The evening times., 1899-05-30

Dy lana anu sea. MOSt tnOTOuSuiy oiu he
| carry out his Instructions. Sailing up
| through the Irish Channel he entered many
Of the British harbors. destroyed vast
quantities of stores and large number OF
merchant vessels, captured one Englisn
| man. and returned to the French
| Bay of Quiberow, having thrown the sea-
coast cities and British merchantmen into
the greatest CONSERVATION. SO great was
| the havoc wrought, both in British ana
| American waters. that, in FeDruary' l'ie'
Mr.. Woodbridge, an English authority, tes-
tified at the bar of the House Of Lords that
| since the beginning of the war the Ameri-
| can privatesrs had captured and destroyed
| 1888 English vessels, and after deductihs
| those that had been recaptured and re-
stored there remained $50, which, with
| their cargoes. were valued at fl.Soo.o53.
or about $s,GO0.00o. The money value OF
| the British loss, though great was as notn-
| ing compared with their loss of prestige
upon the high seas.
I'm the fall of 177S Jones found himself
| in a French port without vessel. the
Ranger having returned to the United
/ States. He spent nearly year In fruitiess
efforts to obtain vessels with Whicn 'o
carry on the war. These efforts had peeh
made by correspondence with the Ameri
caa Commissioners at Paris. and through
them with the French court. He was about
| to give up in despair when copy OF
, .Franklin's Almanac bearing the pseydo-
nym of Poor Richard fell into his hahds.
Among other good advice he found tnere-
In was. If a man wishes to have business
faithfully and expeditiousiy performed. let
him go do it himself; otherwise send-
Acting upon this advice, he went In person
| tn Paris. and soon had at his disposal
vessel such as it was-not a ship butit lot
| war hut a worn-out cast-On. OLD tnuian
merchant vessel upon which an ordinary
man would not have entrusted himseii
away from the shore. But Jones was ho'
an ordinary man. At his own expense ne
had her repaired, armed. and equipped' anu
in due time ready for sea. Out Oh ressiu u
TO the good advice he had received IRON,
.Erant,;n,s Almanac he named his vessel
tho .Ronbomme Richard, that is, the Poor
Richard .,o
with this vessel at the head OF three
otbers without which he would nave Deeh
better off. he again went forth TO dis'ress
the enemies of the United states. ne
sailed boldly through the irish Chanhe',
aroynd the north of Scotland. and entered
the German Ocean. On the evening OF ihe
.2d of Septenbsr. 1873. he fell in with the
.Ssrapis.' a British frigate of fifty guns.
naval hattie was not then the long range
polite, scientific affair II is now. joins
/ hora down upon the Scraps until WITHIN
speaking distance, when the English cap.
/ tain called out. What vessel is that
! tones wishing to get little closer be
fore opening the battle. answered, 1 do nor
understand you The British captain
again demanded to know the name OF the
vessel. and added. If you do not answer l
shall be under the necessity CT hring ih'o
YOU At that moment, precisely ciocA
in the evening. both vessels opened WIN
broadside. Fifty guns belched forth thei'
, missiles of death and sent their terrInc
he II
most desperately contested battle IN tne
annals of naval warfare had begun Inc
English vessel was a new frigate perfectly
armed and equipped and had the advantage
/. in every way. At the first lire OF the
, , Richard two of her eighteen-pound guns
burst. killing and wounding nearly all th3
! men who manned them, and blowing VI
the upper deck Of the vessel.
, The battle ragged with desperate furl
for an hour. during which the Richard had
suffered great damage. In addition TO tht
bursting of her guns and the damage II
had done. English cannon balls had Son'
. through and through her hull, and set mel
; TO leaking at an alarming rate. There wa:
shcrt lull in the fighting. during which
the captain of the British ship called out tc
Jones. TO know if he had surrendered. an'
! received Jones characteristic reply: ,
. have not yet begun to fight The strugsi'
was renewed with greater fury than ever
The vessels were brought alongside. Tnei
., rigging became entangled- They were 81
| close to each other, that the mouths o
their cannon actually touched each other
while the men had to thrust their ram
/ rods through the portfolios of the enemy
vessel in order to load their guns. Natter
: were becoming desperate with the Richard
I ! Toward the bow she was so shot away tina
the cannon balls from the enemy's gun
! passed entirely through and fell into TIL
y water on the other side without havini
touched her hull. She was on fire in two o
; three places. while several feet Of waite
;, were in her hold. At this desperate crisi
: one of his own vessels, commanded by
: jealous. crazy, and treacherous French
!. man, began to pour broadsides into tn
Il Richard. But the courage and unconQuer
able will of Jones. arose above every ca
. lamity. Still matters continued to grow
. worse Some OF his own men. thinking
, that the fire had burnt its way psrilousl
II near the powder magazines. released -
{ English prisoners whom Jones had captur
, ed These swarmed among his men, ad
ding to the confusion on board his vessel
Z One of these escaped TO the Serapis and in
Il formed the crew Of the desperate situa
O., tion on board the Richard.
with cheer the English continued til
: fight with renewed energy, and. to all ex
: cept Jones. the situation seemed hopeles.
{ But the spirit of that strange man can bes
c be understood from the circumstance tina
in this desperate crisis he lashed his shi
u to the Scraps and then grimiy remarked I
- Lieutenant Drake: Now we've got her
l. When matters seemed at their worst a
u American sailor with a pailful OF han
- grenades climbed into the rigging. out UP
=, on an arm which projected over the dec
u of the English vessel. and began to dro
- them among the British. One of thes
,, fell into a hatchway, where a large guam
- tity of ammunition had been piled, A ter
N rible explosion followed. which killed an
" wounded many of the British and thre
- the whole crew into CONSERVATION. tn
= flag of the Serapis was struck. and at -
Il past 10 at night, after three hours and
- half of as desperate fighting as was eve
known in naval warfare. the English shi
"a was in the hands of the Americans. Tt
,f Poor Richard had received her deaf
RI wound. The next morning she sank to ii
"a bottom of the German Ocean. but Jont
had made himself the hero of the Amer
n can Navy. When the news of the :ictoi
10 preached France and America both countri,
3 were wild with enthusiasm. The King PR
!, sented him with golden sword and Coz
IN gress voted him its thanks and honore
rs him with promotion, while Jefferson cha
l. acterized him as the future hope Of Ame
at lea upon the seas.
= with him began long line of Amer
IL can naval heroes worthy to be name
r among the greatest sea captains of Il
j. world While We remember that Il
r Spanish war had its Dewey the civil W;
n. its Farragut, the war of 1872 its Perry. /
tn US not forget that the Revolutionary W;
ly had its John Paul Jones'"
" The Marine Band was assisted at II
lg naval ceremonies by the choir of St. Peter