The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1885-02-18

and FOR oHy thing. Asickie'S the mis-
chief he has lime already. Ony p>cket
geor they hue gathered tAegithrr he VIII
ganq ,ri tie heal ct; may burn their
Iooses, tux their rary clues, and ttrt them
to the sark; and uaes me, h ken$ but
the Glui3y william might tax their lives:
The muir ueemea ere mast Jre'ghtsHsd
cut o. their 1cuts, and the harms sktrttng
after them. ! caona' thok! 1 caHna'
fho'Ht | Lae been lana a f0ithfu' SER
want 10 ne. Laird; but gin ne dlHHd turn
the run about, and JIap the scoundrel
out of our gate, III ma stur a 1T, but will
;utst sit here, until the tide comes aud
drouns me. Sac tax yere wuH ot."
AS the wind soon veered, he took
credit all his life for having saved his
people by a little plain talk with the
Laird"
THE GREATEST NAVAL DUEL IN STORY
By this heading we refer to the capture
nf the .Serapis by the Bon Homme Rich
ard. 1t is true that probably, twenty years
hence, the sinking of Admiral Raphael
Sem mes steamer iiobanao, by the Yam
kee steamer, Keorsaqe, will rank equal
with Paul Jones exploit; because
Semmes kept fighting until his ship sank
and half his meu, (ali his wounded)
were drowned. But we nave the opinion
that the old style Of fighting, when men
and ships had to come almost within arm
length, was a better test Of courage than
the long range duels of modern naval
warfare. The wild Arabs who rush for
ward, sword or spear in hand, to assail
the British legioDs in Egypt to-day are
| certainly Drawer than the trained soldiers
who kneeI in solid ranks and NOW them
down with revolving rifles which shoot
at half a mile distance.
Jones after nearly a year of fussing AID
tuning In France got command OF a sn2al
squadron to sail IN search OF British foes.
The feet was composed of 4 ships; but
Jones had no real control over any except
hi. own ship, which he named the Bon
HoMME RICHARD as a compliment to DIR.
Ben Frankiin's almanac, which was called
Poor richards Maxlms."
France and America were then in al
lance Franklin and Lafayette had got
ten Jones a ship the otLers were French
| vessels; differed by well o men who
looked upon Paul as poor white trash,'
"a mere adyenturer-Or carpetbagger as
it were. Jones was vain and foolish; but
had the heart off lion and was resolv-
ed to either die, or win glory and when
men get into that mood they are dan
.erous.
After a great many quarrels and mis-
haps. the fleet scattered, and Jones in
the Poor Richard'-went ahead. On
the night of Sept. % l779,-Jones saw
the Baltic Fleet fully fifty vessels,
ladened with costly cargoes, near Flam-
Borough Head, under convoy of two
armed vessels ; the Scraps carrying 46
guns, and the Scarborough carrying 20
guns. The American gave chalse, and
caught up with the Scraps a little after
dark tho the night "a brightly moon
lit. Jones bad only 10 guns and $50
men and boys but he sailed up until
his PROV ran into the British ship. His
audacity evidently Disconnected the lat
ter for instead of at once attacking
Jones, they called out to know who he
was, and what he meant by such fool
ishness. The delay enabled Jones to
shift his vessel a little so that both
ships lay side by side, and became en-
udIlSlCu L " SuCu Ill tAtChI lldt
could have escaped. even if 1T had sought
to do so. 1t was now simply a question
a. to which Of the commanders had the
| most GOODNESS. Both were brave and
both had about the same number of
men. The Englishman had the greater
number of guns. but the American
stood higher out of the water,-which
was a great advantage when the fight
became hand-to-hand. While the ships
were tangled, the Englishmen yelled
| Have you surrendered 20 NO! BY
He'll, we haven't began to fight YETI
roared Jones; and the mo began to
roar. Both ships had four tiers of guns
and as they lay side by side, mouths of
the cannon belched their deadly contents
directly into the portfolios of the OPP
posing vessel. Presently two of Jones'
guns bursted on the upper deck and kill
ed everybody in the vicinity. Then
about 400 British prisoners who were
held on Jones ship got loose and fled to
the Scraps, telling the Englishmen that
the American vessel was in a sinking
condition. Soon both vessels took fire,
and there was a lull in the fighting
while all hands tried to stop the flames.
More than four hundred dead aud wound
ded lay on the decks !; the blood and
gone and shattered limbs made an awful
spectacle: but as each commando
hoped the other would finally yield-the
fight went on.
About % p. M, the French vessel
4Uiance came up and poured broadcast
after broadside into the two ships, kill
ing as many OF Jones' men as Of the
Englishmen. This made the matter still
more desperate. All of Jones officers
afterwards signed a card charging that
the Alliance meant to sink both vessels
and then lay claim to having won the
battle herself. OF course this was de-
MED: and the mistake was attributed to
the darkness and smoke. Jones, we
Judge, was on the eve of ~surrendering,
when an accidental explosion on the
decks of the English vessel turned the
tide. 1t seems that the powder boys or
"monkeys," had orders to bring the Is.
pound cartridges and lay them Oh the
deck by the side of the guns. They
kept on piling up the powder regardless
Of the terrible slaughter Of the gunners.
After while one of the American ma
rines. stationed on the high deck Of the
Bon HOmme Richard threw an hand
grenade over upon the deck of the Sera-
pis causing a fearful explosion which
killed 20 men.
Lieut.. Richard Dale, who was Jones
Lieutenant, describes the close of the
fight
The effect was tremendous; more than
90 of the enemy were blown to pieces
and MANY stood with only the collars o