_Cruise of the Bon Homme Richard._
Plans of Lafayette.—Correspondence.—Humane Instructions of
Franklin.—Proposed Invasion of England.—Sailing of the
Squadron.—Conduct of Pierre Landais.—The Collision.—Adventures of
the Cruise.—Insane Actions of Landais.—Plan for Capture.—Plan for
the Capture of Leith and Edinburgh.
Captain Jones eagerly repaired to L’Orient to inspect his ship and
prepare her for service. He found that she was adapted to mount a
battery of eighteen-pounders. He then hastened to Bordeaux, to order the
casting of the cannon. Lafayette was at that time in America,
coöperating with the army under Washington. Congress built a frigate of
thirty-six guns, which was named the Alliance, out of compliment to the
recent alliance with France. Congress also, in expression of gratitude
to France, appointed a French officer, Pierre Landais, in command of the
frigate. The Alliance was sent out to France to coöperate with Captain
Jones, and took Lafayette as a passenger.
The distinguished French marquis was well acquainted with the reputation
of Captain Jones, as a courteous and high-minded gentleman, as well as
one of the bravest and most skilful of naval officers. He wished to join
Jones in his projected expedition. In conference with Dr. Franklin, at
Paris, it was decided that Lafayette should embark in the fleet with a
land force of seven hundred picked men, over whom he was to have the
supreme control. Captain Jones was to have the undivided naval command.
The Alliance, which was a very fine and fast frigate, was to be joined
to his squadron. In reference to this contemplated expedition, Dr.
Franklin addressed a letter to Captain Jones, containing the following
judicious counsel:
“The Marquis de la Fayette will soon be with you. It has been observed,
that joint expeditions of land and sea-forces often miscarry, through
jealousies and misunderstandings between the officers of the different
corps. This must happen where there are little minds, actuated more by
personal views of profit or honor to themselves, than by the warm and
sincere desire of good to their country. Knowing you both, as I do, I am
confident that nothing of the kind can happen between you. I look upon
this expedition only as an introduction to greater trusts and more
extensive commands, and as a kind of trial of both your abilities, and
of your fitness in temper and disposition for acting in concert with
others.
“As this is understood to be an American expedition under the
Congressional commission and colors, the Marquis, who is a major-general
in that service, has of course, the step in point of rank, and he must
have command of the land forces, which are committed by the king to his
care. But the command of the ships will be entirely in you, in which I
am persuaded that whatever authority his rank might, in strictness, give
him, he will not have the least desire to interfere with you. The
circumstance is indeed a little unusual. For there is not only a
junction of land and sea forces, but there is also a junction of
Frenchmen and Americans, which increases the difficulty of maintaining a
good understanding. A cool, prudent conduct in the chief, is therefore
the more necessary, and I trust, neither of you will, in that respect,
be deficient.”
The following instructions were also added to the letter. But when Dr.
Franklin subsequently heard of the burning of Fairfield and other towns
in America, and of the fiend-like cruelties which the English officers
were authorizing, he was doubtful whether the circumstances did not
demand more severe retaliation.
“As many of your officers and people have recently escaped from English
prisons, you are to be particularly attentive to their conduct toward
the prisoners which the fortune of war may throw into your hands, lest
the resentment of the more than barbarous usage by the English in many
places toward the Americans, should occasion a retaliation and imitation
of what ought rather to be detested and avoided for the sake of humanity
and for the honor of our country.
“Although the English have wantonly burnt many defenceless towns in
America, you are not to follow this example, unless when a reasonable
ransom is refused; in which case, your own generous feelings, as well as
this instruction, will induce you to give timely notice of your
intention, that sick and ancient persons, women and children, may be
first removed.”
In reply to this communication, Captain Jones wrote: “The letter I had
the honor to receive from you to-day, together with your liberal and
noble-minded instructions, would make a coward brave. You have called up
every sentiment of public virtue in my breast, and it shall be my pride
and ambition, in the strict pursuit of your instructions, to deserve
success.
