of the Richard to have been about three hundred,
in killed and wounded. This would include nearly all on board that
ship, and was, of course, a mistake. The muster-roll of the Richard,
excluding the marines, which roll was in existence long after, shows
that 42 men were killed, or died of wounds very shortly, and that 41
were wounded. No list of the casualties of the marines is given. This
would make a total of 83 out of 227 souls. But some of those on the
muster-roll were not in the battle at all, for both junior lieutenants,
and about 30 men with them, were absent in prizes.
There were a few volunteers on board, who were not mustered, and so,
if we set down 200 as the regular crew during the action, we shall not
be far wrong. Estimating the marines at 120, and observing the same
proportion for casualties, we shall get 49 for the result, which will
make the entire loss of the Richard one hundred and thirty-two.
It is known, however, that in the course of the action the soldiers
suffered out of proportion to the rest of the crew, and as general
report made the gross loss of the Bonhomme Richard 150, it is probable
that this was about the number.
Captain Pearson made a partial report, putting his loss at 117;
admitting, at the same time, that there were many killed who were not
reported.
Probably the loss of the two ships was about equal, and that nearly or
quite half of all engaged were either killed or wounded.
In a private letter, written some time after, Jones gives an opinion
that the loss of men in the two ships was about equal. Muster-rolls
were loosely kept, in those days.
That two vessels of so much force should be lashed together for more
than two hours, making use of artillery, musketry, and all the other
means of offence known to the warfare of the day, and not do even
greater injury to their crews, must strike every one with astonishment.
But the fact must be ascribed to the peculiarities of the battle,
which, by driving the English under cover early in the fight, and
keeping the Americans above the chief line of fire of their enemy, in a
measure protected each side from the missiles of the other. As it was,
it was a most sanguinary conflict, with a duration prolonged by unusual
circumstances.
Great interest has always attached to this typical sea-fight. Scarcely
any of the eye-witnesses agreed as to the facts. The principal
information was given to Fennimore Cooper by Commodore Dale. Captain
Pearson stated that the Alliance kept about them all the time, raking
them fore and aft. This statement is contradicted by the certificates
of the officers of the Richard, by persons who were on board the
Alliance, by the persons who were in the boat, and by officers of the
other vessels near.
The First Lieutenant and the Master of the Alliance admitted that they
were never on the free side of the Serapis at all, and their ship never
went round her. They also said that they engaged the Scarborough, at
long shot, for a short time; a fact corroborated by Captain Piercy.
They added that their ship was a long time aloof from the fight, and
that she only fired three broadsides, or parts of broadsides, at the
Richard and Serapis.
From the testimony it is likely that the Alliance injured the Richard
much more than she did the Serapis. This does not detract from the
merit of the gallant Captain Pearson, who could not have known that,
and the proximity of the Alliance no doubt influenced him in inducing
him to lower his flag.
It is and always will be a matter of doubt as to whether the
Scarborough raked the Bonhomme Richard before she was engaged with the
other ships.
Altogether, this was one of the most remarkable sea-fights on record.
The arrival of Jones and his prizes in the Texel excited much interest
in the diplomatic world. The English demanded that the prizes should be
released and Jones himself given up as a pirate. The Dutch government,
though favorable to the Americans, was not prepared for war, and
therefore temporized. A long correspondence ensued, and the following
expedient was adopted. The Serapis, which had been refitted, was
transferred to France, as was the Scarborough, while Jones took command
of the Alliance; Landais having been suspended, and ordered to quit the
country. Landais was afterward restored to command, but deposed again,
on the ground of insanity; and eventually discharged the service.
[Illustration: MEDAL AWARDED TO JOHN PAUL JONES BY THE AMERICAN
CONGRESS.]
[Illustration: THE WASP BOARDING THE FROLIC.]