l
Jones shouting "_We have not yet begun to fight!_" from the deck of the
shattered, water-logged _Bon Homme Richard_, or a Farragut lashed in the
rigging and roaring "_Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!_"

Because of the failure of Elliott to bring the _Niagara_ into action at
once, as had been laid down in the plan of battle, Perry found himself
in desperate straits aboard the beaten _Lawrence_. Her colors still flew
but she could fire only one gun of her whole battery, and more than half
the ship's company had been killed or wounded--eighty-three men out of
one hundred and forty-two. It was impossible to steer or handle her and
she drifted helpless. Then it was that Perry, seeing the laggard
_Niagara_ close at hand, ordered a boat away and was transferred to a
ship which was still fit and ready to continue the action. As soon as he
had left them, the survivors of the _Lawrence_ hauled down their flag in
token of surrender, for there was nothing else for them to do.

As soon as he jumped on deck, Perry took command of the _Niagara_,
sending Elliott off to bring up the rearmost schooners. There was no
lagging or hesitation now. With topgallant sails sheeted home, the
_Niagara_ bore down upon the _Detroit_, driven by a freshening breeze.
Barclay's crippled flagship tried to avoid being raked and so fouled her
consort, the _Queen Charlotte_. The two British ships lay locked
together while the American guns pounded them with terrific fire.
Presently they got clear of each other and pluckily attempted to carry
on the fight. But the odds were hopeless. The officer whose painful
duty it was to signal the surrender of the _Detroit_ said of this
British flagship: "The ship lying completely unmanageable, every brace
cut away, the mizzen-topmast and gaff down, all the other masts badly
wounded, not a stay left forward, hull shattered very much, a number of
guns disabled, and the enemy's squadron raking both ships ahead and
astern, none of our own in a position to support us, I was under the
painful necessity of answering the enemy to say we had struck, the
_Queen Charlotte_ having previously done so."

It was later reported of the _Detroit_ that it was "impossible to place
a hand upon that broadside which had been exposed to the enemy's fire
without covering some portion of a wound, either from grape, round,
canister, or chain shot." The crew had suffered as severely as the
vessel. The valiant commander of the squadron, Cap