A Daring Attempt by Captain Paul Jones--Why It Failed--A Bold
Scheme--Why It Did Not Succeed--The Fight Between the _Ranger_ and
_Drake_.
Paul Jones waited until midnight. Then, when no one was dreaming of
danger, his men silently pulled away from the _Ranger_ in two boats, one
commanded by himself and the other by Lieutenant Wallingford. It was a
long pull, and when they reached the outer pier of the harbor it was
beginning to grow light in the east. They now parted company, and Jones
directed his men to row for the south side of the harbor, while the
Lieutenant was to make for the north shore. The object of the two was
the same: the burning of the shipping.
Wallingford reached the north side, and then, strangely enough, gave up
the attempt, his reason being that the candle on which he counted to
start the fire was blown out. The reader must remember that in those
days matches were unknown and the task of relighting had to be done with
the steel, flint and tinder. Though the contrivance is an awkward one,
we cannot help thinking the excuse of the Lieutenant was weak, but the
result was a failure on his part to carry out the important work
assigned to him.
Captain Jones was a different kind of man. Although day had fully
dawned, he kept his men rowing rapidly. Reaching the south side of the
harbor, he came upon a small fort garrisoned by a few soldiers. Leaping
out of the boat, the American dashed forward, bounded over the walls and
captured the sentinels before they knew their danger. The guns were
spiked and the garrison made prisoners.
"Set fire to the shipping!" he commanded to his men, while he, with only
a single companion, ran for a second fort some distance away and spiked
the guns in that. Then he hurried back to the first fort and found to
his surprise that the fire had not been started.
"The candles have given out," was the reply to his angry inquiry.
It being broad daylight, his men expected him to jump into the boat and
order them to return with all haste to the ship; but, instead of doing
so, he darted into one of the nearest houses, procured some tinder and
candles and began himself the work of destruction. Fixing his attention
upon a large vessel, he climbed quickly aboard and started a fire in her
steerage. To help matters, he flung a barrel of tar over the flames and
in a few minutes they were roaring fiercely. It meant prodigious damage,
for the vessel was surrounded by more than a hundred others, none of
which could move, since they were aground and the tide was out.
As may be supposed, there was great excitement by that time. The alarm
had been given. Men were running to and fro, and a number hurried toward
the burning ship with the purpose of extinguishing the flames. All the
Americans had entered the small boat and were impatiently awaiting their
commander. Instead of joining them, Jones drew his pistol, and, standing
alone in front of the crowd, kept them back until the fire burst out of
the steerage and began running up the rigging. Backing slowly with drawn
pistol, he stepped into the boat and told his men to row with might and
main for the vessel.
The instant this was done the crowd rushed forward and by desperate
efforts succeeded in putting out the blaze before it had done much
damage. Then the forts attempted to fire on the Americans, but their
guns were spiked. Some cannon on the ships were discharged at the boats,
but their shots went wild. When the _Ranger_ was reached Captain Jones
made the discovery that one of his men was missing. The reason was
clear. He was a deserter and had been seen by his former comrades
running from house to house and giving the alarm. Such was the narrow
chance by which one of the most destructive conflagrations of British
shipping was averted.
As may be supposed, this daring act caused alarm throughout England.
Jones was denounced as a freebooter and pirate, and every effort was
made to capture him. Had his enemies succeeded, little mercy would have
been shown the dauntless hero.
England was very cruel to many of her American prisoners, and Captain
Jones fixed upon a bold and novel plan for compelling her to show more
mercy toward those unfortunate enough to fall into her power. It was to
capture some prominent nobleman and hold him as a hostage for the better
treatment of our countrymen. It must be remembered that Jones was
cruising near his birthplace and when a sailor boy had become familiar
with the Scottish and the English coasts. The _Ranger_ was a fast
vessel, and, as I have shown, Jones himself was a master of seamanship.
It would seem, therefore, that all he had to do was to be alert, and it
need not be said that he and his crew were vigilant at all times.
