oard the Richard and surrendered themselves to Jones.

Pearson, who had risen, like Jones, from a humble station by his own
bravery, but who was as inferior officer to Jones in courtesy as he had
proved himself in obstinacy of resistance, evinced from the first a
characteristic surliness, which he maintained throughout the whole of
his intercourse with his victor. In surrendering he said that it was
painful for him to deliver up his sword to a man who had fought with a
halter around his neck. Jones did not forget himself, but replied with a
compliment, which, though addressed to Pearson, necessarily reverted to
himself, "Sir! you have fought like a hero, and I make no doubt but your
sovereign will reward you in a most ample manner."

As another evidence of the strange _melee_ which attended this
engagement, and of the discouraging circumstances under which the
Richard fought, it may be mentioned that eight or ten of her crew, who
were, of course, Englishmen, got into a boat, which was towing astern of
the Serapis, and escaped to Scarborough during the height of the
engagement. This defection, together with the absence of the second
lieutenant with fifteen of the best men, the loss of twenty-four men on
the coast of Ireland, added to the number who had been sent away in
prizes, reduced Jones' crew to a very small number, and greatly
diminished his chance of success, which was due at length solely to his
own indomitable courage.

Meantime the fire, which was still kept up from the lower-deck guns of
the Serapis, where the seamen were ignorant of the scene of surrender
which had taken place above, was arrested by an order from Lieutenant
Dale. The action had continued without cessation for three hours and a
half. When it at length ceased, Jones got his ship clear of the Serapis
and made sail. As the two separated, after being so long locked in
deadly struggle, the main-mast of the Serapis, which had been for some
time tottering, and which had only been sustained by the interlocking of
her yards with those of the Richard, went over the side with a
tremendous crash, carrying the mizzen-topmast with it. Soon after, the
Serapis cut her cable and followed the Richard.

The exertions of captors and captives were now necessary to extinguish
the flames which were raging furiously in both vessels. Its violence was
greatest in the Richard, where it had been communicated below from the
lower-deck guns of the Serapis. Every effort