With this British account of this affair in mind, let the reader turn back and read the British account of the burning of Portland (then Falmouth), Maine, and so compare the American deed with that of the British.
The silver taken was of the real value of £500, but when it was sold for the benefit of the crew Jones bought it and returned it at his own expense—at a cost of £1,000, all told—to the noble Lord. In August, 1789, years after the plate was returned, the earl was constrained to write Jones that, “notwithstanding all the precautions you took for the easy and uninterrupted conveyance of the plate,” there were considerable delays; nevertheless, it arrived safely. “I intended to have put an article in the newspapers about your having returned it,” he adds, but his good intentions miscarried. However, if he did not publicly acknowledge the honor of the American naval captain who had spent $5,000 to return the plate, he privately “mentioned it to many people of fashion,” so reads his letter. The British historians deliberately omit mentioning that Jones returned the silver.
After the descent upon the Isle of St. Mary’s the Ranger still lingered on that coast. Captain Jones knew very well that many cruisers were already under orders to seek him; but they were still far away, and he must needs try conclusions with the Drake that he had tried to take over in the bay near Belfast.
On the morning of April 24, 1778, he hove to off the bay, and then filled and backed until well along in the afternoon. The commander of the Drake, seeing a stranger outside, sent a young officer in a small boat to see what she was. Captain Jones handled his ship so skilfully that her stern was kept toward the coming boat until she was directly under the Ranger’s counter. Then the officer was induced to come on board, and not until he had climbed up the ladder and reached the deck did he know that he was on a Yankee cruiser.
Finding his officer did not return, the commander of the Drake got under way. Meantime signal fires had been built on every hilltop along both coasts, and the black columns of smoke were rising high in air. Moreover, a fleet of five excursion boats crowded with curious spectators was seen following the British man-of-war. But the wind was light and the tide against him, and it was not until an hour before sunset that the Drake’s captain was able to bring his ship within fighting range of the Yankee. Finally he found himself under the lee quarter of the Ranger and but a pistol-shot away. There he hoisted his colors. Captain Jones at once ran up the Stars and Stripes.
“What ship is that?” said a voice on the Drake.
“It is the American continental ship Ranger. We are waiting for you. The sun is but little more than an hour from setting. It is therefore time to begin,” replied Captain Jones. Then turning to the man at the wheel, Captain Jones ordered the helm hard up. The Ranger wore slowly around, and the Drake followed her motion until they were drifting broadside to broadside and yardarm to yardarm fair before the wind.
And then Captain Jones opened the battle with a broadside. The enemy replied in kind, and as fair a fight as naval annals record was begun. But after a little the fore and main topsail-yards of the Drake were cut in two at the masts and hung useless. The mizzen-gaff was shot away and dropped. The jib fell and dragged overboard in the water. The rigging and sails were in tatters. Worse yet, blood was trickling from her scuppers because of the dead and wounded on her deck. Among the dead at the last was her commander, Captain Burden, who was killed by a musket-ball through his brain. Among the wounded was the first lieutenant, and he was mortally hurt.
The flag first spread on the Drake was shot away, but they raised another. This, too, was shot away, and falling overboard, it dragged in the water. A little later, and just as the sun was going down behind the Irish hills, a cry for quarter was raised on the Drake, and the battle came to an end.
The Ranger in this fight had eighteen guns. The Drake carried twenty. The Ranger’s crew numbered 123. The Drake had 151 men on her books, and, in addition to these, had taken on a number of volunteers from the shore, who had been anxious to help whip the Yankees. These raised the number of her crew to 160 by the lowest account and 190 by the highest. The Ranger lost two killed, including Lieutenant Wallingsford, and six wounded. The Drake lost forty-two killed and wounded. It is fair to say that the British account of the battle in Allen’s history says the loss was but twenty-four. But Allen probably counted only those killed and wounded among the ship’s regular crew and ignored the volunteers, while the Americans counted the corpses and men under the surgeon’s care.