_Result of the Victory._
Dreadful Spectacle.—Sinking of the Bon Homme Richard.—Escape
of the Baltic Fleet.—Sails for the Texel.—Interesting
Correspondence.—Sufferings of the American Prisoners.—Barbarity of
the English Government.—Humanity of Captain Jones.—The Transference
from the Serapis to the Alliance.—Extracts from the British
Press.—Release of Prisoners.
After the excitement of the conflict was over, Captain Jones was shocked
at the spectacle of devastation and misery which was presented to him.
All sense of triumph was lost in emotions of compassion and sadness. In
his official journal he wrote:
“A person must have been an eye-witness to form a just idea of the
tremendous scene of carnage, wreck, and ruin that everywhere appeared.
Humanity cannot but recoil from the prospect of such finished horror,
and lament that war should produce such fatal consequences.”
The carpenters were immediately employed in examining the Bon Homme
Richard, to see if her wounds were capable of being healed. The lashings
were cut which bound her to the Serapis, and all the available hands
were employed, at the pumps, to keep her afloat. Captain Jones took
possession of his shattered prize, the Serapis, to which he transferred
all the crew, excepting those which attended the pumps. Boats were in
waiting, ready to take them on board the Serapis should the water gain
upon them too fast. The surveying officers soon reported unanimously,
that the ship could not be kept afloat long enough to reach port. It
took all the night, and some hour’s the next morning hastily but
carefully to remove the wounded.
Captain Jones was very anxious to save the ship, and made every possible
effort until nine o’clock the next evening. The water was then up to her
lower deck. She rolled in the waves in utter helplessness, threatening
every moment to go down. The water was gushing from her port-holes and
swashing through her hatchways. It was necessary at once to abandon her.
From the deck of the Serapis Captain Jones sadly watched the dying
convulsions of his “good old ship.” He wrote:
“We did not abandon her till after nine o’clock. A little after ten, I
saw, with inexpressible grief, the last glimpse of the Bon Homme
Richard. No lives were lost with the ship; but it was impossible to save
the stores of any sort whatever. I lost the best part of my clothes,
books, and papers. Several of my officers lost all their clothes and
effects.”
Making one or two dying surges, the Richard plunged headlong into the
fathomless abyss, carrying her dead with her to their sublime ocean
burial. There the mangled bodies will repose till, at the summons of the
archangel’s trump, the sea shall give up the dead that are in it.
According to the most accurate estimate which can be made, forty-two
were killed, and forty severely wounded. Light wounds were not counted.
There was no accurate account taken of the killed and wounded on board
the Serapis. The surgeon’s report to the British Admiralty, gives the
number of wounded at seventy-five, but does not give the number killed.
Captain Pearson states that there were many more wounded than appears on
the surgeon’s list. Captain Jones, who had the best opportunity for
knowing, and who was not given to exaggeration, estimates the killed at
one hundred, and the wounded at about the same number.
Captain Landais, of the Alliance, was court-martialed for his atrocious
conduct. There can be no reasonable doubt, from the evidence given on
his trial, that he hoped the Serapis would conquer and capture the Bon
Homme Richard. During the conflict he kept entirely out of harm’s way,
so that not a shot struck him. After the Richard had surrendered Captain
Landais intended to come forward, attack the Serapis exhausted and
shattered by its previous conflict, and with her guns dismounted and
encumbered by the wounded and the dead, and thus make an easy conquest
of the British ship and rescue her prize. He could thus retire _with
glory_, dragging the Serapis and the Bon Homme Richard in his train.
Finding it a little doubtful whether the Richard would yield, he
concluded to help the Serapis. Three of his officers declared that
Landais said to them:
“I should have thought it no harm if the Bon Homme Richard had struck
her flag. That would have given me an opportunity to take the Serapis
and to retake her.”
I must now leave Landais, for the present, though I shall have occasion
to refer to him again. The Baltic fleet escaped. The fact is easily
explained from the loss of the Richard, the crippled state of the
Serapis, with both main-mast and mizzen-mast dragging at her sides, and
the treacherous conduct of Landais. Jury-masts were erected upon the
Serapis, and for ten days the shattered ship was tossed on the stormy
waves of the North Sea. Captain Jones was striving to reach Dunkirk, the
most northerly and consequently the nearest seaport in France.