“Be assured, that very few prospects could afford me so true a
satisfaction as that of rendering some acceptable service to the common
cause, and at the same time of relieving from captivity, by furnishing
the means of exchange, our unfortunate fellow-subjects, from the hands
of the enemy.”
Captain Jones then wrote to Lafayette: “So flattering and affectionate a
proof of your esteem and friendship has made an impression on my mind
that will attend me while I live. This I hope to prove by more than
words. Where men of fine feelings are concerned there is seldom
misunderstanding. And I am sure that I should do violence to my
sensibility if I were capable of giving you a moment’s pain by any part
of my conduct. Therefore, without any apology, I shall expect you to
point out my errors, when we are together alone, with perfect freedom;
and I think I dare promise you your reproof shall not be lost. I have
received from the good Dr. Franklin instructions at large, which it will
give me the truest satisfaction to execute.”
Much to Captain Jones’s disappointment this proposed coöperation with
Lafayette was soon abandoned. Spain was preparing to unite with France
and America against England. An invasion of the island of Great Britain,
by the allies, was contemplated. Large forces were raised in the
northern provinces of France, and marched to the coast, while general
officers were named to conduct the enterprise. Lafayette was appointed
to command a portion of this army. In his letter to Jones, informing him
of the change which the ministry had made in his plans, he wrote:
“I am only to tell you, my good friend, how sorry I feel not to be a
witness of your success, abilities, and glory.”
The Richard was soon fitted for sea with a battery of forty guns; six
only of these were eighteen-pounders. The rest were of but twelve-pound
calibre. There were three hundred and twenty-nine officers and privates
on the muster-roll. The crew had been hastily gathered from American
prisoners rescued from the English prisons, from French peasants, and
from vagabond English sailors who were ready to enlist under any flag
for the money. There were not more than thirty Americans among the crew.
Four other vessels composed the little squadron. The American frigate
Alliance, of thirty-six guns, was under the command of the French
officer, to whom we have before alluded, Pierre Landais. The conduct of
this officer was so extraordinary that it can only be accounted for on
the supposition that he was actually insane. The Pallas mounted
thirty-two guns. It was a merchant-ship, purchased by the King of France
and hastily fitted up at Nantes. The Cerf had eighteen guns, and the
Vengeance twelve.
The state of affairs on board the Alliance was such that the frigate was
no help, but rather a hindrance to the enterprise. The crew were in a
state bordering on open mutiny. The first and second lieutenants had
deserted. The captain and his other officers were in a state of open and
shameful hostility, ready to cut each other’s throats. The Vengeance was
also a merchant vessel, very poorly prepared for battle. The Cerf was a
fine cutter, and the only vessel in the squadron which was well fitted
and manned.
Captain Jones, who ever sought the most heroic enterprises, had formed
the bold plan of appalling England by the capture of the city of
Liverpool. But the withdrawal of Lafayette and his land forces from the
expedition rendered it necessary to abandon this all-important measure.
The squadron was first employed in convoying a fleet of merchant vessels
down the coast of France, a distance of about two hundred miles, from
L’Orient to Bordeaux, and to drive all of the English cruisers out of
the Bay of Biscay.
On the night of the 20th of June, Pierre Landais contrived to run the
Alliance upon the Richard. He thus lost his own mizzen-mast, while he
tore away the head and bowsprit of the Richard. This pretended accident
was probably intentional. It soon became evident that he would be glad
to cripple the Richard, probably hoping that she would be sent back for
repairs, and that he, instead of being a subordinate, might be intrusted
with the supreme command of the expedition. Through all the confusion of
the scene, when, in almost midnight darkness and on a stormy sea, both
vessels were in imminent peril of being sunk, with all their crews, he
behaved like a madman. It was attested, by the officers, in the trial
which took place—
“That the captain of the Alliance did not take the steps in his power to
prevent his ship from getting foul of the Richard; for instead of
putting his helm aweather, and bearing up to make way for his commanding
officer, which was his duty, he left the deck to load his pistols.”
