The National tribune., 1898-04-28

rate not more than "a or 26 gun corvet.
She carried % long mines and 10 long skies.
The Vengeance carried II long mines
| and two skies. The revenue cutter called
the Cert, Capt. Varages, mounted IL guns,
six long skies and 10 four-pounders. The
crews of these three ships were all French,
| and fairly up to their compliments.
THE BON HOMME RICHARD.
Not more than 40 men, however, were at
| this time attached TO lie DuroS, which
| name Jones changed to the Bon Honme
| Richard in compliment to DIR. franklin.
AS, with her new armament, the Richard
would require at least $40 to $50 men, con
siderable recruiting was 10 be done at
once. Extraordinary efforts were made at
L Orient and also at the neighboring ports
] of Nantes and Brest.
1t was slow work, because the King
made no provision for manning the ship,
] and Jones had no funds except those fur
| nished by the lie Roy de Chaumont syndi-
! cate.
| though just about this time, by sacrificing
| part of his land in Virginia, he obtained
about 1900 from a firm of Virginia mer-
F.! chants trading TO Nantes and bordeaux
| Messrs. Frazier & Frazier.
However, by June ], 1879, he had sue
ceeded in raking together 2i0 seamen, of
whom less than fifty were Americans; the
rest being French, English, Scotch, Portu-
guese ana a few Swedes and Norwegians
One of the Americans was such IN every
sense OF the term, being IA Narragansett
Indian named Anthony JEREMIAH from
Martha's Vineyard, who, like most OF the
remnant of his tribe ut that time, was u
whaleman.
Partly to provide large landing force for
descents on the coast and partly to keep
his motley crew in order, he shipped 1872
marines" OF these II were regulars,
loaned from the dock yard, whom he made
nOn-commiSsioned officers. The other 120
were simply French infantry soldiers who
were allowed to volunteer from the garrison
of l. Orient, and who had never before
served aboard ship. About forty addl-
tional men, mostly French, were obtained
for the Alliance, bringing her crew up to
fair working strength.
Under such conditions the squadrons
put to sea June 10, 1873, and conveyed a
small fleet of merchant vessels to Bordeaux.
A couple of days out, the Alliance fOuled
the Richard doing so much damage to
both that an immediate return to l. Orient
for repairs was necessary.
FORTUNATE REINFORCEMENT.
But it's an i'll wind that blows nobody
good. This accident proved OF rare good
fortune to Paul Jones.
That good fortune was nothing less than
the accession of ia genuine American
sailors to his strength. These with the
Americans in his original crew now made
a total of 155 first-class Yankee seamen
under his command. About thirty of them
had sailed with him n either the Alfred, the
Providence. or the Ranger, and ~ or II OF
them in all three.
In letter to Dr. Franklin, dated July IA,
1873, he wrote of them:
Distressing as the late accident was, it
seems to have been providentiai, as with
out it would not have acquired this wei
come and most important reinforcement.
/ deem it due to them to say that my new
Americans are altogether the best lot OF
Seamen / have ever seen. expect much
of them. Rest assured they will give good
account of themselves if fortune enables
me to lay them alongside an English
Jrigate F."
They had arrived at Nantes by cartel
from England about the time Jones put
back to L Orient, having been Just ex-
changed out of English prisons for the
crew of the Drake captured by Jones the
year before; so that they were indebted to
him for their freedom. The cartel brought
119 altogether, but five of them were dis
abled by the cruelties of their late English
jaiiers.
These ia Americans were at that mo-
ment, doubtless, as Jones said, the best
sailors in the world. Among them was
Richard Dale, by birth Virginian, but
hailng from Philadelphia, Master of the
American Continental brig Lexington, cap
tured about a year before. Dale had es-
capped once from his English jailers and
had been retaken. He had, in conse-
quence, experienced to the full the bar
barity for which English prisons were then
proverbial Ten or twelve of the others
had been officers in various ships.
All, irrespective of rank, had old scores
to pay off, and they reioiced at the oppor
tunity to settle their long reckonings with
the English under the leadership of Paul
Jones. They had not been on board a
week before their influence made differ
emit ship of the Richard.
tn he rooffnusI