In the extreme northwest of Holland there is a somewhat renowned island
called the Texel. It is about thirteen miles long and six broad, and is
situated near the mouth of the Zuyder Zee, or South Sea, as that portion
of the German Ocean is called. It is nearly two hundred miles north of
the most northerly frontier of France. Contrary winds, and the extremely
suffering state of the prisoners and his wounded, rendered it necessary
for him to run into that neutral port.
Captain Jones never made any complaint respecting his own hardships. But
while upon this eventful campaign his toils, responsibilities, and
anxieties had been such that during the whole time he had never indulged
in more than three hours’ sleep in the twenty-four. The news of the
capture of the Serapis spread rapidly through Europe and America. The
haughty attitude England had ever assumed had rendered her unpopular
with all other nations. Consequently there was a general rejoicing over
the great victory of Captain Jones. It was something new for England to
lose one of her finest frigates in a fairly fought battle with an
inferior force.
It is said that this terrible battle between the Bon Homme Richard and
the Serapis was more noised abroad over the world than any naval
conflict ever engaged in, in ancient or modern times. It was a marvel to
all Europe to see an English ship of war, hitherto generally supposed to
be invincible, strike to a frigate of the feeble colonies of America,
which had, as yet, scarcely a national name and whose flag was unknown.
The superiority of the British ship, both in build and in armament, the
treacherous conduct of Landais, and the desperate resistance of both
parties, apparently to the last possible degree, excited astonishment
and admiration both in the Old World and the New. Captain Jones was the
hero of the day. His name was upon all lips. The enthusiasm in Paris was
almost boundless. Dr. Franklin wrote to him under date of October 15th,
1779:
“For some days after the arrival of your express, scarce anything was
talked of at Paris or Versailles but your cool conduct and persevering
bravery during that terrible conflict. You may believe that the
impression on my mind was not less strong than on that of others, but I
do not choose to say, in a letter to yourself, all I think on such an
occasion.”
He informed Captain Jones that he had written to Landais, informing him
that he would have an opportunity, before a court-martial, to answer the
charges of disobedience of orders and neglect of duty which had been
brought against him. As it was impracticable immediately to organize a
court-martial, he was for the time relieved from the command of the
Alliance. He added:
“I know not whether Captain Landais will obey my orders, nor what the
ministry will do with him if he comes. But I suspect that they may, by
some of their concise operations, save the trouble of a court-martial.”
It subsequently appeared that Landais had previously been dismissed from
the French service for insubordination. This fact was not known to
Congress when he was assigned to the command of the Alliance. They
simply knew that he was a Frenchman of illustrious family, of great
pretensions, and who had been an officer in the French navy. Congress
inconsiderately, in its anxiety to compliment France, placed him in a
position which his eccentric passions totally disqualified him from
filling.
Landais wrote to Dr. Franklin soliciting another command. In a very
characteristic reply, dated March 12th, 1780, Dr. Franklin wrote:
“No one has ever learned the opinion I formed of you, from the inquiry
made into your conduct. I kept it entirely to myself, I have not even
hinted it in my letters to America, because I would not hazard giving
any one a bias to your prejudice.
“By communicating a _part of that opinion_ privately to you I can do no
harm, for you may burn it. I should not give you the pain of reading it,
if your demand did not make it necessary.
“I think you then, so imprudent, so litigious and quarrelsome a man,
even with your best friends, that peace and good order, and consequently
the quiet and regular subordination so necessary to success, are, where
you preside, impossible. These are within my observation and
apprehension. Your military operations I leave to more capable judges.
If, therefore, I had twenty ships of war, I should not give one of them
to Captain Landais. The same temper which _excluded_ him from the French
marine would weigh equally with me.”
It was one important object of Captain Jones to get prisoners, that by
an exchange he might release the American prisoners who were suffering
the most barbarous treatment in the prisons of England. He carried with
him into the Texel, five hundred British captives. Franklin proposed to
the British government to exchange them for an equal number of
Americans. But the ministry refused. They sent a large number of
men-of-war to watch the channel, and cruise off the Texel, quite
confident that they should be able to capture the prisoners as soon as
any attempt was made to transport them to France. For some time they
refused to exchange American prisoners on any terms. They would
surrender the French captives alone, in return for the English.
