As an earnest of his own innocence in the matter, Paul Jones added that he would try to purchase from his associates the booty which they had brought away, and even if he could not return the entire quantity he would send back all that he could. We need not stop to wonder whether Lady Selkirk really believed such a statement; but the truth is that about five years later the whole of the plate came back, carriage paid, in exactly the same condition as it had left the castle. Apparently it had never been unpacked, for the tea leaves were still in the teapot, just as they had been taken away on that exciting morning.
But to come back to the ship. After leaving the Solway Firth astern, Jones stood over to the Irish coast and entered Belfast Lough, amusing himself on the way by burning or capturing several fishing craft. But it happened that he was espied by Captain Burdon of H.M.S. _Drake_, a sloop. Seeing Jones’ ship coming along, he took her to be a merchantman, and so from her he could impress some seamen. So the officer lowered a boat and sent her off. But when the boat’s crew came aboard Jones’ vessel they had the surprise of their lives, for instead of arresting they were themselves arrested. After this it seemed to Jones more prudent to leave Belfast alone and get away with his capture. Meanwhile, Captain Burdon was getting anxious about his men, as the boat had not returned. Moreover, he noticed that the supposed merchantman was now crowding on all possible sail, so he at once prepared his sloop for giving chase and prepared for action, and, on coming up with the privateer, began a sharp fire.
Night, however, intervened, and the firing had to stop, but when daylight returned the engagement recommenced and continued for an hour. A fierce encounter was fought on both sides, and at length Captain Burdon and his first lieutenant were killed, as well as twenty of the crew disabled. The _Drake’s_ topmast was shot away and the ship was considerably damaged, so that there was no other alternative but to surrender to the privateer.
But as both sides of the Irish Channel were now infuriated against Jones, he determined to leave these parts, and taking his prize with him proceeded to Brest, where he arrived in safety. In the following year, instead of the _Ranger_ he had command of a frigate called the _Bon Homme Richard_, a 40-gun ship with 370 crew. In addition to this vessel he had also the frigate _Alliance_, of 36 guns and 300 crew; the brig _Vengeance_, 14 guns and 70 men; a cutter of eighteen tons; and a French frigate named the _Pallas_. All except the last mentioned were in the service of the American Congress. A little further down the coast of the Bay of Biscay than Brest is L’Orient, and from this port Jones sailed with the above fleet in the summer of 1779, arriving off the Kerry coast, where he sent a boat’s crew ashore to bring back sheep. But the natives captured the boat’s crew and lodged them in Tralee gaol.