The next day a British vessel hove in sight. Captain Jones found that
the Richard proved to be a lumbering concern and a slow sailer. He
therefore sent the swifter-winged cutter Cerf in pursuit of the
stranger. It will be remembered that the Cerf carried but eighteen guns.
The vessel proved to be a war-sloop of fourteen guns. A warm engagement
took place. The thunders of this naval tempest swept the ocean far and
wide. The Cerf was victorious. Grappling her battered and blood-stained
prize, she was making her way back to the squadron when a large British
frigate bore down upon her. The Cerf, maimed by the conflict, was
compelled to abandon her prize, and escaping to the squadron, was sent
back to L’Orient to refit.
The next day three British ships-of-war were discerned far away to the
windward. Jones, with his four vessels, bore down upon them. The
frigates, seeing that they were outnumbered, escaped by superior
sailing. A few days after this there was a fog. Though Captain Jones
fired signal guns, to keep his squadron together, when the fog cleared
away neither the Alliance nor the Pallas was anywhere to be seen.
Captain Jones was thus left with but two vessels; and his own, the
Richard, was so seriously damaged by the collision with the Alliance,
that it was needful to make port as speedily as possible, at L’Orient,
for repairs.
When a few leagues from L’Orient, between Belle Isle and the Isle of
Croix, he gave the Vengeance permission to run into the harbor while he
moved slowly along with his disabled ship. Thus he was left alone. After
the Vengeance had left him, in the night of the 31st of June, two
British war-vessels attacked him. In his crippled state his vessel
amounted to but little excepting a floating battery. But he served his
guns so well and gave his foes so warm a reception, that they speedily
retired.
“They appeared at first,” writes Jones, “earnest to engage, but their
courage failed, and they fled with precipitation, and to my
mortification outsailed the Bon Homme Richard and got clear.”
The Richard had proved a failure. Upon inspection at L’Orient, she was
pronounced to be unworthy of the great alterations essential to fit her
for a successful campaign. The ship was, however, tinkered up for
temporary service, and again Captain Jones was sent forth to cruise in
the Channel, with a small squadron, under circumstances which would have
disheartened any man of ordinary temperament.
At daybreak on the 14th of August, 1779, the vessels weighed anchor from
the harbor of L’Orient. The squadron consisted of the same vessels which
had sailed before, and all of which had rendezvoused at L’Orient. Two
French privateers also sailed in company, the Monsieur and the
Granville. When four days out, on the 18th, the fleet came in sight of a
large French ship which had been captured by an English privateer. A
British crew was hurrying with the prize to the nearest British port.
The squadron gave chase, and the prize was overtaken and recaptured by
the swift-sailing privateer Monsieur. This fine ship carried forty guns.
The privateersman assumed that the prize was his own property, to which
the squadron had no claim. He therefore, in the night, dropping astern,
took from the prize such articles as he needed, and placed a portion of
his crew and one of his own officers on board to hold possession. But
Captain Jones promptly reversed this decision, and sent the prize, under
his own orders, to L’Orient, to be disposed of in accordance with the
laws provided for such an occasion. The captain of the Monsieur was so
displeased with his manifestly just decision, that the next day he
separated from the squadron.
Two days after, on the 20th of August, another large ship was caught
sight of, far away to the windward. The squadron gave chase, but the
ship escaped. The next day another ship was seen in the distant horizon,
and pursued. But being to the windward, she also escaped. While engaged
in the chase, one of the squadron overtook a brig laden with provisions,
bound for London. She was easily captured, and under a prize crew was
sent into L’Orient.
On the 23d, the squadron was in sight of Cape Clear, the extreme
southwestern point of Ireland. Scarcely a breath of wind rippled the
mirrored surface oi the sea. The sails flapped idly against the masts,
as the vessels gently rolled on the vast ocean swells. Far away in the
northwest a brig was seen. The calm prevented any advance of the
squadron. Captain Jones sent two large boats, well manned, and propelled
by oars, to capture the vessel.
