Let the injuries have been received from what quarter they might, soon after the Alliance had run to leeward again an alarm was spread throughout the Richard that she was sinking.
Both the contending ships had been on fire several times, and the flames had been extinguished with difficulty; but here was a new enemy to contend with, and, as the information came from the Carpenter, whose duty it was to sound the pump-well, it produced a good deal of alarm.
The Richard had more than a hundred English prisoners on board; and the Master-at-Arms, in the hurry of the moment, and to save their lives, let them up from below. In the confusion of such a scene, at night, in a torn and sinking vessel, the Master of the letter-of-marque that had been taken off the north of Scotland, passed through a port of the Richard into one of the Serapis, where he reported to Captain Pearson that a few minutes would probably decide the battle in his favor, or carry his enemy down, as he (the Captain of the privateer) had been liberated in order to save his life.
Just at this moment the gunner of the Bonhomme Richard, who had not much to do at his quarters, came on deck, and not seeing Commodore Jones, or Mr. Dale, both of whom were occupied with the liberated prisoners, and believing the Master (the only other superior officer of the ship) to be dead, he ran up on the poop, to haul down the colors, and, as he believed save all their lives.
Fortunately, the flag-staff had been shot away, and as the ensign already hung in the water, he had no other means of letting his intentions be known than by bawling out for quarter.
Captain Pearson now hailed, to inquire if the Richard demanded quarter, and Commodore Jones, hearing the hail, replied “No.”
It is probable that the reply was not heard; or if heard, supposed to come from an unauthorized source; for, encouraged from what he had heard from the escaped prisoner, by the cries, and by the confusion which appeared to reign on board the Richard, the English Captain directed his boarders to be called away, and, as soon as they were mustered, he directed them to take possession of the prize. Some of the Englishmen actually got upon the gunwale of the American ship, but, finding boarders ready to repel boarders, they precipitately retreated. The Richard’s topmen were not idle at this time, and the enemy were soon driven below again, with loss. In the meantime Mr. Dale (who was afterwards Commodore Dale) had no longer a gun which could be fought, and he mustered the prisoners at the pumps, turning their consternation to account, and probably keeping the Richard afloat by this very blunder that had come so near losing her.
Both ships were now on fire again, and both sides, with the exception of a very few guns on board each vessel, ceased firing, in order to turn to and subdue this common enemy.
In the course of the battle the Serapis is said to have been on fire no less than twelve times; while, towards its close, as will be seen in the sequel, the Bonhomme Richard had been burning all the time. As soon as order was restored in the American ship, after the gunner’s call for quarter, her chances of success began to increase; while the English, driven under cover, appeared to lose the hope of victory. Their fire slackened very materially, while the Richard again brought a few guns to bear.
It was an example of immense endurance, on either side; but as time went on, the main-mast of the Serapis began to totter, and her resistance, in general, to lessen.