sion did but little injury, and Commodore Jones, with his own hands, immediately lashed the enemy's headgear to his mizen-mast.

The pressure on the after-sails of the Serapis, which vessel was nearly before the wind at the time, brought her hull round, and the two ships gradually fell close alongside of each other, head and stern, the jib-boom of the Serapis giving way with the strain. A spare anchor of the English ship now hooked in the quarter of the American, and additional lashings were got on board the latter to secure her in this position.

Captain Pearson, who was as much aware of his advantage in a regular combat as his opponent could be of his own disadvantage, no sooner perceived the vessels foul, than he dropped an anchor, in the hope that the Richard would drift clear of him. But such an expectation was perfectly futile, as the yards were interlocked; the hulls were pressed close against each other; there were lashings fore and aft, and even the ornamental work aided in holding the ships together. When the cable of the Serapis took the strain, the vessels slowly tended, with the bows of the Richard and the stern of the Serapis, to the tide. At this instant the English made an attempt to board, but were repulsed without loss.

All this time the battle raged. The lower ports of the Serapis having been closed, as the vessel swung to prevent boarding, they were now blown off in order to allow the guns to run out t; and cases actually occurred in which the rammers had to be thrust into

the ports of the opposite ship, in order to be entered into the muzzles of their proper guns. It is evident that such a conflict must be of short duration. In effect the heavy metal of the Serapis, in one or two discharges, cleared all before it, and the main deck guns of the Richard were in great measure abandoned. Most of the people went to the upper deck, and a great number collected on the forecastle, where they were safe from the fire of the enemy, continuing to fight by throwing grenades and using muskets.

In this stage of the combat the Serapis was tearing her enemy to pieces below, almost without resistance from the antagonist's batteries-only two guns on the quarter-deck, and three or four of the twelves, being worked at all. To the former, by shifting a gun from the larboard side, Commodore Jones succeeded in adding a third,—all of which were used with effect, under his immediate inspection, to the close of the action. He could not muster force enough to get over another gun. But the combat would soon have been terminated, had it not been for the courage and activity of the people aloft. Strong parties had been placed in the tops, and at the end of a short contest the Americans had driven every man belonging to the enemy below. After which they kept up so animated a fire on the quarter-deck of the Serapis, in particular, as to drive every man off it who was not shot down.

Thus, while the English had the battle nearly all to themselves below, the Americans had the control

of the upper deck. Having cleared the tops of the Serapis, some American seamen lay out on the Richard's main-yard, and began to throw hand-grenades on the two upper decks of the English ship,-the men on the forecastle of their own ship seconding those efforts by casting the same combustibles through the ports of the Serapis. At length, one man, in particular, became so hardy as to take his post at the extreme end of the yard, when, provided with a bucket filled with combustibles and a match, he dropped the grenades with so much precision that one fell through the main-hatchway.

The powder-boys of the Serapis had got more cartridges up than were wanted, and in their hurry they had carelessly laid a row of them on the main-deck in a line with the guns. The grenade just mentioned set fire to some loose powder that was lying near, and the flash passed from cartridge to cartridge, beginning abreast of the main-mast and running quite aft.

The effect of this explosion was awful. More than twenty men were instantly killed, many of them being left with nothing on them but the collars and wrist-bands of their shirts, and the waist-bands of their duck trousers; whilst the official returns of the ship a week after the action shew that there were no less than thirty-eight wounded on board still alive, who had been injured in this manner, and of whom thirty were then said to be in great danger. Captain Pearson described the explosion as having destroyed nearly all the men at the five aftermost guns. On the whole,

nearly sixty of the Serapis's people must have been instantly disabled by this sudden blow.

The advantage thus obtained by the coolness and intrepidity of the topmen in a great measure restored the chances of the combat, and by lessening the fire of the enemy enabled Commodore Jones to increase his. In the same degree that it encouraged the crew of the Richard, it diminished the hopes of the people of the Serapis. One of the guns, under the immediate inspection of Commodore Jones, had been pointed some time against the main-mast of his enemy, while the two others had seconded the fire of the tops with grape and canister. Kept below deck by this double attack, where a scene of frightful horror was presented, in the agonies of the wounded and the effects of the explosion, the spirits of the English began to droop, and there was a moment when a trifle would have induced them to submit. From this despondency they were temporarily raised by one of those unlooked for events that accompany the vicissitudes of battle.

[A description is here given of the firing of two of the American consorts into the Richard, by wilfulness or mistake, which we omit.]

Let the injuries be from what quarter they might, soon after the Alliance had run to leeward, an alarm was spread in the Richard that the ship was sinking. Both vessels had been on fire several times, and some difficulty had been experienced in extinguishing the flames; but here was a new enemy to contend with; and as the information came from the carpenter, whose

duty it was to sound the pump wells, it produced a great deal of consternation. The Richard had more than one hundred English prisoners on board; and the master-at-arms, in the hurry of the moment, let them up from below in order to save their lives. In the confusion of such a scene, at night, the master of a letter-of-marque that had been taken off the north of Scotland, passed through a port of the Richard into one of the Serapis, when he reported to Captain Pearson, that a few minutes would probably decide the battle in his favour, or carry his enemy down, he himself having been liberated in order to save his life.

Just at this instant the gunner, who had little to occupy him at his quarters, came on deck, and not perceiving Commodore Jones or Mr. Dale, both of whom were occupied with the liberated prisoners, and believing the mate, the only superior officer he had in the ship, to be dead, he ran up the poop to haul down the colours. Fortunately the flag-staff had been shot away, and, the ensign already hanging in the water, he had no other means of letting his intentions be known than by calling out for quarter. Captain Pearson now hailed to know if the Richard demanded quarter, and was answered by Commodore Jones himself in the negative. It is possible that the reply was not heard, or, if heard, supposed to come from an authorized source; for, encouraged by what he heard from the liberated prisoner, and by the confusion that prevailed in the Richard, the English captain directed