On April 22nd, 1778, Captain John Paul Jones boldly sailed his ship, the Ranger, right into the harbor at Whitehaven, England, and set fire to the assembled shipping. He then landed his men, seized the battlements, and spiked the guns (drove iron spikes into the holes where the fuses were placed for setting off the cannon) so they would no longer fire.
Later that year, Jones went to France to bargain for a large vessel to add to the American fleet, and old Indiaman, the Duc de Duras. But what a vessel! She was about twelve years old, condemned because the rot had penetrated her planks. Jones took her over forthwith.
"We will name you the Bonhomme Richard," said Jones, in honor of his friend, Benjamin Franklin, the author of 'Poor Richard's Almanac', (Bonhomme Richard was the French translation of "Poor Richard").
The great, converted hulk put out of L'Orient on August 9th, 1779. With her went the American ships, Alliance, Pallas, Cerf, and Vengeance.
Early in the afternoon of September 23rd, off Falmborough Head on the east coast of England, Jones sighted a large fleet of British merchant ships, escorted by the Countess of Scarborough, 20-guns, and by H.M.S. Serapis, a brand new frigate of 44-guns, under Captain Richard Pearson. Jones ordered his ships to the attack. The Vengeance went after the merchant ships, one at a time. The Pallas engaged the Scarborough. While Captain Jones went straight for the Serapis, well aware that he was badly outgunned.
Both ships fired a broadside. On the Bonhomme Richard, this was disastrous. Two of her old 18-pounders promptly exploded, killing the gun crews and blowing out the deck above. Now the deadly new guns of the Serapis raked the rotten hull of the American ship from stem to stern, killing entire gun crews and putting the guns out of action one by one.
With his guns useless and the ship threatening to sink beneath him, the only hope Jones had was to engage in hand-to-hand battle. But his ship was clumsier than the Britisher. He had to try a trick. As the Serapis started to come about to rake the Richard with another broadside, Jones cleverly filled his sails as though to try to escape. Then he abruptly turned into the wind, luffed, and caught his opponent off guard. The two ships came together with a mighty crash, bow to stern, stern to bow.
"Heave grapnels!" shouted Jones, and within seconds the ships were firmly locked.
"No!" replied John Paul Jones in words that have echoed through history, "I have not yet begun to fight!" 
Now it was the skill of the American seamen aloft--fighting from the ropes and platforms in the rigging--that was to play a large part in the battle. Marines and sailors, armed with muskets and hand grenades, cleared the British from the rigging of the Serapis, and then dropped hand grenades on the enemy and picked them off with musket fire. By 9:00 P.M. the leaking, blazing Bonhomme Richard was strewn with the dead.
For a moment, it seemed that the British would rally. Jones held his ground, and the hand-to-hand fighting continued even more furiously. At 10:30 P.M., after three and a half hours of bloody battle, Captain Pearson struck his colors and the fight was over.
Two factors had brought about an American victory: sheer courage and grim determination. So badly wrecked was the Bonhomme Richard that she sank, and Jones took over the Serapis as his flagship. The cost of victory had been high: about half of the crew lost their lives. But it was this action, more than any other in the Revolution, which established the American Navy as a fighting force of the very first order.
Information from: The American Heritage Junior Library Books
Another great read to go with this subject is: Carry on Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
1 comment:
Best saying of all time. I should make that my personal motto.
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