As soon as the Ranger dropped her anchor Paul Jones sent his boat off to the French admiral, desiring to know, if he saluted the admiral’s ship, if the salute would be returned.
Paul Jones remained walking the quarter-deck of the Ranger until the boat was seen pulling back. A letter was handed him from the French admiral, which he eagerly opened.
The letter stated courteously that the salute would be returned, but with four guns less than the American ship fired, as it was the custom in the French navy to fire four guns less to a republic than the salute offered.
Paul Jones immediately went below, where he wrote the following spirited letter to the American agent at the port:
“I think the admiral’s answer requires some explanation. The haughty English return gun for gun to foreign officers of equal rank, and two less only by captains to flag officers. It is true my command is not important, yet, as the senior American officer at present in Europe it is my duty to claim an equal return of respect to the flag of the United States that would be shown to any other flag whatever.
“I therefore take the liberty of inclosing an appointment[3] as respectable as any the French admiral can produce. If, however, he persists in refusing to return an equal salute, I will accept of two guns less, as I have not the rank of an admiral.”
To this he added, that unless his flag should be properly saluted he would certainly depart without coming into the bay.
Next day, however, he discovered that the French admiral was acting in good faith, and could not, according to his regulations, return gun for gun to the flag of a republic; and therefore Paul Jones determined to accept of the salute offered.
The wind was blowing hard, and the sea very high, so that it was after sunset before the Ranger could get near enough to the admiral’s ship to salute. The brig Independence had been ordered to lay off the bay for a particular purpose. Paul Jones was afraid that some advantage might be taken of the salute being fired in semi-darkness—such as saying the flag was mistaken for another—and he determined to have a salute also in broad daylight.
The short February twilight was fast going, and the wind drove the lowering clouds furiously across the sky, when the Ranger, under close-reefed topsails, entered the bay and sailed close under the lee of the admiral’s ship, where she hove to. Instantly her guns thundered out thirteen times. The report echoed over the dark water, where the great French fleet, looming up grandly in the half-darkness, lay majestically at anchor. As soon as the last gun had been fired the admiral’s ship promptly gave back nine guns. The Ranger then returned to the mouth of the bay, where she anchored alongside of the Independence, the wind having abated.