The age-herald., 1898-03-04
EXPLOITS OF THE
 AMERICAN NAVY

tries of Europe have a longer history, but none has so much glory and success crowd ed in so short a space.
 q On land we have usually been pittied in our foreign wars against the English. who are correctly rated the best troops in Eu- rope. and we have lost sometimes and won sometimes, oftener the latter.
 At sea our antagonists have also been the English in most cases. but there we have always won, with one or two excep- tions. From the beginning the navy has been thoroughly trained, strictest discipline has been maintained. and to these and the natural strength and spirit of our seamen our successes are due.
 The story of the American navy practi- cally begins with the encounter of the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, off Flam- borough Head, England, one of the most picturesque and desperate sea fights in his- tory. The Bon Homme Richard was the gift of France to America. She was an old East India merchantmen, which the French had purchased from Holland, and which sailed from French port under an Ameri- can flag, commanded by John Paul Jones, a Scotchman by birth, who had been for some years before the revolutionary war citizen of the United States.
 A more mixed lot than his crew was never gathered together. More than twenty
 
 but all his officers were Americans. and the American seamen outnumbered those of any other nation. The Bon Homme Rich- ard was so old that many of her timbers were rotten, and her guns were of such bad material that they were more dangerous to her crew than to the enemy.
 She sailed in company with two other ships, the larger of which was commanded by a Frenchman named Landias, who was insane. as a court of inquiry soon after- nfd aAAN the English channel for some time, and on the evening of Sept. 23 1779, the Bon Homme Richard, when some distance from her consorts, met the English frigate Sera- pis, almost under the guns of the English castle on Flamborough Head.
 The Serapis, accompanied by a smaller man-of-war, the Countess of Scarborough, was conveying fleet of English merchant men. The PallaS, sister vessel of the Bon Homme Richard, engaged the Countess of Scarborough. The Alliance, commanded by the crazy Frenchman, Landais, drew off, leaving the Bon Homme Richard and. the Serapis to single combat.
 The two ships engaged just as dusk was falling, and fought at muslSet range for an hour and a half, greatly to the disadvan- tage of the Bon Homme Richard. Many of her deck upper guns burst at the first fire, killing and wounding a large number of her crew. Her rotten timbers offered no resistance to the cannon balls of the SeraplS They SlaShed her through and through at every fire.
 The Bon Homme Richard seemed to be sinking. Any other captain than Paul Jones would nave surrendered. He had be- low deck about 200 English prisoners, who were threatening at every moment to rise and overpower the survivors of the Ameri- can crew. Thus he had enemies both be- fore him and beneath him. In this emer- gency he had to resort to a device
 He sent an officer below to tell the pris- oners that the ship sinking, and that if they did not man the pumps Englishmen and Americans would go down together. which was probably true. The English prisoners, in panic terror, rushed to the pumps and worked with all their might, while the Americans on deck continued to fight the Seraps.
 The SerapiS came up closer and her spars and rigging overlaped those of the Bon Homme Richard. Then the two ships fought, gun muzzle to gun muzzle. The darkness of the night was now complete, save for the flashing of the cannon and muskets.
 Jones laShed his ship with his own hand to the Serapis and resolved that if he went down his antagonist should go down with him. It is probable that at this time the unwilling Serapis was holding the Bon Homme Richard above water. Seldom has there been more terrible scene.
 Both ships were enveloped in the smoke of the combat, through which and the QaTkHeSS Ine CdTIOH pldZcu away IHC decks of both were covered with the dead and the dying, and their groans could be heard even above the thunder of the ar. tillery. After a while the fire died down, Captain Pearson hailed from the deck of the Serapis and demanded if his antagonist had surrendered.
 Paul Jones' reply was historic. He said, q have just begun to fight" Even then his ship was riddied. The water was pour ing in at a score of places and only the 
 her iashings to the Serapis kept her aioat. One-third of his crew lay dead or dying upon the deck.
 At this terrible moment the Bon Homms Richards consort, the Alliance, under the crazy Frenchman, Landais came up in the dark The Americans utter shout of joy. for they were sure the battle was now theirs. To their amazement and fury the Alliance delivered broadside not into the Serapis, but into the Bon Homme Richard, striking down half dozen men.
 Then she fired a scattering shot or two into the Serapis and disappeared dn the darkness, having done moro damage to heR friends than to 2ser enemies. Knowing that his own ship would sink, Jones now formed the desperate determination of boarding the Serapis and taking her.
 While he was preparing, daring Ameri- can sailor climbed far out on spar of tho Bon Homme Richard which overran tho Serapis and dropped @ grenade among crowd of English sailors and marines. 10 exploded with terrible effect, killing and woundlng a score of men. Jones then re- newed his fire from all the guns that could be brought to bear. boarded the Serapis and took her in hand-to-hand fight. His own ship sunk a few minutes after the last of the prisoners were transferred to the Sera- pis
 Thus closed this memorable battle, which made sensation throughout the civilized world. The British, man for man, since the decline of the Dutch, had been superior at sea to anybody in Europe, but at last they had found their equals in sailors from beyond Europe. The odds in ship and equip. ment were at least three in favor of the English. yet they were beaten.
 Each ship lost nearly half of her crew, either killed or wounded. Jones was over whelmed with honors. Capt. Pearson was made a baronet by the British government in honor of his brave, but unsuccessful de- fense.
 Some time before this Jones had distin. guished himself in combat in a much smaller shp but the affair did not attract