The afternoon wore away, and as evening came on it was perceived that a
strong ocean current was sweeping the Richard into a very dangerous
position, between two rocks, called the Skallocks and the Blaskets. The
captain sent out his own barge, with strong rowers, to tow the ship from
her dangerous course. About one-third of the crew were English sailors.
The best men had been sent off in the boats to capture the brig. He had
therefore to man his barge mainly with the English. They were
unprincipled adventurers, and when night came on they cut the tow-rope,
and pulled for the shore.
The evening was clear and serene. Mr. Trent, who occupied the position
of sailing-master on board the Richard, immediately sprang into another
of the ship’s boats, with a few armed men, and pursued the deserters. At
the same time several cannon-shot were unavailingly thrown at them. A
fog came on, and the pursuing boat was lost in the darkness. The
deserters reached the shore and escaped. The fog continued, a genuine
English fog, until noon of the next day. The boats sent to capture the
brig were successful. The crews under the command of the lieutenant took
possession of the prize.
The Cerf was sent to reconnoitre the coast, and to endeavor to recover
the two lost boats, the barge and the boat sent in pursuit of it.
Approaching near the shore, the Cerf, to avoid detection, raised English
colors. Mr. Trent, catching sight of the hostile flag, fearing capture,
ran his boat ashore, where he and his crew were made prisoners. They
were thrown into a wretched dungeon, where the unhappy Mr. Trent
lingered until death came to his relief.
Thus the Richard lost two important boats. In the afternoon, Pierre
Landais came on board the Richard, and, even assuming an arrogant air of
superiority, affirmed, in a very insulting manner, that Captain Jones
had lost two boats and their crews from his folly in sending boats to
capture a brig. He erroneously supposed that the lost boats were the two
which had first been sent out; whereas they had been entirely
successful, and had triumphantly accomplished their mission. Captain
Jones listened calmly to his impertinent tirade, and then, with the
courtesy of a true gentleman, replied:
“It is not true,” Captain Landais, “that the boats which are lost, are
the two which were sent to capture the brig.”
The irate Frenchman, almost insane with passion, whirled upon his heel,
and exclaimed, to an officer who accompanied him, “He tells me _I lie_.”
The gestures of Landais were as rude and insulting as his language.
Lieutenants Weibert and Chamillard endeavored to soothe the unreasonably
angry man. But all was in vain. He raved like a maniac. Through all this
scene, so disgraceful to the Frenchman, Captain Jones maintained a
tranquil spirit. The conduct of Landais was so violent and so utterly
unreasonable, that Captain Jones charitably excused him, on the
supposition that there was a vein of insanity in his nature.
The Cerf was utterly lost in the fog. The next night a violent storm
arose, and the cutter, finding itself hopelessly separated from the
squadron, returned to France. The privateer Granville, which mounted
fourteen guns, having secured a prize, hastened with it back to a French
port. The moderation displayed by Captain Jones under annoyances
sufficient to drive most men mad, is worthy of all praise. In his
journal for the king he wrote:
“It was my intention to cruise off the southwest coast of Ireland for
twelve or fifteen days, in order to intercept the enemy’s homeward-bound
East India ships. I had been informed that they would return without
convoy, and would steer for that point of land. But Captain Landais, of
the Alliance, began to speak and act as though he were not under my
command. He made great objections to remaining on the coast, expressing
apprehension that the enemy would send a superior force.”
On the evening of the 26th, as a violent storm was raging, Landais
refused to obey the signal from the Richard, and altering his course,
was not seen again for five days. The Pallas also, in the fearful gale,
lost her rudder, and became in a great degree unmanageable. When the
morning of the 27th of August dawned luridly upon the tempest-lashed
ocean, the Bon Homme Richard found herself alone with the Vengeance.
On the 31st of August, as the Richard and the Vengeance were in hot
chase of an English privateer, mounting twenty-two guns, the Alliance,
by chance, again appeared in sight. They were then off the extreme
northwestern coast of Ireland, within sight of the Hebrides. They had
run along the western shore of Ireland. The Alliance had captured a
valuable prize, bound from Liverpool to Jamaica. The Richard and
Vengeance soon overtook the vessel they were pursuing, and captured it,
almost without a struggle. It proved to be the Union, bound from London
for Quebec. It had a cargo of great value, consisting of sails, rigging,
anchors, cables, and other essential articles, for the war-vessels
England was building on the lakes.
