Read Online The Admiral and the Ambassador by Scott Martelle - Free Book Online

one he had maintained with the
Ranger
’s crew. Jones selected most of the men himself. With plenty of time in port while the ship was readied, Jones was able to train with the men, shaping them into a loyal and effective fighting force. Still autocratic and prone to angry outbursts, Jones had earned the men’s loyalty “like a temperamental orchestra leader who enrages almost every musician under him, yet produces a magnificent ensemble.” 16 Yet he also treated them, in anger, to the tantrums of a spoiled child. After losing the chase for one ship, Jones crowned members of his staff with his “trumpet,” or megaphone. In another instance, after an argument with one of his lieutenants, Jones ordered the man to the brig and kicked at his back as the man descended below deck. 17
    With the ships once again separated after the storm, Jones made for the water off Flamborough Head, near Hull, which he had prearranged as a rendezvous point. As dawn broke on September 23, the
Bonhomme Richard,
the
Alliance
(with the unreliable Landais in charge), the
Pallas,
and the small cutter
Vengeance
were all together again, cruising off the headland looking for prize ships. Around two in the afternoon, they spotted an invigorating sight—more than forty sails from a convoy of trade ships en route from the Baltic under escort by the forty-four-gun British
Serapis,
and the twenty-gun sloop of war
Countess of Scarborough.
The captain of the
Serapis,
Richard Pearson, had been warned by a boat sent out from Hull that Jones was in the area, and as the convoy cut closer to shore the
Serapis
and the
Countess of
Scarborough
faced off against Jones and his ships. The
Serapis
was far better equipped (it had a double deck of cannons) and was more seaworthy than the
Bonhomme Richard,
which would help it survive the battle to come. But the
Serapis
would then sail away with Jones in charge.
    The battle remains a classic encounter of the sailing era. Just after sunset on a moonlit night, Jones, his
Bonhomme Richard
flying a British flag, sailed to within hailing distance of the
Serapis.
The vessel’s suspicious captain—he thought it was Jones but wasn’t yet sure—hollered out for Jones to identify his ship. A crew member, at Jones’s order, shouted back a lie, and Pearson asked again for the ship’s captain to identify himself. At that, Jones ordered that the British colors be struck and replaced by the new American insignia as both captains ordered their gunners to fire. At that close range, the power of the shots was incredible, but the biggest damage to the
Bonhomme Richard
came when two of its own cannons exploded, heavily damaging the ship and killing or maiming a large number of the crew.
    The captains sailed their ships in a slow-motion dance, each trying to angle his ship such that his men could fire across the other vessel’s deck, with cannonballs and grape shot shredding flesh, wood, and rigging. Jones, realizing that he was outgunned and likely to lose in a battle of broadsides, quickly changed strategy. Gliding to within feet of the
Serapis’s
starboard quarter—the back right of the ship—he attempted to board her. As gunfire from the
Serapis
mowed down the men trying to cross over, Jones veered off. Pearson countered by trying to cut across the front of the
Bonhomme Richard,
where his gunners could fire blasts along the length of the deck, front to back. He miscalculated time and speed, however, and the bow of the
Bonhomme Richard
struck the
Serapis
’s stern.
    The most famous words of Jones’s life never came from his mouth, but they are part of the lore anyway. Pearson asked Jones if he was ready to strike his colors—to surrender. Years later, one of his crew members would say that Jones replied, “I have not yet begun to fight.” According to biographer Morison, the true words were closer to “I have not yet thought of it, but I am determined to