The sympathies of kind-hearted Captain Jones were deeply moved in behalf
of the captive Americans. And yet his feelings would not allow him to
retaliate in treating with inhumanity the British prisoners in his
hands. They were generally poor and ignorant men. Not a few had been
impressed into the service. They were not responsible for the cruelty of
the government, over which they had no control. There was a large party
in England totally opposed to this unrighteous war, and still more
opposed to the barbarity with which the government was conducting it.
When it was proposed and _carried_ in Parliament to employ the savages
as the allies of Great Britain,—to hire the savages, with torch and
tomahawk and scalping knife, in midnight assault, to burn the log-cabins
and butcher the helpless women and children in their lonely homes, far
away in the wilderness, hundreds of voices were raised in indignant
remonstrance. The Earl of Chatham exclaimed, in the House of Lords, in
one of the most eloquent and impassioned of addresses:
“I am astonished, I am shocked, to hear such principles confessed; to
hear them avowed in this house or in this country. Were I an American,
as I am an Englishman, I would never lay down my arms—never, never
never.”
One of the London Journals of September 21st, 1779, contains the
following notice: “The master of a sloop from Harwich, who arrived
yesterday, saw on Saturday last, no less than eleven sail-of-war going
in search of Paul Jones, and among them was the Edgar of seventy-four
guns. By the examination of four men, belonging to one of Paul Jones’s
squadron, it appears that Jones’s orders were not to burn any houses or
towns. What an example of honor and greatness does America thus show to
us. While our troops are running about from town to town on their coast,
burning everything with a wanton wicked barbarity, Dr. Franklin gives no
orders to retaliate. He is above it. And there was a time when an
English minister would have disdained to make war in so villanous a
mode. It is a disgrace to the nation.”
The London Chronicle of October 17th, 1779, contained the following
notice: “Last Tuesday Paul Jones, with his prizes, the Serapis and
Scarborough, entered the Texel, and appeared on the exchange, where
business gave way to curiosity. The crowd pressing upon him, by whom he
was styled the terror of the English, he withdrew to a room fronting a
public square, where Monsieur Donneville, the French agent, and the
Americans, paid him such a volley of compliments, and such homage as he
could only answer with a bow. He was dressed in the American uniform,
with a Scotch bonnet edged with gold; is of a middling stature, stern
countenance, and swarthy complexion.
Captain Cunningham had received a commission for a privateer, from
Commissioners Franklin and Deane. He had cruised in the Channel with
great success, and had become quite a terror to the English. Being
captured he was treated with such barbarity that Congress twice passed
resolutions threatening retaliation. But the humanity of the nation
recoiled from plunging innocent men into loathsome dungeons, and
freezing and starving them, to retaliate for crimes committed by those
who were clothed in purple and fine linen and who fared sumptuously
every day. Captain Jones wrote to Dr. Franklin, from Amsterdam, under
the date of October 11th, 1779:
“As I am informed that Captain Cunningham is threatened with unfair play
by the British government, I am determined to keep in my hands the
captain of the Serapis, as a hostage for Cunningham’s release as a
prisoner of war. I wish heartily that poor Cunningham, whom I am taught
to regard as a Continental officer, was exchanged, as with his
assistance I could form a court-martial, which I believe you will see
unavoidable.”
Captain Pearson and the other British prisoners were provided for, in
all respects, as comfortably as circumstances would allow. And yet the
English captain wrote the following curious complaint to his illustrious
captor. We do not feel at liberty to correct his bad grammar. The letter
was dated October 19th, 1799.
“Captain Pearson presents his compliments to Captain Jones, and is sorry
to find himself so little attended to in his present situation, as not
to have been favored with either a _Call_ or a line from Captain Jones
since his return from Amsterdam. Captain Pearson is sorry to say that he
cannot look upon such behavior in any other light than as a breach of
that _Civility_ which his rank, as well as behavior on all occasions
entitles to; he, at the same time, wishes to be informed, by Captain
Jones, whether any steps has been taken towards the enlargement or
exchange of him, his officers and people, or what is intended to be done
with them. As he cannot help thinking it a very unprecedented
circumstance their being keeped here as prisoners, on board of ship,
being so long in a neutral port.”
