The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-02

| out for the Drake, sloop OF war which he
/ WlSned 10 make come out and fight him.
! AT last on beautiful April afternoon he
was in the ofiing of Carrickfergus, and
| holsting American colors and backing his
\ topsails, invited the Drake to come and
! have 1t out yardarm to yardarm. The
Drake, nothing 10th, sailed out, and both
ships stripped to their lighting canvas and
went at it hammer and tongs. 1t took
raul Jones Just an hour and four minutes
70 capture the Drake, which was a better
snip than the Ranger, and he carried her
on In triumph 10 France.
The fury of the British, who had few
such auoacioUs enemies, was extreme
against Paul Jones. The loss of the
Drake was nothing, as she was a small
and weak ship, like the Ranger; but the
wound to the honor of the great country
thus defied, was bigger than any ship
Paul Jones was denounced as a pirate
aIthough as regularly commissioned as
SIeneraI washington himself, and if he
mad been caught, would undoubtedly have
been hanged.
This did not terrify him though. ard the
next year, after many diSappOintmentS,
ne nnally succeeded in getting a miserable
old ship called the Bon HOlnme Richard
cut OF compliment to Benjamin Franklin
whose Poor Richards Almanac was
lnen nlSnly popular. In this Wretched
lll-armed tub Of an old ship Paul Jones
determined to show american coIors
again at the very door of England. He
nsu ostensloIy under his command three
other vessels, but these were commanded
by trenchmen, who soon grew mutinous
and only one. of the captains showed the
slghtest aptitude for lighting. On this
cruise Paul Jones twice sailed up the
Firth OF Forth, almost to I.eith. the port
or Edinburgh. The EdenbureerS were
thoroughly reused and determined to de-
TEND the town If this bold captain should
land Among the small boys who laid
awake at night listening for the booming
OF the Bon Homme Richards guns. was
SIR Walter Scott, then a little lad of ten
years. The wind however, blew Paul
Jones out TO sea both times.
Fight With the Serapis
On a bright September day. as Paul
Jones was cruising near Marlborough
Head, he saw a me merchant ship coming
around the promontory. This was fol-
lowed oy another and another, until forty
ships had sailed past, and then came their
convoy, the Scraps, splendid black fri
gate, with nifty guns, and the Countess of
Scarborough, u smart little sloop of war
Instantly Paul Jones set the American
ensign and made ready for the great
nSht that Won him Immortality. His ship
WAS old, dec&yed and very weakly armed
His crew was made up of all the nations
OF the. earth and he was short of officers
but he undauntedly made way to fight
the stout Scraps well armed. and
manned by the hardy sailors of England.
1t is estimated that the Scraps in force
was as two to one against the poor old
Bon Homme Richard-but the Bon HON.
me Richard had captain which more
than made UP the difference. At oclock
the drummerS beat to quarters on both
ships, but it was really seven before they
got near enough to begin the real bust
ness of fighting. Much of this time the
British and Americans We're cheering and
Jeering at each other. The Scraps pre-
tended they thought the Bon Homme
Richard was a merchant ship, which in
deed she had been before she came into
Paul Jones hands, and derisively asked
the Americans what she was ladened with
to which the Americans promptly shout
ed back, Round grape and double headed
shot,
At last. about seven in the evening, the
Cannonade began. AT the second broad
side two of the battery of eighteen pound
erS on the Bon Homme Richard burst
the rest cracked and coud not be fired.
These had been the main dependence for
fighting the ship. Most of the small guns
were diSmounted and in a little while
Paul Jones had only three nine-pounders
to play against the heavy broadside of the
Scraps. In addition to this the shot from
the Scraps had made several enormous
holes in the crazy old hull of the Bon
HoInDle Richard, and she was leaking like
a sieve, while she was aiire in a dozen
places at once. Below were a hundred
prisoners ready to spring UP, and but for
having no guns to fight, the crew of the
Bon Homme Richard would have been
by either the fire or the water
Most CAPTAINS in this awful situation
would have hauled down the flag Not so
Paul Jones. Knowing that his one chance
lay In graphing with the enemy and hav-
ing it out at close quarters, he managed
to get alongside the Scraps, and with his
Scraps miZzen mast, calling out cheer
fully to his men, Now, my brave lads,
we have herr
But the fight was far from over. The
Bon Homme Richard was still leaking and
burning furiously, and the officers, brave
men though they were, told Paul Jones. If
he did not surrender they must all go to
the bottom But he was OF a different