1 7 7 8

I 7 7 9
Warming Up

May 8

Jones Gets a
Squadron
February 4,
1779

time to dry on the Franco-American treaties of commerce and alliance.

On the tenth of April, 1778, Jones sailed from Brest for a cruise in familiar waters. He took numerous prizes and made a

GRE

A T

night entrance into the harbor of Whitehaven. On

the follow

ENCOURAGEMENT ing night, he

A

LL GENTLEMEN SEAMEN and able-bodied LANDSMEN
who have a Mind to diftinguish themfelves in the GLORIOUS
CAUSE of their C TPY, and make their Fortunes, an, Op-
portunity now cars on bord the Ship RANGER, of i wenty
Guns, (for FRANcz) now laying ip Portsmouth, in the State of New Hamp~
My commanded by JOHN PAUL JONES Efq, let them repair to the ships Rendez-
You: in PORTSMOUTH, or at the Sign of Commodore MANLEY, in SALEM, where they will be kind-
ly entertained, and receive the greatest Bucourageant. The Ship RANGER, in the Opinion of
every Perfon who has feen her is looked upon be one of the best Cruizers in AusicAbe
will be always able to Fight her Guns under oft excellent Cover; and no Vefiel yet built
was ever calculated for failing fafter, and, making good Weather.

Any GENTLEMEN VOLUNTara who have a kind to take an agreable Voyage in this pleasant
Seafon of the Year, may, by entering on board the above Ship RACER, meet with every
Civility they can poffibly expect, and for a futher Encouragement depend on the firil Op-
portunity being embraced to reward' each one agreable to his Merit.

tried to abduct the earl of Selkirk from his

country seat
on the River
Dee, but
found that
his lordship

was
home. On
the evening
of the twen-

not at

ty-fourth, he captured the sloop-of-war "Drake,"

twenty guns, and, with her, two

Broadside soliciting Enlistment under John Paul Jones other prizes, and many prisoners, arrived safely at Brest. By this time, Jones felt that he ought to have a squadron that would enable him to inflict serious injury upon the

enemy.

After vexatious delays and tedious negotiations, the French government purchased an old Indiaman and gave the command to Jones. Jones renamed her the

"Bon Homme Richard," a compliment to Franklin, and, 1 7 7 9
with almost ruinous haste, transformed her into a two-
decked frigate carrying twenty-eight 12-pounders, eight
9-pounders, and six old 18-pounders. The thirty-six
gun frigate "Alliance," the "Pallas" of thirty guns, the
brig "Vengeance" of twelve guns, and the cutter "Cerf"
of eighteen guns were also put under his command.
of their officers carried American commissions, all of the

All

Map of the Movements of the "Ranger"

ships bore the American colors, and, excepting the "Alli-
ance," all were provided at the king's expense. Jones
and most of the officers of the "Bon Homme Richard"
were Americans, nominally at least; Landais of the
"Alliance" and the other captains were French. The
crews were made up of all nationalities. The muster-roll
of the "Bon Homme Richard" showed that her "men
hailed from America, France, Italy, Ireland, Germany,
Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, England, Spain, India,

1779 Norway, Portugal, Fayal, and Malaisia, while there were seven Maltese, and the knight of the ship's galley was from Africa."

The Cruise of
the "Bon
Homme
Richard"

On the fourteenth of August, the squadron put to sea accompanied by two French privateers. The privateers · and the "Cerf" soon left the squadron and did not come back. Taking occasional prizes, Jones sailed up the west coast of Ireland and came down the east coast of Scotland to beard the lion in his den. A daring scheme to seize the shipping at Leith, the port of Edinburgh, and to exact a ransom was frustrated by a gale that drove the September 17 squadron out of the Firth of Forth. By the middle of September, Jones had captured or destroyed twenty-six vessels and spread terror along the east coast of Scotland and England. On the twenty-third of September, off Flamborough Head, he sighted a fleet of forty British merchantmen under convoy of the "Countess of Scarborough" of twentyeight guns, and of the "Serapis," rated at forty-four but mounting fifty guns and commanded by Captain Richard Pearson.

Jones gave the signal for a chase and Pearson signaled for the ships under convoy to take care of themselves. Most of the merchantmen ran in shore and anchored under cover of the guns of Scarborough castle. Landais, the French captain of the "Alliance," who

had been insubordinate throughout the cruise, made little
or no effort to obey Jones's signals and called out to
Captain Cottineau of the "Pal-
las" that, if the fleet was con-
voyed by a vessel of more than
fifty guns, they must run away.

P. Landais

ヌ

Autograph of Peter Landais

(Compiled by Mrs. Annie H. Eastman, assistant to the Librarian in the Naval War Records Library, Washington, D. C., by careful investigation of original sources and material, including parts of the log of the

Bon Homme Richard")