The dignified reply of Captain Jones deserves insertion in full. The
English Government, through its ambassador at the Hague, had positively
refused to ransom the English prisoners, at the Texel, by exchanging for
them American prisoners. Captain Pearson could not have been ignorant of
this fact. The reply was dated on board the Serapis, October 20th, 1779.
“As you have not been prevented from corresponding with your friends,
and particularly with the English ambassador at the Hague, I could not
suppose you to be unacquainted with his memorial of the 8th, to the
States General, and therefore I thought it fruitless to pursue the
negociation for the exchange of the prisoners of war now in our hands.
“I wished to avoid any painful altercation with you on that subject. I
was persuaded that you had been in the highest degree sensible that my
behavior toward you had been far from a breach of civility. This charge,
sir, is not a civil return for the polite hospitality and disinterested
attentions you have hitherto experienced.
“I know not what difference of respect is due to _Rank_ between your
service and ours. I suppose however the difference must be thought _very
great_ in England, since I am informed that Captain Cunningham, of equal
denomination, and who bears a senior rank, in the service of America,
than yours in the service of England, is now confined in England, _in a
dungeon and in fetters_!
“Humanity, which has hitherto superseded the plea of retaliation in
American breasts, has induced me, notwithstanding the procedure of Sir
Joseph Yorke,[B] _to seek after permission to land_ the dangerously
wounded, as well prisoners as Americans, to be supported and cured at
the expense of our continent. The permission of the government has been
obtained; but the magistrates continue to make objections. I shall not
discontinue my application. I am ready to adopt any means you may
propose for their preservation and recovery; and, in the meantime, we
shall continue to treat them with the utmost care and attention,
equally, as you know, to the treatment of our people of the same rank.
-----
Footnote B:
Sir Joseph Yorke was the British ambassador at the Hague. He insisted
that the Dutch Government should take from Captain Jones, the Serapis
and the Countess of Scarborough. He said that as England had not
recognized the United States, the captures were illegal, as a
commission had not been granted to Captain Jones by a sovereign power.
-----
“As it is possible that you have not yet seen the memorial of your
ambassador to the States General, I enclose a paper which contains a
copy. And I think he has since written what, in the opinion of good men,
will do still less honor to his pen. I cannot conclude without informing
you that unless Captain Cunningham is immediately better treated in
England, I expect orders, in consequence, from his Excellency, Dr.
Franklin. Therefore, I beseech you, sir, to interfere.”
The British Government, by threats, so intimidated the States General,
that they disavowed any intention of recognizing the Independence of the
United States. They refused to furnish Captain Jones with any munitions
of war, and ordered him immediately to leave the Texel. This seemed to
insure his utter destruction; for powerful British men-of-war were
cruising just off the island, on the watch to grasp him the moment he
should put to sea.
In a memorial which the British minister, Sir Joseph Yorke, presented on
the 29th of September, he wrote:
“I cannot but comply with the strict orders of his majesty (the king of
England) by renewing, in the strongest and most pressing manner his
request, that these ships and their crews may be stopped and delivered
up, which the _pirate Paul Jones_, of Scotland, who is a rebel subject,
and a criminal of the state, has taken.” He also demanded that all the
officers of the United States navy should be treated as _pirates_; for
their commissions were illegal, not having been granted by a government
which England had recognized as a sovereign power.
But the French Government promptly and efficiently interfered. It
assured the States General that though Captain Jones received his
commission from the Congress of the United States, still that he also
sailed under the sanction of the flag of France, in a French ship, and
that the French flag covered the prizes he had captured. The sympathies
of the Dutch Government were with America. Under this complicated state
of affairs it was decided that prizes which Captain Jones had taken with
French ships, should be regarded as prizes belonging to the king of
France; and that Captain Jones should take command of the American
frigate the Alliance.