The Earl of Selkirk was a Scottish nobleman who had his country seat at
the mouth of the Dee, and Jones made up his mind that he was just the
man to serve for a hostage. At any rate, he could not be put to a
better use and certainly would not suspect the purpose of the American
vessel which, as night was closing in, anchored offshore. Indeed, no one
dreamed that the vessel was the terrible American "pirate," which had
thrown the whole country into terror.
Fortunately the night was dark and the men rowed to land without being
noticed. The task was an easy one, for there was no one to resist them.
They walked silently through the darkness to the fine grounds, and,
having surrounded the handsome building, the officer in charge of the
party presented himself at the door and made known his startling errand.
He was informed that the Earl was absent. A careful search revealed that
such was the fact, and all the trouble of the Americans went for naught.
It was a keen disappointment and the party decided to compensate
themselves so far as they could. The Earl was wealthy and the house
contained a great deal of valuable silver plate. A quantity of this was
carried to the _Ranger_.
Captain Jones was angered when he learned what had been done. He knew
the Earl and Lady Selkirk well and personally liked them both. The
singular scheme he had in mind was solely for the benefit of his adopted
countrymen.
"I am accused of being a pirate, robber and thief," he exclaimed, "and
you are doing all you can to justify the charges. Every ounce of plate
shall be returned."
He kept his word. The messengers who took back the silver carried a note
from Captain Jones apologizing to Lady Selkirk for the misconduct of his
men.
Now, if there was anything which Paul Jones loved it was to fight. It
was simply diversion for him to capture merchantmen or vessels that
could make only a weak resistance, and he longed to give the enemy a
taste of his mettle. It may be said that his situation grew more
dangerous with every hour. His presence was known and a score of
cruisers were hunting for him.
The British sloop of war _Drake_, which the gale prevented him from
attacking, was still at Carrickfergus, and Jones sailed thither in the
hope of inducing her to come out and fight him. Being uncertain of his
identity, the captain of the _Drake_ sent an officer in a boat to learn
the truth. Captain Jones suspected the errand and skilfully kept his
broadsides turned away until the officer, determined to know his
identity, went aboard. As soon as he stepped on deck he was made a
prisoner and sent below.
Captain Jones reasoned that the captain of the _Drake_ would miss his
officer after awhile and come out to learn what had become of him. He,
therefore, headed toward the North Channel, the _Drake_ following, with
the tide against her and the wind unfavorable until the mid-channel was
reached, when, to quote Maclay, Paul Jones "in plain view of three
kingdoms, hove to, ran up the flag of the new Republic and awaited the
enemy."
In reply to the demand of the _Drake's_ captain, Jones gave the name of
his vessel and expressed the pleasure it would give him to engage him in
battle. The American was astern of the _Drake_, and, to show his
earnestness, Captain Jones ordered his helm put up and let fly with a
broadside. The _Drake_ replied and then the battle was on. There was
little manoeuvring, the contest being what is known as a square
yardarm and yardarm fight.
The comparative strength of the two vessels was as follows: The _Ranger_
carried 18 guns and 123 men, the _Drake_ 20 guns and 160 men, a number
of the latter being volunteers for the fight, which lasted one hour and
four minutes, at the end of which time the _Ranger_ had lost two killed
and six wounded and the _Drake_ forty-two killed. The latter was so
badly damaged by the well directed fire of the American that the captain
called for quarter. Ceasing her firing, Captain Jones lowered a boat
and sent it to the _Drake_ to take possession.
As an evidence of the effect of the fire of the _Ranger_, the following
words may be quoted from Jones's official report: "Her fore and
maintopsail yards being cut away and down on the caps, the topgallant
yard and mizzen gaff both hanging up and down along the mast, the second
ensign which they had hoisted shot away and hanging on the quarter
gallery in the water, the jib shot away and hanging in the water, her
sails and rigging cut entirely to pieces, her masts and yards all
wounded and her hull very much galled."
The damages to the _Ranger_ were so slight they were repaired by the
close of the following day, when she got under sail with her prize.
Despite the swarm of cruisers that were hunting for him, Jones passed
unscathed through North Channel, along the western coast of Ireland and
arrived at Brest, in France, within a month of the day he left the port,
his cruise having been one of the most remarkable in naval history.