t I
doubt whether we could get elevation enough from any of our light
guns on our upper deck (nines) to damage his battery much, he was
so much higher than we. As for musketry, there is not much
sharp-shooting when you are firing at night in the smoke, with the
decks swaying under you.

"Many a man has asked me why neither side boarded,--and, in fact,
there is a popular impression that Jones took our ship by
boarding, as he did not. As to that, such questions are easier
asked than answered. This is to be said, however: about ten
o'clock, an English officer, who had commanded the Union
letter-of-marque, which Jones had taken a few days before, came
scrambling through one of our ports from the Richard. He went up
aft to Captain Pearson at once, and told him that the Richard was
sinking, that they had had to release all her prisoners (and she
had hundreds) from the hold and spar-deck, himself among them,
because the water came in so fast, and that, if we would hold on a
few minutes more, the ship was ours. Every word of this was true,
except the last. Hearing this, Captain Pearson--who, if you
understand, was over my head, for he kept the quarter-deck almost
throughout--hailed to ask if they had struck. He got no answer,
Jones in fact being at the other end of his ship, on his quarter,
pounding away at our main-mast. Pearson then called for boarders;
they were formed hastily, and dashed on board to take the prize.
But the Richard had not struck, though I know some of her men had
called for quarters. Her men were ready for us,--under cover,
Captain Pearson says in his despatch,--Jones himself seized a pike
and headed his crew, and our men fell back again. One of the
accounts says we tried to board earlier, as soon as the vessels
were made fast to each other. But of this I knew nothing.

"Meanwhile Jones's people could not stay on his lower deck,--and
could not do anything, if they had stayed there. They worked their
way above. His main deck (of twelves) was fought more
successfully, but his great strength was on his upper deck and in
his tops. To read his own account, you would almost think he
fought the battle himself with his three quarter-deck cannon, and
I suppose it would be hard to overstate what he did do. Both he
and Captain Pearson ascribe the final capture of the Ser