The Red Cloud chief., 1878-06-06

u ~ /.
virw IL i. nc, - much con.~iursc~.
hu, the fact |. certain that tho pe-ss-sm
- the s~t~pis "a. cAneh, In the star
board mirssn rigging Il the Rcr homm~
Richard tina, Jancs with his c~n
hands ls.hca IL Va the bonhosnn's R,ch.
ards mlsfcn mast, that the Scrspis
.tart-oari anchor booked iRto the bon
homme Richards quarter. aud the two
ships swung together bc~ and stern.
their .,srts,ard sides touching each
ether
Pearson. hoping tina, the honhsmin,
Richard might drif, spari, let 80 his
other anchor. bu, he did not know. and
VA. unable to learn. how II Wa that
the too ships were 81 CLOSELY iccAed
They .~ung together with the tide set
ting ,o til. northwest. and so continued
10 drift. la numt-r IL men III. adV"r'
ssric. we're ncsrly equal. bat while the
lower deck battery II the scraps gave
her an oycrpowcring s~upcriori. below
IL employed morc men. and LETT The
Ronhomme Richard With a marked
p~criori,y above. The eighteen pound
crs II the scraps smashed the Bon.
homme Richard into chips aud silcnccd
| her main deck guns; hut the men thus
driven on deck and Ia the tops. swcp,
| the quartcr-d.rk aud forccastlc ui the
Serapi. with musketry and hand-grcn.
AIDES, and drove her men below. There
As some skirmishing below through
| the ports. some above across the net
tings. but On neither side vas there any
organized attempt In board.
Meantime the Alliance. which might.
..l.. a.. .xs-st., at..s...ss. - kuNs
anchored a,hwart the stern Of the S-ra-
pis, and without danger to herself haNr
ended the action in n few minutes. con
tented herself with sailing around the
two ships. firing Unfortunately at
either or both. not only with round shot,
bu, with grape aud canister. Pearson.
In his report. naturally speaks II the
damage he sustained from this fire; but
American writers maintain tina, the loss
which IL inflicted ON the Bonhummc
Richard was much greater; and |, seems
well established that the material assist
ancc rendered by the Alliance WAS worse
than useless. though. Of course, Pear
son could not know that the time aud
her presence had u very positive and
dispiriung effect.
Still. even under the disad, ambiguous
circumstances in which the Scraps was
placed. the crushing power of her
eighteen FOUNDERS againgt the rotten
,imbers Of the Bonhommc Richard must.
sooner or later. have ended In her favor.
had not u single accident, or rather the
union of ingenious daring ON one side
and objectionable carelcssncss on the
other. changed the appearance of affairs
about 10 o'clock. A seaman Of the Bon
homme Richard had laid out on the
main yard. carrying with him n bucket
full Of hand g~rcnadcs. One III these b,
succeeded In throwing down the Scra'
pis' main hatchway On IA the lower
deck. A number Of cartridges had
been placed there In the rcar III the
guns, among these the grenade fell
The explosion raj from the mainmas'
aft. disabled many of the guns. an'
killed. wounded, or horribly scorchca
every man of them. The effect WA
disastrous. aud for q minute 1t was de
ba,cd whether the Scraps should no
: surrender.
. But ON board the BonhOmmc Richar,
. things were ~ bad. The carpenter cam,
up 10 Jones and said the ship wa sink
! ing; the gunner. hearing this. ran NJ
! to haul down the flagstaff. but iindinj
! that the flag and flagstaff had alread.
. been shot away. began Ia below
. Quarter! for Gods sake. quarterr' I'm
Ill Jones stopped his noise by %stavin,
In his skull with the but Of his pistol
The master-at-arms Of the Bonhomm
Richard. hearing the carpenters state
mcnt. and the gunner's Outcry. releases
the prisoners from the hold. More tina
. a hundred Ut them rushed on deck; the,
h might and should have rendered them
i selves masters Of the ship. or at leas
q have enabled their friends Of the Seru
pis 10 do 50. but they were bcwildcre,
g and panic stricken; Jones. with q pre-.
ence Of mind and al impudencc this
rises tO the sublime, set them 10 wOr
q at the pumps. and At the pumps the
G continued. One only among them n
n tanned his self-possession, and escapin
y on board the Scraps through u port
l. told Captain Pearson the state the enc
my WAS In. II was too late 10 be Of use
. Both ships were, in fact, thorough
n beaten. and It was almost n matter {
!. change which should give In. ! believ
!. the Alliance decided Il. She did M
r assist the Bonhomme Richard as oh
&c ought to have done; her fire had aus
s. as much damage to friend ~ To foe. bt
she served to discourage the Scraps
Is and that Encouragement Was sufficier
to turn the scale. About half-past u
t, o'clock the Scraps struck. and was Il
n ken possession Of. The Bonhomm
ID Richard was with difficulty kept aioi
Il through the night. and sank about u
" O'Clock the next forenoon. There IL .
J. trustworthy return of killed and woun'
ed; the numbers are said TO have bee
" about 200 on board the Scraps, i20 q
ne board the Bonhomme Richard; but IN
d, Is little better than n guess, and u
* very probable they were much large
n The accounts are widely different, ri
IN ing to nearly 800 for each ship, and Q
IN that can be positively said Is that,
q compared with the numbers engage
be IL Is the bloodicst battle on modern re
10; ord.
e. Throughout the action Jones' condu
nc "a the captain Of the ship Of war Is b
W You'd all praise. His ship was In eve
r. way very inferior to the Scraps, Al
NJ Penrson MA 4 man az known coural