Bon Homme Richard (CVA 31) - Naval Cruise Book

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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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Scarborough Fort with the two convoy escorts covering their rear and flank. Immediately hauling his ship to the wind Jones maneuvered to get between the land and the larger ship, but only succeeded by sundown because of the light wind and the poor sailing features of BONHOMME RICHARD. Flamborough Head was now- due east and about seven miles distant. By 7:00 P.M. there was a full moon and BONHOMME RICHARD approached one of the British adversaries wh j was on an opposite tack. He discerned her to be a small two-decker. She was the H.M. Frigate SERAPIS, commanded by Captain Richard Pearson, and carried a crew of 317 men. Slie mtumtcd twenty long 18-pounder guns on her lower deck, twenty-two long 9-pounders on her upper deck, and had eight 9- pounders on her quarter deck for a total of 50 guns. Fifteen minutes later the two warships were heading northwest on the same tack with the wind blowing lightly from the southwest. There was a smooth sea and a clear sky with a full moon. The conditions were excellent fur battle. The captain of SERAPIS hailed BONHOMME RICHARD twice, asking her identity, and, as his second call died away, both ships fired a broadside at a range of 800 yards.

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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