Bon Homme Richard (CVA 31) - Naval Cruise Book

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sliding about on the planks which were covered completely with blood and the detached fragments of heads, bodies and limbs. BONHOMME RICHARD ' s hull had been pierced many times by 18-pounder shots from SERAPIS and already some three feet of water was in the frigate ' s hold and gaining rapidly. BONHOMME RICHARD had already settled two feet in the water and Captain Jones informed his crew that they could not stand another continuous broadside battle. They would have to close SERAPIS and take her by boarding. Captain Jones ' attention was suddenly drawn to star- board by the cheers of the crew and he made out ALLIANCE. Now, he thought, the battle would surely end. However, to the amazement of everyone and to the screams of anguish of the men on the quarterdeck, ALLLANCE fired a broadside into the BONHOIVLME RICR RD and close-hauled to the northward out of gunshot. (In later years, at the court-martial of the commanding officer of ALLIANCE for the above action and subsequent maneu- vers, a plea of extreme darkness was made as the reason he thought BONHOMME RICHARD to be the English warship.) Captain Pearson pulled ahead and fired a brtjadside which opened up the whole starboard side of BONHOMME RICHARD. Then as he backed his topsails in his familiar maneuver, Captain Jones set his helm hard to windward and all sails were set. The luck that had evaded Hu

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riu ' lilllf Py LLAS turned to escape ihc wi.nh H.M. Iiisate COUNTESS OF SCARliOROKil I .md lying oil ' teasing the larger ship, she was able in k her from entering the battle between SERAl ' IS BONHOMME RICHARD. However, shortly alui opening broadside. COUNTESS OF SCARBOROL ' had closed the distance sufficiently to angle a broad at tile p.u.p deck of BONHOMME RICIIARI) and many of tiie French Marines who were manning after 9-pounders. Thereafter, COUNTESS OF SC. BOROUGH did not figure in the battle. Ih. siiu.iii.Mi ..1. HONHO.M.ME RICHARD was tragic ahncisi 1 11)111 I he beginning. Two of the 18-pounders l)uisi l),ii k 111 ilic trunnions wounding many of the t;uiin(is ,111(1 lilted the gun-deck above them causing the shots Iroiii the I L ' -pounders to be deflected into tlic lop-hamper il their target. The entire crew was de- moi.ili ed and quickly abandoned their guns and stuiiicd on deck. Acting Lieutenant John Maynant rec omiiieiided that the 18-pounders be abandoned and his suggestion was followed. Thus BONHOM.ME RICHARD ' S broadside was now reduced to four 12-pounders and four 9-pounders, and she was firing 204 pounds of metal at SER.A.PIS while the British man-of-war was answering with 315 pounds of metal per broadside. The only way Captain Jones could end the battle would be to board SERAPIS and battle hand to hand. The broadsides from SERAPIS silenced gun after gun on BONHOMME RICHARD and the braces to the sails were being cut away one at a time. Captain Pearson, seeing his opportunity, backed his ttjpsails and raked BONHOMME RICHARD from stem to stern and tiien filled them again to move ahead for another broadside. The disparity in firepower was telling on BON HOMME RICHARD as her deck and rigging fell to pieces before the British cannon. Captain Pearst)n now hoped to end the affair by luffing across the bow of BONHOMME RICHARD, raking her forecastle and tack- ing around her bows, thus gaining the wind, and again mutilating the American ship with another broadside. However, the maneuver failed as BONHO.MME RICHARD continued to hold way and forge ,ihead. Then, too, the ships would close their quarters, and the musketry from BONHOMME RICHARD would be more accurate. Captain Pearson was already feeling the effect of the rifles aboard the frigate, for more than once his gunners had been driven from their cannons by well- aimed musketry. Captain Pearson then attempted to let his bow fall off to port and rake the American ' s stern with a broadside in hopes of disabling her rudder. Bui in doing so, the stern of SERAPIS sw ung to, and Captain Jones had his grapneling hooks thrown into the mizzen backstays of SERAPIS in an attempt to draw the ships close together for boaiding. The grapnel hooks held but the lines parted, and BONHOMME RICHARD forged ahead so that none of the guns on either ship could bear on the other. The battle had now lasted three quarters of an hour, and each was given a brief respite to prepare for the onslaught which would begin in a few minutes. A survey of BONHOMME RICHARD showed that of her fourteen 12-pounders, nine were either dismounted or so jammed by the wreckage of the port openings that they were unserviceable. The 18-pounders were still useless, and of the 144 men who had manned the cannon on the gun-deck, only 64 remained on liieir feet to do battle. The remainder of the men were scattered about the deck, intertwined amid the wreckage and 5

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BONHOMME RICHARD since the cruise began, now changed. A shght wind billowed the ragged and shot-torn sails and the water-logged ship forged ahead. The rudder was swung hard to starboard, and the frigate crossed the I bow of SERAPIS. Captain Pearson had backed his top- I sails in an attempt to keep from locking and thus be ' forced into a boarding action. But Captain Jones ' action was too quick, and SERAPIS rammed BONHOMME I RICHARD on her starboard quarter, and the jib-boom I snared itself in the mizzen shrouds. A stout line was I placed about the jib boom and lashed to the mizzen mast • to insure that the two ships would remain together. Captain Pearson now hoped to drop his anchor and let the ships drift apart, but as man after man approached the anchor to cut away the ring-stopped and shank- painter, the musketry from the men mounted in tiic shrouds of BONHOMME RICHARD cut them down. But as the two ships drifted starboard-to-starboard, the lower gun ports of SERAPIS opened, and the guns which had not fired in the battle bellowed forth and cut a clean line through BONHOMME RICHARD ' s already crumb- ling side. One of the American 9-pounders was hauled from the port side, and witii the two ser ' iceablc cuts and one other salvaged 9-pounder, a steady fire was directed at the masts of SERAPIS. The steady rain of musketry from BONHO.MME RICHARD had cleared the main deck of SER. PIS except for Captain Pearson. Once again .ALLIANCE appeared on the scene, and as she circled the two locked ships, she fired indiscriminate broadsides into the two ships and cut down many of the Americans. Siie then sailed off. But as the boarding parties prepared to go over the side, the sudden shout of fire halted all action. .A fire had been started below and was burning within inches of the