All this occupied scarcely one minute. It was near midnight. Darkness and suffocating smoke enveloped the combatants. Random firing had not yet ceased, though on both ships nearly all the cannon had been dismounted.
The lieutenant of the Serapis replied, “I have nothing more to say.” He turned about and was going below when Lieutenant Dale courteously arrested him saying, “It is my duty to request you sir, to accompany Captain Pearson on board the ship alongside.”
“If you will first permit me,” the lieutenant replied, “to go below, I will silence the firing of the lower deck guns.”
“This cannot be permitted,” was the reply. The two distinguished captives passed over to the deck of the Bon Homme Richard. Orders were sent below to cease firing. Thus terminated this most memorable of naval conflicts, after a bloody battle, with muzzle to muzzle, of nearly three hours and a half. Through all time, in all naval chronicles the battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis will occupy a conspicuous position.
CHAPTER VII.
Result of the Victory.
Dreadful Spectacle.—Sinking of the Bon Homme Richard.—Escape of the Baltic Fleet.—Sails for the Texel.—Interesting Correspondence.—Sufferings of the American Prisoners.—Barbarity of the English Government.—Humanity of Captain Jones.—The Transference from the Serapis to the Alliance.—Extracts from the British Press.—Release of Prisoners.
After the excitement of the conflict was over, Captain Jones was shocked at the spectacle of devastation and misery which was presented to him. All sense of triumph was lost in emotions of compassion and sadness. In his official journal he wrote:
“A person must have been an eye-witness to form a just idea of the tremendous scene of carnage, wreck, and ruin that everywhere appeared. Humanity cannot but recoil from the prospect of such finished horror, and lament that war should produce such fatal consequences.”
The carpenters were immediately employed in examining the Bon Homme Richard, to see if her wounds were capable of being healed. The lashings were cut which bound her to the Serapis, and all the available hands were employed, at the pumps, to keep her afloat. Captain Jones took possession of his shattered prize, the Serapis, to which he transferred all the crew, excepting those which attended the pumps. Boats were in waiting, ready to take them on board the Serapis should the water gain upon them too fast. The surveying officers soon reported unanimously, that the ship could not be kept afloat long enough to reach port. It took all the night, and some hour’s the next morning hastily but carefully to remove the wounded.
Captain Jones was very anxious to save the ship, and made every possible effort until nine o’clock the next evening. The water was then up to her lower deck. She rolled in the waves in utter helplessness, threatening every moment to go down. The water was gushing from her port-holes and swashing through her hatchways. It was necessary at once to abandon her. From the deck of the Serapis Captain Jones sadly watched the dying convulsions of his “good old ship.” He wrote: