The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1780-03-07 00:00:00, page 1

From the LONDON GAZETTE.
Admiralty Office, OHoler 12, 1779°
A Letter from Captain Pearson, of his
Majesty's ship Serapis, to Mr. Ste
phens, if which the foilowing is a copy,
was yeflerday received at this office.
Pallas, French Frigate in Congress Service,
Texd, O^oher 6, 1779.
SI R,
YOU will be pleated to inform the
Lords eommiGoners of the admiral
ty, that on the 23d ultimo, being
close in with the Scarborough, about 11
tfClock, a boat came on.board with a letter
from the Bailiffs of that corporation, giv
ing information of a dying fqua.dron cl
the enemy's ships being on the coast, and
a part of the said fquadrnn having been
seen from thence the day before, handing
to the foothward. As loon as I received
this intelligence I made the signal for the
convoy to bear down, under my Lee, and
repeated with two Guns ; netwith.ftar.d
ing which, the van of the convoy kept
their wind, with all fail stretching out to
the southward from under Flamborough
he^d, till between twelve and one, when
the head-most of them got in light of the
enemy's ships which were then in chafe of
them ; they then tacked and made the
best of their way under the shore for Scar
borough, &c. letting fly their top gallant
fleets, and firing guns ; upon which I
made all the fail 1 cculd to the windward,
to get between the enemy's ships and the
convoy, which I focn effected. Atone
o'Clcck we got tight of the enemy's ships
from mast-head, and about four we made
them plain from the deck to be three large
ships and a brig, upon which I made the
Countess of Scarborough's signal to pin
me, she being in shore with the convoy,
at the fame time I made the fiscal for the
convoy to make the best of their way, and
repeated the signal with two guns ; I then
brought to, let the Countess cf Scarbo
rough come up, and cleared flrp for ac
tion. At half pad five the Countess cf
Scarborough joined me, the enemy'sArps
then bearing down upon us, with a light
breeze at S. S. W, # at fix tacked, and laid
cur head in shore, in order to keep the
ground the better between -the enemy's,
ships and the convoy ; soon after which
we perceived the ships bearing down up
on us to be a two-decked ship and two
frigates, but from keeping oft and on up
on us, on bearing down, we could not
difeern what e<?l urs they were under : At
abord.2o minutes pad seven, the largest
ship of the three brought to, on our lar
board bow, with'n musket shot: I hailed
him, and asked him what ship it was ;
they answered in Englilh the Princess
Royal ; I then afcd.who they belonged
to, they answered evasively ; on which!
TUESDAY, March ri 1780. THE . NUMBER;^;
CONNECT I CUTCOURA N T,
AND T HBl :
W EEKLY IN TEL L IGE N C ER...
HA RIF FO RD: Printed by HUDSON and GOOD WI N, near the Great-Bridge.
told them, if they did not answer diredly,
I would Tme into them; they answered
with a shot, which was instantly returned
with abroadfide, he backed his topsails,
and dropped upon cur quarter within pis
tol shot, then filled again, put his helm a
weather, and run us on board upon our
weather quarter, and attempted to board
us, but being repulsed, he sheared cff, upon
which I backed our topfads, in order to
get square with him again, which, as soon
as he observed, he then filled, put his helm
a weather, and laid us athwart hawfe; his
mi^en ilrrcuds took our jib boom, which
bung him for forae time, till it at last gave
way, and we dropt alongside of each other
Lad ard hern, when the fluke of our
spare anchor hooking quarter, we became
so c!ofe fore and aft, that the muzzels of
our guns touched each others fidhs. In
this petition we engaged from half past
eight till half past ten; during whichtime
from the great quantity and variety of
combustible matters which they threw in
upon our decks, chains, and in fhert into
every part of the ship we Were on fire not
left than ten or twelve times in different
part of the fhip,and it was with the greatest
d fficulty and exertion imaginable at times
that we were able to get it extinguished.
At the fame time the largest cf the two
frigates kept failing round us<the whole
action, taking us fore and aft, by which
means she killed or wounded almost eve
ry man, on the quarter and main deck<.
About half paftnine, either from a hand
grenade beingthrowninat cn- of the low
er deck ports, or from force other acci
dent, a cartridge of powder was set on fire,
the flames of which running from car
tridge to cartridge all the way aft, blew
up the whole of the pecple and officers
that were abaftthe mainmaift, from which
unfortunate circumftanee all thefe^cns
were rendered ufelef^ for the remainder
of the a&ion, and I fear the greatest part
of the people will loose their lives. -At
ten o'Clock they called for quarters from
the ship alongside, and said they had
hruck : Hearing this, J cafled upon the
Captain to know if^hey had struck, or if
he asked for quarters; but no answer be
ing made, after repeating my words two
or thrpe times, I called for the boarders,
and ordered them to board, which they
did; but the moment they were on board
her, they difeovered a foperior number
laying under cover with pikes in their
hands ready to receive them, on which our
people retreated instantly into our own
ship, and returned to their guns again till
past ten, when the frigate coming across
our stern, and pouring her broadside into
us again, without our being able to bring
a gun to bear 011 her, I found it in vain,
and in short impracticable, from the fi.
tuation we were in, to stand out any lon
ger with the least profped of success ; I
therefore flruck, (our main-mast at the
fame time went by the board.) The
firft Lieutenant and myfelf were im
mediately escorted into the ship along
fide, when we found her to be an Ame
rican fliip of war, called the Bon Hom
me Richard; of 40 guns, and 375 men,
commanded by Capt. Paul Jones; the o
ther frigate which engaged us, proved tty
be the Alliance, of 40 guns, and 300 men ;
and the third frigate, which engaged and
took the Countess of Scarborough, after
twohoursjaaion, to be the Pallas, a French
frigate of 32 guns, and 275 men ; the
Vengeance, an armed brig of 12 guns,
and 70 men, all in Congress service, and
under the command of Paul Jones, They
fitted out and failed from Port I'Orient
the latter end of July, and came North a
bout ; they had on board 300 English
prisoners which they have taken in dif
zferent vessels in their way round, since
they left France, and have ransomed some
others. On my going on board the Bon
Hemme Richard, I found - her in the
greatest distress; her Quarters and Coun
ter on the lower deck entirely drove in,
and the whole of her lower deck guns
dismounted ; she was also on fire in two
places, and fix or seven feet water in her
hold, which kept increasing upon them
all night and the next day, till they were
obliged to quit her, and she funk with a
great number of her wounded people on
board her. , She had 306 men killed and
wounded in the action ; our loss in the
Serapis was also very great. 1 My officers
and people in general behaved well, and
I should be very remrfs in my attention
to their merit were I to omit recommend
ing the remains of them to their Lord
ships favour. I must at the fame time
beg leave to inform their Lordships that
Capt. Piercy, in the Countess of Scarbo
rough, was not in the lead remiss in his
duty, he having given me every assistance
in his power, and as much as could be
expected from such a ship, irr engaging
the attention of the Pallas, a frigate of 32
guns, during the whole adion.
lam extremely sorry for the misfortune
that has happened, that of losing his Ma
jesty's ship I had the honor to command ;
but at the fame time, I flatter myfelf with
the hopes that their lordships will be
• convinced that she has not been given a
way ; but on thecontrary, that every ex
ertion has been used to defend her; and
that two essential pieces of service to our
country have arisen from it ; the one in
wholly overfetting the cruise and inten
tionsef this flying squadron ; the other
in refeuing the whole of a valuable con
voy from falling into the hands of the