at Nantes
thirty-one days later. The news he brought decided France in favor of an
alliance with the United States, and the Treaty of Alliance was signed
two months later.

Jones, meanwhile, had overhauled and refitted his ship, and on the tenth
of April, set sail from Brest, intending to make a complete circuit of
the British Isles. Entering the Irish Sea, he spread terror along its
shores, where his coming was like a bolt from the blue, engaged and
captured the British ship-of-war Drake, took a number of prizes, and
sailed into Brest again after an absence of twenty-eight days.

It has been the fashion in some quarters to call Jones a pirate, but it
is difficult to see any argument for such a characterization of him. He
sailed under the flag of the United States, held a commission from the
United States, and attacked an enemy with whom the United States was at
war. There is no hint of piracy about that; but Jones came to be a sort
of bogeyman to the coast towns of the British Isles, who never knew when
to expect an attack from him, and no name was too hard for their
frightened inhabitants to apply to him.

But it was some time before Jones was able to strike another blow. He
realized that he must have a more effective squadron for his second
cruise, and more than a year was spent in getting it together. Finally,
on August 14, 1779, he got to sea again with a squadron of four
vessels--not a very effective one, but the best that could be had. The
flagship was an unwieldy old Indiaman which Jones had named the Bon
Homme Richard, in honor of his good friend, Benjamin Franklin, whose
Poor Richard was almost as famous in France as in America. The other
three ships were commanded by Frenchmen, and all the crews were of the
most motley description. On September 23, the squadron sighted a great
fleet of English merchantmen, under convoy of the Serapis, a powerful
frigate mounting forty-four guns, and the Countess of Scarborough,
mounting twenty-eight. Jones signalled his squadron to give chase and
himself closed with the Serapis.

Captain Pearson, of the Serapis, was very willing for the contest, since
his ship was greatly superior to Jones's old boat in fighting
qualities; but Jones succeeded in depriving the Serapis of some of this
advantage by running his vessel into her and lashing fast. So close did
they lie that their yardarms interlocked, and their rigging was soon so
fouled that Jones could not have got away, even