The fire from the tops of the Richard had struck down every man on the quarter-deck of the Serapis. Captain Jones’s guns had so cut the main-mast of the foe that it reeled and fell with a fearful crash, tearing down with it spars and rigging, and leaving the ship almost a helpless wreck. Flames were bursting forth in several places. Captain Pearson saw that all was lost. With his own hands he struck his flag.
Lieutenant Richard Dale immediately, with the consent of Captain Jones, jumped upon the gunwale, seized the main-brace pendant, and swung himself upon the quarter-deck of the captured ship. He was followed by Midshipman Mayrant, with a large party of sailors. The confusion was so great that it was not known, at that moment, throughout either ship, that the Serapis had surrendered. One of the enemy, stationed at the waist, ran his boarding-pike through the thigh of the midshipman.
Lieutenant Dale found Captain Pearson standing aside, the image of despair, on the leeward of the quarter-deck. Addressing the unfortunate captain respectfully, he said:
“Sir, I have orders to send you on board the ship alongside.”
The first lieutenant of the Serapis, coming up at this moment, inquired:
“Has the enemy struck her flag?”
“No, sir,” Lieutenant Dale replied. “On the contrary, you have struck to us.”
The lieutenant of the Serapis, turning anxiously to Captain Pearson, inquired:
“Have you struck, sir.”
“Yes, I have!” was the sad, laconic reply.