Evening star., 1937-09-18
Anniversary Resurrects S
Story of John Paul Jones'
Heroic Reply to Foe,
When He Announced
"I've Not Yet Begun
to Fight"

Jones as an act of Providence. for It
brought the vessels into position for
the hand hand combat he had been
seeking
BY this time the Richard was leak
ing badly and one of her pumps had
been destroyed A member of the
crew, dazed and frightened, ran to the
flagstaff to haul down the oolors.
shouting incoherently for quarter.
Jones promptly hurled a pistol at
the crazed mans head, knocking him
unconscious.
Capt. Pearson. hearing the sailors
cries and observing his movement to-
ward the flagstaff, called out: Have
you struck?"
Jones' response. Eve not yet begun
TO fight" has gone down in history.
JONES Immediately ordered his men
to lash the two ships together. and
Pearson, in an effort to wrench his
vessel loose, dropped anchor. Both
ships held together. however. and their
respective gun crews proceeded to fire
at such close range that the muzzles
of the guns pressed against the sides
of the ships.
Meanwhile the Richard had caught
fire in two places and water was
flooding into the hold at an alarming
rate An officer in charge Of more
than 100 British prisoners in the hold
decided to turn his charges loose-an
act that might have had serious con-
sequences had it not been for the
presence of mind of Lieut.. Dale. The
young officer quickly ordered the
prisoners to man the pumps, i'm
pressing them with the fact that their
own lives we're at stake. The pris-
oners heartily obeyed, thus enabling
all of the Richards crew to devote
their attention to the furious battle.
Fire was concentrated on the main
mast of the Scraps, which finally
collapsed with roar The starboard.
or near side of the Scraps. was all
ablaze. A hand grenade thrown from
the upper rigging of the Richard
landed in pile of ammunition on
the British ship. causing terrific
explosion and killing or manning
many of the gunners, some of whom
jumped overheard.
Pearson, unaware that the Ameri-
can ship was in even worse condition
than his own, decided to give up the
fight. The British colors were hauled
down as Pearson appeared on deck
and announced ne had struck.
Jones jumped across to the captive
ship and received from Pearson his
sword in formal token of surrender.
1T is painful to deliver up my
sword to man who had fought with
such large halter around his neck"
the British captain said ruefully.
A HALTER 1t was, indeed, which
had handicapped Jones in the
fight In addition to commanding an
inferior ship, he had been forced to
submit to fire from one of his own
ships-the Alliance-either due to the
incompetency of Capt. Landais or--as
some writer's believe-due to treachery.
Eyewitnesses later, testified that the
Richard was hit several times by
broadsides from the Alliance, which
kept at a safe distance throughout the
battle
The Pallas, however. had put UP
good fight against the other British
ship, the Scarborough, which also had
struck her colors.
Ioy,oc toaL coy,,r,, of 4no Ce~on,.
and placed Dale in charge of the
rapidly sinking Richard. which he
hoped to save by running ashore. The
battered ship sank the next day after
Dale and his men had abandoned her
to the sea.
Jnes, great victory shook the morale
Of the British and won him the ac-
claim not only of the Americans, but
Of the emotional French-cementing
Franco American relations.
Hailed here as hero in Paris, Iouis
XVI conferred on him the Order OF
Military Merit and presented him with
q gold sword, by permission OF the
American Government. Congress
passed resolutions thanking him and
gave him gold medal.
The battle with the Scraps was the
asst major engagement of the Revolu-
ion which Jones had an opportunity
% participate in, due chiefly to the
poverty Of his Government with re-
'pect to naval facilities.
He died in Paris July 18, 1892. at the
'ge OF As and was buried there with
french government honors. His grave
vas neglected until 1905, when his
emalns were found and removed to
America aboard the cruiser Brooklyn.
His body now rests at the Naval
Academy in Annapolis---an inspiration
o every midshipman.