originally intended for
twenty-six guns, but the number, through the wisdom of her captain, who
had fathomed the qualifications of the ship, had been reduced to
eighteen, four long twelves, and the rest six pounders, and smaller,
with one long eighteen forward. She had been some days in commission,
and the effect of Jones' iron discipline was already apparent in the
absence of confusion and in the cleanness and order of the ship. The
vessel had been very popular with the good people of Philadelphia, her
commander and officers likewise, many of the latter, like Seymour,
being natives of the town; and a constant stream of visitors had
inspected her, at all permitted hours. The presence of these visitors,
of course including many ladies, coupled with an inherent vanity and
love of finery and neatness on the part of the captain,--and, to do him
justice, his appreciation of the necessity for order and neatness,--had
caused him to maintain his ship in the handsomest possible trim, and he
had not scrupled to employ his private fortune to beautify the vessel
in many small ways, the details of which would have escaped any eye but
that of a seaman, though the general results were apparent.

That general appearance which should always distinguish a trim and
well-ordered vessel of war from the clumsy and disorderly trader, was
due entirely to his efforts. The crew, as we have seen, had chafed
under the unusual restraints of this stern discipline; but they were
unable, as, indeed, in the last resort they would have been unwilling,
to oppose it. Some of the older men, too, and some of those who had
sailed with Jones in his already famous cruises, held out the hope of
large prize money, and, what was better with many of them, the chance
of a blow at the enemy, if any of her cruisers of anything like equal
force appeared,--a chance sure to come about in the frequented waters
of the English Channel. The crew of an American man-of-war at that
period, at least the native portion of it, always in overwhelming
majority, was of much higher class than the general run of seafaring
men. Among those in the Ranger were several who had been mates of
merchantmen,--Bentley again among the number,--men of some education,
and able to serve their country as officers with credit, had the navy
been increased as it should have been, and whose subordinate positions
only indicated their intense patriotism. The low and degraded element
which sometime