In obedience with this order, at midnight, Captain Jones, having
delivered to the French ambassador the ships and prizes which were
deemed to belong to the French king, took command of the Alliance, and
surrendered the Serapis to Captain Cottineau of the Pallas. The
eccentric if not insane Landais quarrelled with almost every one who
approached him. He challenged Captain Cottineau to a duel. He was a very
accomplished swordsman. Very unwisely, Captain Cottineau, who was not
particularly skilful with that weapon, allowed his insulting opponent,
in addition to many other wrongs and outrages, the privilege of
thrusting his sword through his opponent’s body, inflicting a very
painful, disabling, and dangerous wound. Landais then sent a similar
challenge to Captain Jones, who very properly replied by sending
officers to arrest him. Upon this he fled and made his way to Paris,
where we shall again hear of him.
Extracts from Captain Jones’s letters will show, better than any
description, the noble character of this truly noble man; a man who has
been strangely misrepresented. He wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette,
from the Serapis, at the Texel, on the 28th of October, 1779:
“The late brutalities of the Britons in America fill me with horror and
indignation. They forget that they are men. And I believe that nothing
will bring them to their senses but the most exemplary retaliation.
“I wish to answer, very particularly, the points which you have
propounded. 1st, I never meant to ask a reward for my services, either
from France or America. Consequently the approbation of the Court and of
the Congress is all the gratification I can wish for. 2d, I yet intend
to undertake whatever the utmost exertion of my abilities will reach in
support of the common cause, as far as any force that may in future be
intrusted to my direction may enable to succeed.”
One of the London journals, of September 29th, 1779, gives the following
amusing exaggeration of the force under Captain Jones’s command, and of
the terror his achievements had inspired:
“An express has arrived from Aymouth with information that Paul Jones
was off there with five ships of war and two thousand troops; that on
the 19th they appeared off Sunderland and put the inhabitants into great
confusion, as they expected them to land every hour, or destroy the
ships in the harbor.”
Another London journal gives the following account of this celebrated
cruise:
“On Saturday noon two gentlemen of the corporation of Hull arrived
express at the Admiralty, with the alarming account that the celebrated
American Corsair, Paul Jones, had entered the river Humber, on Thursday
last, and chased a vessel within a mile of the pier, where he sunk,
burned, and destroyed sixteen valuable vessels, which threw the whole
town and neighborhood into the utmost consternation.
“On Saturday night another express arrived, at the Admiralty, with the
further disagreeable intelligence that Paul Jones’s squadron, after
having done more mischief to the shipping on Friday, had fallen in with
the Baltic fleet, had taken their convoy, the Serapis man-of-war, of
forty-four guns, and the armed ship, the Countess of Scarborough, of
twenty-four guns. This action was seen by thousands of spectators. The
other ships of Jones’s squadron were making havoc among the fleet, most
of which, however, had taken shelter near Flamborough Head.
“From four captured Americans it was discovered that it was Jones’s plan
to alarm the coasts of Wales, Ireland, the western parts of Scotland,
and the North Channel. He took several prizes on the coast of Ireland,
particularly two armed transports with stores for New York. He had it in
his power to burn Leith; but his orders are only to burn shipping. His
squadron is now but weakly manned, owing to the great number of prizes
he has taken; and it, therefore, may fall an easy conquest to the
sixteen sail of men-of-war who have orders to go after him.
“Expresses also arrived on Saturday, from Sunderland, stating that Paul
Jones had taken sixteen more sail of colliers. In consequence of the
capture of so many colliers and the interruption of the trade, the price
of coal will be enormous. Instead of having the dominion of the sea, it
is now evident that we are not able to defend our own coast from
depredations. Yesterday Lord Sandwich informed some Russian merchants
that twenty of his Majesty’s ships were sent in quest of Paul Jones.”
Franklin, who was ever in very cordial sympathy with Paul Jones, wrote
him many and very affectionate letters when the heroic conqueror,
entirely destitute of funds, was surrounded with embarrassments, at the
Texel, sufficient to break down the spirits and to crush the energies of
any ordinary man. It was indeed a question how the prisoners were to be
conveyed to France. Those northern seas were swarming with English
ships, whose commanders were intensely anxious to capture the
commissioned naval officer of the United States, whose commission was
ratified by alliance with France, and whom they still had the insolence
to stigmatize as a _pirate_. Franklin wrote to him, under date of
October 15, 1779:
“I am uneasy about your prisoners. I wish they were safe in France. You
will then have completed the glorious work of giving liberty to all the
Americans, who have so long languished for it in the British prisons;
for there are not so many there as you have now taken.”
