be sinking. The gunner tried to strike
the American colours, but a cannon ball
had already shot them away. There were
now five feet of water in the hold, and fire
had broken out in several parts of the
ship, and even near the powder magazine.
In the meantime, however, the Serapis
was also on fire, and some hand grenades,
dropped from the main-yard of the Bon
Homme, fell on a heap of eighteen-pound
cartridges, left by the powder-monkeys of
the Serapis on the half-deserted upper deck.
The explosion blew up about twenty English
gunners and officers, stripping the clothes
from their bodies, and scattering them here
and there dangerously wounded. In less
than an hour afterwards Captain Pierson,
with his own hands, struck his flag, which
had been nailed to his mast, none of his
people daring to encounter the fire from the
American's tops. The stubborn fight had
lasted three hours and a half. Le Bon
Homme could not have borne much more.
She had three hundred and six men, out of
three hundred and seventy-five, killed or
wounded. The vessel was in great distress,
and terribly mauled and battered.
The counter and quarter on the lower
deck were driven in; all her lower-deck
guns were dismounted; she was on fire
in several places, and there were six or
seven feet water in the hold. She sank the
next day, with many of her wounded, in
spite of all Jones's efforts to bring her into
port. The Countess of Scarborough was
also taken, and brought into the Texel.
The English convoy escaped safely into
Scarborough.

Our government instantly memorialised
(in vain) the Dutch government to surrender
"the Scotch pirate and rebel" Paul
Jones, and soon afterwards, for this and
other grievances, declared war against the
offending power. Light squadrons were
sent to intercept Jones, and twenty men-
of-war were employed in scouring the coast,
but he returned safely to France in spite
of all these efforts of his enemies. On
arriving in Paris, Paul was loaded with
honours, the king presenting him with a
superb sword, and decorating him with the
order of military merit. The Serapis had
cost our government fifty thousand pounds.

Soon after his return to America in 1782,
Congress bestowed a gold medal on "the
Chevalier Paul Jones" for his brilliant
services at sea; and he was sent to solicit
justice from the court of Denmark, which
had detained two American prizes at
Bergen and restored them to the English;
but the Danish court denying his full
powers as ambassador, Paul Jones
returned to Paris.

In 1788, the restless knight-errant
solicited from Congress the rank of rear-
admiral, intending to enter the service of
Russia, then at war with the Turks, and
eager for naval volunteers of all nations.
In writing to Mr. Jefferson to announce
this intention, Jones says, "I have not
forsaken a country that has had many
disinterested and difficult proofs of my steady
affection, for I can never renounce the
glorious title of a citizen of the United
States:" and he goes on to hint that the
knowledge he would gain in Russia of
conducting fleets and military operations might
hereafter render him more useful to his
adopted country. On his way to Russia,
Paul Jones displayed his old energy. Finding
the Gulf of Bothnia partly barred with
ice, after several fruitless attempts to thread
it in an open boat, he made the Swedish
sailors steer for the Gulf of Finland, and
after four hundred or five hundred miles
of navigation landed at Revel. Such a
voyage, and in a small fishing boat, had
never before been made. At St. Petersburg
all went well. The empress instantly made
him rear-admiral, he was feasted for a
fortnight at court, and welcome in the first
society.

In the war against the Turks, Paul Jones
seems to have distinguished himself,
particularly at Oczakoff in 1788, where the
Turks had resolved, if the wind had
favoured them, to grapple with the Russians,
then set fire to their own vessels, and
perish with their enemies. As it was, half
the Turkish fleet ran aground, and was
burnt by Prince Nassau, while Oczakoff
was taken by storm soon after. A rather
too blunt and honest report of this victory
led to Paul Jones's disgrace with Potemkin,
who at once got him removed to the
Northern seas, where he soon planned an
expedition to the Mediterranean, to cut off the
Turkish communication with Egypt and
Spain and stop the supply of corn, rice,
and coffee. He also wrote to the American
government to induce them to chastise the
Algerines, and by an alliance with Russia to
obtain a free navigation of the Black Sea.

In a final memorial to Prince Potemkin,
whose face was now averted from Paul
Jones, the brave adventurer recapitulates
his services against the Turks with more
arrogance than was wise, when writing to
so proud a favourite. He claims a victory
over the Captain Pasha on the 7th of