The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-04-15

VIII glssten none the less - " -
Because 1t comes In contact with
A beggar's tattered dress;
This lovely world was never made
For you and me alone;
A pauper has right to tread
The pathway to a throne.
Don't crowd the good from out your heart
ny fostering all that's bad;
hut give to every virtue room
The best that may be had;
be each days record such one
That you may we'll be proud;
Give each his rights, give each his room.
And never try to crowd.
Alice Cary.
THE BRAVES1 NAVAL FIGHT.
The one sea fight of the American
struggle for liberty that is of unfailing in
terest was that in which John Paul Jones,
in the "Bonhomme Richard" whipped
the British frigate "Serapis." And the
student need not 90 far to seek the rea-
son for this interest, because it is found
IN the fact that it was the man that won,
and neither the ship nor the crew. 1t
was won in spite of such obstacles as no
other man has been obliged to face at
sea. 1t was victory typical of the ul-
innate success of the American cause, for
it was victory that was literally
dragged out of the breakers of destruc-
ton.
When the Bonhomme Richard fell in
with the frigate Scraps of fifty guns, the
wind was SO light that they merely
drifted over the oil-smooth water. The
sun sank out of sight behind the hills,
and daylight faded away into darkness,
so that even the lofty towers of canvas
We're seeen only as the faintest shadows,
But each side was hunting for the other,
and eventually, in the profound silence of
a night at sea, the Bonhomme Richard
and the Scraps drew near each other. 1t
was then exactly o'clock.
AT the first fire two of the three eigh-
teen-pounders in the lower-deck broad
side of the Bonhomme Richard burst. =
And the British noted with glee
that thereafter none of these, the heaviest
guns on the Yankee ship, was fred. The
crews OF the two guns that burst were
all killed or seriously wounded, and the
men on that deck were called ND to the
main deck to help work the guns there.
For one hour the two ships drifted side
o., side, drawing slowly nearer to each
other, while the men, with desperate ell
ergy, worked their guns. But there was
ten contemporaries in each battery be-
low" wrote an officer of the Scraps aft
erward: Il do not see why any shot
should have failed"
And no shot of that battery did fail
during the first hour, and when they
failed later it was because they had shot
the SIX ports Of the Bonhomme Richard
f.10 Sp,,v, nfD A.
her. next to them, but on the further side
as Well, so that when they fired some of
the battery the balls fell clear and fell
into the sea beyond. There was not a
splinter of the American ship left in
front of them. They had not only cut
away the walls of the Bonhomme Rich.
ard, they had practically cleared her
lower .p gundeck. There was no one left
there. save only few marines that
guarded the line of boys passing cart.
ridges from the magazine ND to the guns
Oh the upper deck.
Nor was that the worst effect the Eng.
lish fire had had upon the Bonhomme
Richard. Taking advantage of the roll
ins OF the vessels in the long gentle swell
the English had been able to send half.
dozen of their eighteen-pound shot into the
Bonhomme Richard below the water line
and she was leaking like basket
Then the voice of Capt Pearson was
heard asking if the American shin had
| surrendered. And John Paul Jones re-
Piled: :. --- -:
Il have not yet begun to fight
once more the commander of the Ser
APPS str0ye to get into position to rake
! but as the Scraps wore around the Bon
homme Richard forged ahead. Jones was
determined to keep close to the enemy
| and soon the jibboom of the Seranis
fouled the starboard mizzen rigging of the
Bonhomme Richard.
Turning to Carpenter Stacy, who was
| near at hand. Jones ordered a hawsel
| brought. When it came he helped with
| bis own hands to lash the iibboom of the
Serapis fast to the mizzenmast of the
| Bonhomme Richard. While doing this
| the haWser fouled in some way and Stacy
| began to curse.
! Don't swear, Mr.. Stacy" said Jones
IN another moment we will all be in
eternity, but let us do our duty"
! they did their duty, and the ships were
emphasized his faith in what had beer
done by saying:
.Well done. my brave lads; we have
And SO they had in one way. + .
But IN the sense of capturing the Scraps
never was such triumphant cry raised
with less hope of accomplishing the re
| suit.
The ships now lay with their starboar re-
sides together. During the last half houl
or SO the crew of the Scraps had beer
working their port battery. When they
ran across to work their starboard guns
they were unable to open their ports
amidships because the ships were touch
ing each other, so they fired through theil
own closed ports, blowing the port lids off
On the Bonhomme Richard the mer
Iofn -.
ing guns were fought even with cheerful
vigor. The ships were side t(
SIDE, and the guns We're muzze-loaders
Each crew, to get it's charge set home
had to poke it's long-handled rammei
| through the enemy'y port before it could
| be inserted into the guns bore.
Fair play: you damned Yankee,
rammer through the Yankees bort.
| Mind your eye, Johnny Bull" replied
the Yankee, following the same move
| ment.
| Alas! the Johnny Bulr' had been 8
trifle ahead of the damned Yankee
and firing his gun, he dismounted that or
! the Bonhomme Richard.
| The British were, in fact, soon quite az
successful in their handling of the main
on the lower deck. Every twelve-pounde,
but one on the Bonhomme Richard was
silenced in one way and another, and so
too, were the little nine-pounders on the
forecastle. There were then but two can
non left in service on the Bonhommt
Richard, the two nine-pounders on the
| fighting side Of the quarterback
! John Paul Jones had been working
these two with his own hands, loading
one with double shot to cut down the en-
emy's mainmast. and the other with grape
and canister to sweep away the crew OF
her deck.
| In this desperate strait and when just
in the act of ordering another nine pound
er brought from the off-side that he
might use it on the crew of the Serapis
his chief surgeon came up from below
to announce that the water was coming
in so fast as to float the wounded, and
to ask that the ship be surrendered be-
fore she sank with all hands.
Turning on the surgeon with perfec,
self-possession, Capt. Jones replied, as il
astonnded at the request: -
What, doctor! Would you have M
strike to Il drop Of water? Here, hel1
| mo fhi, c,,,,,