zen shrouds of the _Bonhomme Richard_. Captain Jones
himself lashed the spar to the rigging, knowing that his only chance was
in fighting at close quarters, but the swaying of the ships broke them
apart. At that instant, however, the spare anchor of the _Serapis_
caught on the American's quarter and held the two vessels, as may be
said, locked in each other's arms.

They were so close, indeed, that the English gunners could not raise the
lower port lids, and they blew them off by firing their cannon through
them. The men on each ship in loading were forced to push their rammers
into the ports of the other vessel. The _Bonhomme Richard_ was set on
fire by burning wads, but the flames were speedily extinguished.

The explosion of the American's lower guns at the opening of the battle
had made her helpless against the corresponding battery of the enemy,
which pounded away until a huge, yawning gap was opened. Some of the
shots went clean through the battered hull and splashed into the water,
hundreds of feet distant. The disadvantage was more than offset by the
concentration of the Americans on the upper deck and in the rigging. The
fire of the _Bonhomme Richard_ became so terrible that every officer and
man of the enemy kept out of sight, observing which an American seaman
crawled out on the main yard, carrying a bucket of hand grenades which
he threw wherever he saw a man. He did this with such excellent aim that
he dropped one through the main hatchway and into the gunroom. It fell
into a heap of powder and produced an explosion that was awful beyond
description, for it killed and wounded thirty-eight men and really
decided the battle.

At that moment, when it all seemed over, Captain Landais fired a
broadside from the _Alliance_ into the _Bonhomme Richard_. Captain Jones
called to him in God's name to desist, but he circled about the two
ships and fired again and again into his ally, killing and wounding a
number of men and officers. It was believed that the _Alliance_ had been
captured by the enemy and had joined in the attack on the _Bonhomme
Richard_, which was so injured that she began slowly to sink. Having
wrought this irreparable damage, the _Alliance_ drew off and ceased her
murderous work.

Jones incited his prisoners to desperate pumping by the report that the
_Serapis_ must soon go down and that the only way to save themselves
from drowning was to keep the _Bonhomme_ afloat. An officer ran to the
quarter