Captain Jones, having manned from his crew the brig which he captured
off the northwest of Ireland, and having lost the deserters who filled
the barge, and twenty of his best men who were sent in pursuit of them,
probably could not well spare enough men to man the guns of the prize,
so as to take her into some safe port. Landais sent the following
insulting message to Captain Jones:
“Do you wish to furnish men to carry the prize you have taken to port,
or do you wish me to furnish men. If it is your wish that I should take
charge of the prize, I shall not allow any boat or any individual from
the Bon Homme Richard to go near her.”
Captain Jones was very anxious, for the honor of our country, and for
the success of the cause of American liberty, to avoid all jealousies
and bickerings with our allies the French. He therefore, in a spirit of
exalted patriotism, endured indignities, which, under other
circumstances, it would not have been his duty to tolerate. With noble
forbearance he replied that Captain Landais might take the exclusive
charge of the prize. In his journal for the king he wrote:
“Ridiculous as this appeared to me, I yielded to it for the sake of
peace; and received the prisoners on board the Bon Homme Richard, while
the prize was manned from the Alliance.”
It was needful for Captain Jones to make this statement, in consequence
of the result which ensued. The half-crazed Landais, instead of sending
the prizes directly home to some port in France, probably fearing that
they might be captured by some English war-ship, despatched them to
Bergen, in Norway. The Danish Government, being on friendly terms with
England, gave them both up to the British ambassador. Landais pursued
this strange course in direct violation of the order he had received
from Jones. The value of the two prizes, thus foolishly lost, was
estimated to exceed two hundred thousand dollars.
In the afternoon of the same day another large ship appeared in the
horizon, near the Flamie Islands. As we have said, the Richard was a
lumbering merchantman of slow speed. The Alliance was a finely built,
swift-footed American frigate. Jones signalled the Alliance to aid him
in the pursuit by immediately giving chase. Instead of obeying the
commands of the appointed commodore of the squadron, he deliberately
wore ship, and laid his course in the opposite direction. Night came.
The stranger escaped. In the morning, Captain Jones signalled Landais to
come on board the Richard. He wished to confer respecting more cordial
coöperation. Landais contemptuously paid no regard to the signal.
The next morning, which was the 2d of September, daylight revealed a
sail in the distance. The Richard and the Vengeance gave chase, followed
sullenly by the Alliance. The ship proved to be the Pallas, which had,
in some way, succeeded in repairing the loss of her rudder. A rendezvous
had been appointed, in case the fleet should get separated, at Fair
Island, north of Scotland. The squadron turned its course in that
direction hoping to find the Cerf there. On the evening of the next day,
September 3d, the Vengeance captured a small brig returning to England
from Norway. The Alliance had disappeared. It had gone, no one knew
where. The terrible annoyances to which Captain Jones was exposed, in
ways innumerable, may be inferred from the following extracts from his
journal:
“On the morning of the 4th the Alliance appeared again, and had brought
two very small coasting sloops in ballast, but without having attended
properly to my order of yesterday. The Vengeance joined me soon after,
and informed me that, in consequence of Captain Landais’ orders to the
commanders of the two prize-ships, they had refused to follow him to the
rendezvous. I am, to this moment, ignorant of what orders these men
received from Captain Landais; nor know I by virtue of what authority he
ventured to give his orders to prizes in my presence, and without either
my knowledge or approbation. Captain Ricot further informed me that he
had burnt the brigantine, because that vessel proved leaky. And I was
sorry to understand afterward that, though the vessel was Irish
property, the cargo was the property of subjects of Norway.
“In the evening I sent for all the captains to come on board the Bon
Homme Richard, to consult on future plans of operations. Captains
Cottineau and Ricot obeyed me; but Captain Landais obstinately refused,
and after sending me various uncivil messages, wrote me a very
extraordinary letter, in answer to a written order which I had sent him
on finding that he had trifled with my verbal orders.”
