ir
own tongue, uttering such imprecations upon the enemy as I never before
or since heard in French or any other language, exhorting them to take
good aim, pointing out objects for their fire, and frequently giving
them direct example by taking their loaded muskets from their hands into
his and firing himself. In fact, toward the very last, he had about him
a group of half a dozen marines who did nothing but load their firelocks
and hand them to the commodore, who fired them from his own shoulder,
standing on the quarter-deck rail by the main topmast backstay."

A French sailor, Pierre Gerard, who has left a memoir of the battle,
tells how his countrymen responded to Jones's presence: "Commodore Jones
sprang among the shaking marines on the quarter-deck like a tiger among
calves. They responded instantly to him. In an instant they were filled
with courage! The indomitable spirit, the unconquerable courage of the
commodore penetrated every soul, and every one who saw his example or
heard his voice became as much a hero as himself!"

Both vessels were at this time, and later, on fire in various places.
Captain Pearson says in his official report that the Serapis was on fire
no less than ten or twelve times. Half the men on both ships had been
killed or disabled. The leak in the Richard's hold grew steadily worse,
and the mainmast of the Serapis was about to go by the board. The
Alliance again appeared and, paying no heed to Jones's signal to lay the
Serapis alongside, raked both vessels for a few minutes
indiscriminately, went serenely on her way, and brought her inglorious
and inexplicable part in the action to a close. Captain Pearson had, for
a moment, towards the end of the action, a ray of hope. A gunner on the
Richard, thinking the ship was actually sinking, called for quarter, but
Jones stunned him with the butt end of a pistol, and replied to Pearson,
who had again hailed to know if the Richard had struck, to quote his own
report, "in the most determined negative." About the same time, the
master at arms, also believing the ship to be sinking, opened the
hatches and released nearly two hundred British prisoners, taken in the
various prizes of the cruise.

Nothing, apparently, could be more desperate than the situation of Paul
Jones then. His guns useless, his ship sinking and on fire, half of his
crew dead or disabled, the Alliance firing into him, a portion of his
crew panic-stricken, and two hundred British pr