Paul Jones, in command of his squadron, was rightly entitled to the
designation of commodore. He was so regarded by the French court, who
had intrusted to him the fleet. He is thus addressed by the Duke of
Vauguyon. In a letter, under date of December 21, 1779, addressed to
Commodore Jones, the duke writes:
“I have received, my dear commodore, the letter you have addressed to
me. I perceive, with pain, that you do not view your situation in the
right light. I can assure you that the ministers of the king have no
intention to cause you the least disagreeable feelings, as the honorable
testimonials of the esteem of his majesty, which I send you, ought to
convince you.”
Every eminent man must have rivals and enemies. There were scores of
French officers hungering for high command. They envied the renown of
Jones. They complained that they were neglected, while a _foreigner_ was
intrusted with the command of French ships. Many of these complainants
were nobles of great wealth as well as illustrious rank. The French
ministry thus had great embarrassments to encounter. They appreciated
highly the services of Commodore Jones. They were very desirous of
immediately giving him new employment. And yet they felt under the
necessity of leaving him, for a time, in idleness, greatly to his
chagrin. The impatience he manifested under these circumstances reflect
honor upon his patriotic enthusiasm. He wrote to the Duke of Vauguyon,
on the 25th of December, 1779, as follows:
“You do me great honor as well as justice, my lord, by observing that no
satisfaction can be more precious to me than that of giving new proofs
of my zeal for the common cause of France and America. And the interest
you take to facilitate the means of my giving such proofs, by essential
services, claims my best thanks. I hope I shall not, through any
imprudence of mine, render ineffectual any noble design that may be in
contemplation for the general good. Whenever that object is mentioned,
my private concerns are out of the question.
“With a deep sense of your generous sentiments of personal regard toward
me, and with the most sincere wishes to meet that regard by my conduct
through life, I am,” etc.
The Dutch Government, goaded by the menaces of England, though it dared
not command the _French_ ships to leave its ports, insisted that the
_American_ commodore, whose government Holland had not yet recognized,
should immediately, with the American frigate the Alliance, leave the
Texel. But there, were twelve British men-of-war, at the mouth of the
harbor, watching for him. Eight were at the northern entrance of the
port, and four at the southern.
Commodore Jones, for I shall henceforth give him the designation to
which I consider him justly entitled, kept the banner of the Stars and
Stripes proudly floating from the mast-head of the Alliance. He also
unflinchingly declared that he never bore any commission but that which
he received from the Congress of the United States of America. It was
said that there were, in all, forty British men-of-war cruising in the
German Ocean, so as to render the escape of Paul Jones impossible. The
Dutch admiral, on the 12th, informed him they must insist upon his
sailing with the first fair wind.
To add to his embarrassments he found that Landais had left the Alliance
in the most deplorable condition, totally unfit for service without
extensive repairs. She was an admirable ship in model and construction,
and was remarkable for her sailing qualities. But, through sheer
negligence and general demoralization, nearly everything was in a
ruinous condition. The sails were worn out. The cables had gone to
decay. Her battery was in a condition unfit for action, and her small
arms quite out of order. Most of the powder had either become damaged by
leakage, or rendered unfit for use by neglecting to turn the kegs. The
officers were all quarrelling with each other, and the men
insubordinate. Intemperance and the want of cleanliness, with the total
absence of discipline, had struck down many of the crew with epidemical
diseases.
Commodore Jones made the most vigorous efforts to prepare the Alliance
for sea; and he promised the government that he would leave, at all
hazards, as soon as the wind would serve. But before he sailed he
enjoyed the great gratification of learning that Dr. Franklin had
succeeded in obtaining the liberation of all the American prisoners in
England, by exchanging for them the prisoners Commodore Jones had
captured. He also had the happiness of grasping the hand, at the Texel,
of Captain Cunningham, who, by the energies of Commodore Jones, had been
rescued from the most dreadful bondage.