Three of the officers of the other ships, gallant officers and courteous
gentlemen, Messrs. Mease, Cottineau, and Chamillard, went on board the
Alliance to endeavor to persuade Landais not to pursue a course so
ruinous to the efficiency of the expedition. The angry man would not
listen to the voice of reason. He spoke of Captain Jones in the most
contemptuous and insulting terms. He even went so far as to say:
“I will soon meet Captain Jones on shore. Then I will either kill him or
he shall kill me.”
On the afternoon of the 5th of September, a storm arose. For four days
one of the fiercest of gales ploughed the seas of those high northern
latitudes; for the squadron was then in the parallel of northern
Labrador. In the second night of the gale the Alliance again
disappeared, though there was nothing to prevent the vessels of the
squadron from keeping in sight of each other. The Vengeance and the
Pallas alone remained with the Richard.
The squadron followed down the eastern coast of Scotland far out at sea.
Their first sight of land revealed the summits of the Cheviot Hills, far
away in the south. This was in the evening of the 13th. The next day
they gave chase to several vessels and succeeded in capturing a large
ship and a brig, both laden with coal, some distance off the frith or
bay of Edinburgh.
The city of Leith is the seaport of the city of Edinburgh, which stands
about a mile back from the bay. Leith contained a population of about
twenty-five thousand, and its harbor was crowded with shipping. Captain
Jones learned, from his prizes, that there was no land battery to defend
Leith, and that there was, in the harbor, in addition to the ordinary
shipping, an armed vessel of twenty guns, and three fine cutters.
Captain Jones, always eager for heroic measures, and whose courage,
extraordinary as it was, was ever tempered by discretion, seeing both
Leith and Edinburgh within reach of his blows and reposing in indolence
and supposed security, desired to make an instantaneous attack. He
summoned Captain Cottineau of the Pallas and Captain Chamillard of the
Vengeance to meet in his cabin. As he opened his bold plan to them they
were appalled at the idea of attacking, with three small vessels, Leith,
and consequently Edinburgh, which would instantly send all her forces to
the rescue. Captain Jones eloquently urged upon the French officers the
motives which influenced his own mind.
“It is,” he said, “a matter of the utmost importance to teach the enemy
humanity by some exemplary stroke of retaliation. And there is no way in
which we can release from the most cruel captivity the American
prisoners in England, but by making captives of some persons of note.
The aristocratic Government of Great Britain will care but little for
the fate of their poor sailors and fishermen.
“Moreover, the Allies are soon to make a formidable descent on the south
side of England. It will greatly help their operations, if we can make a
diversion here in the north. The bold measure will alarm them. They will
imagine that an immense force is to follow into the Bay of Edinburgh.
This will compel them to hurry their armies to the north, leaving the
south unprotected.
“And bold as the measure appears to be, it is by no means quixotic.
There is every reason to expect success. We know just what resistance we
have to encounter. We have ample means to overcome that resistance. And
should any unforeseen calamity thwart our plans, we can promptly put to
sea, and there are no vessels at hand which will dare to pursue us.”
Thus he argued all the night, but unavailingly. Objections and
difficulties were presented without number. There was perhaps never more
unselfish patriotism than that which glowed in the bosom of Paul Jones.
The idea of his own personal interest being promoted by the plunder he
should take, seemed never to have entered his mind. It would have been
unreasonable to expect that such purity of motive could govern the
French officers. They were merely the allies of America, and, in the
war, had no important national interests at stake. Captain Jones then
appealed to another motive.
“The cities of Leith and Edinburgh will readily give a million of
dollars to ransom their two cities from the flames.”
A million of dollars! two hundred thousand pounds. This thought touched
and melted their hearts. All opposition gave way. They were now ready to
coöperate, with all the zeal which mercenary instincts could inspire.
[Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN THE BON HOMME RICHARD AND SERAPIS.]