“At ten o’clock they called for quarters from the ship alongside, and said they had struck. Hearing this, I called upon the captain to say if they had struck, or if he asked for quarter; but receiving no answer, after repeating my words two or three times, I called for the boarders, and ordered them to board, which they did; but the moment they were on board her, they discovered a superior number lying under cover, with pikes in their hands, ready to receive them; on which our people retreated instantly into our own ship, and returned to their guns again until half-past ten, when the frigate coming across our stern, and pouring her broadside into us again, without our being able to bring a gun to bear on her, I found it in vain, and in short impracticable, from the situation we were in, to stand out any longer with any prospect of success; I therefore struck. Our mainmast at the same time went by the board.
“The first lieutenant and myself were immediately escorted into the ship alongside, when we found her to be an American ship of war, called the _Bon Homme Richard_, of forty guns, and 375 men, commanded by Captain Paul Jones; the other frigate which engaged us, to be the _Alliance_, of forty guns, and 300 men; and the third frigate, which engaged and took the _Countess of Scarborough_, after two hours’ action, to be the _Pallas_, a French frigate, of thirty guns, and 275 men; the _Vengeance_, an armed brig, of twelve guns, and 70 men; all in Congress service, under the command of Paul Jones. They fitted out and sailed from Port l’Orient the latter end of July, and came north about. They have on board 300 English prisoners, which they have taken in different vessels in their way round since they left France, and have ransomed some others. On my going on board the _Bon Homme Richard_ I found her in the greatest distress, her quarters and counter on the lower deck being entirely drove in, and the whole of her lower-deck guns dismounted; she was also on fire in two places, and six or seven feet of water in her hold, which kept increasing upon them all night and next day, till they were obliged to quit her. She had 300 men killed and wounded in the action. Our loss in the _Serapis_ was also very great.
