The National tribune., 1898-05-05

Founders, being OF the same as the two
which had burst, were also unsafe, and
reminded him that they had all been con-
demned for use in the French navy before
being furnished to the Richard at rOrient,
whereupon Dale told him to abardon them
| and report with his remaining men to the
main battery.
! This at once reduced the Richard to
about the rate of 32-gun, 12-rounder,
| frlgate. Capt. Jones was, OF course, shocked
| at the loss of his 10 FOUNDER battery, on
which he had placed great reliance, and
after the renewed 70 isiding had gone
on for some time he left the upper deck,
where he had been working the ship, went
below to the gun-deck and, said to Lieut..
| Dale:
"Dick, his metal is too heavy for us at
this kind of work. He will hammer us to
| pieces. We must close with him. We
must get hold OF him. Be ready at any
time for clOsing" account of the battle
by Lieut.. Lunt, 1882
| GETTING CLOSER. TOGETHER.
Returning to the upper deck, Jones now
began to wear his ship off the wind to
| close, gaining way as he brought the wind
aloft the beam, while Pearson, Under
standing the significance of his antago-
nist's manuver, edged the Scraps away to
avoid him. But the Richard was now SO
close that she fouled the wind Of the
| Scraps, blanketing her sails and causing
| her to lose way, while she herself con-
! tinued to gather way of her own.
| Nathaniel Tanning says that jones had
the wheel himself during some part of this
manuver. Pearson realized perfectly that
his success depended on keeping clear OF
the Richard, because if the ships fell foul
the advantage of his heavier battery would
| be lost and the volume of musketry he
| had received from the Richards upper
deck and tops all along convinced him that
| she would prove superior in boarding force.
Beyond all this he realized the desperate
| bravery Of the man he had to deal with.
\ In this crises Pearson ordered Midshipman
! Hood, who was at that moment acting
Lieutenant, to go forward and muster
boarders in the waist to repel; unless we
| can get more steering way he will be foul
| of us in few minutes. Get all ready!"
| Life of Admiral HOOd.)
The time was now about 10 D. M, and
| the ships had been fighting about two
! hours. The broadsiding had been the most
| terrific ever known both in rapidity and ac--
curacy. The wind being off shore and
pond, both ships were perfect gun plat
| forms, SO that nearly every shot on both
| sides told. The ships were most Of the
time SO close aboard, however, that neither
| could elevate her guns enough to work on
| the spars or rigging OF the other, wherefore,
while the hulls were being riddled little
damage was done aloft.
At the start the Scraps fought II long
18pounders and IS long nine Founders
| on broadside, throwing 1888 pounds OF metal
while the Richard, after the disablementt
Of her 18-pOunders in the gun-Toom, had
only II 12-pounders and five nine FOUNDERS
| In brOadside, throwing 213 pounds-the
odds being as three to two.
| The Richards guns being lighter in the
main battery, were served faster than the
1Spounders of the Scraps, but by no
means enough so to make up for the dis
| parity in weight, while no superiority Of
| gunnery could make up the difference be-
tween 1S-pounders and IL in ballistic power.
| THE MUSKETRY TELLS.
| AS the ships came closer and closer
! aboard, however, the superiority of the
| Richards musketry, due to her large force
of marines, began to take effect to the ex-
| tent that by this time in the action the UNI
| covered or upper deck part of the Serapis's
battery had become fnnt8nable and was
practically silenced. i
| But this misfortune TO the Scraps was
more than counter balanced by the terrific
effect of the 18poundsrs in her lower tier
against the main or Tlnadeck battery OF
the Richard; nearly half OF whose guns on
that deck had been dismounted and whose
crews on the remaining guns had in more
than one instance been en- rely destroyed
and had to be replaced with new menl
In addition to all this havoc the lower
tier of the Scraps being much nearer the
water-line than the single tier OF the
Richard, the 18-pound shot of the former
had hulled the latter at or near the water
line a prodigious number OF times, until
at this stage of the combat the Richard
was beginning to make water faster than
the pumps could handle it. Conversely so
far as the working of the ships was con-
cerned the Richard at this time had the
best of it, thanks to the gallantry and
Workmanship of the French marines on
the latter's upper deck. Pearson was I'M
able to keep enough OF his men alive above
decks on the Scraps to handle sail or
steer properly; whereby he entirely lost
the advantage of his ships smarter sail
ing and quicker working qualities.
Lieut.. Brenton, of the Scraps, makes TIE
astonishing statement that III men were
shot at our wheel during the action, of
whom seven were killed outright and just
before the enemy laid us athwaTt hawser
the wheel itself was disabled and the ship
had to be steered with the tiller during
the rest of the action. AS soon as the
ships got close enough the muSketry of
the enemy was the most murderous | ever
saw in a naval action and wrought far
greater damage than did her great gun fire.
At any time during the last hour it was
impossible to stand on our upper decks at
all. and every man who exposed himself
simply invited deathP'
Capt Jones remained on his quarter |
deck working the ship in person and di- |
recting the fire Of the FOUNDERS on
that deck; also commanding the French
marines on that and the poop-deck, leav-
ing the gun deck wholly to the command |
of his First Lieutenant, Dale.
Writing of this epoch Of the battle,
Nathaniel Tanning says:
81 was on the main-tOp, but ever and |
again amid the roar OF cannon and crackle |
of musketry l could hear the tremendous |
voice of the Commodore cheering the |
French marines in their own tongue, utter |
ing such maledictions upon the enemy as |
never heard before OK since in French or |
English"
THE CRISIS OF THE BATTLE.
The episode to which Tanning here re-
fers was unquestionably the extreme crisis
of the battle. The heavy battery of the
Scraps was tearing the Richard to pieces
below, and his own lighter guns could
make no adequate response. His only
chance of success theref.re was to make
the enemy's upper decks untenable by his
musketry, lay ON board and take him by
storm.
This, of course, made the French marines
n factor of vital importance But lust at