Revolutionary Leadership by Pat Williams

Author:Pat Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Leadership;United States—History—Revolution;1775–1783—Influence | United States—Politics and government—1775–1783 | Leadership—Case studies | Founding Fathers of the United States—Biography | United States—History—Revolution;1775–1783—Women | United States—History—Revolution;1775–1783—Biography;BUS071000;BUS107000;SEL027000
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2021-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Character Under Fire

As the ships drifted apart, the Serapis unleashed another attack on the American ship. The Bon Homme Richard’s powder boy, Joseph Brussels—who was probably thirteen or fourteen years old—was fetching gunpowder from the powder magazine belowdecks with a powder horn in hand. The blast from the Serapis thundered across the ship, and the horn clattered on the deck. Brussels bent to pick it up—and he saw his severed arm on the deck, his hand still clutching the horn. The ship’s surgeon took the boy belowdecks and saved his life by sewing up the stump.

After separating from the Serapis, Jones’s crew tried to position the Richard to fire a broadside from the starboard guns—but their rudder was disabled, and the ship stalled. As the Richard wallowed helplessly, the Serapis slammed into the American ship like a battering ram. The Serapis’s bowsprit entangled itself with the Richard’s mizzen sail and rigging.

The collision also struck down the American flag. The British sailors mistakenly thought the Americans had surrendered and started cheering. As one American sailor ran up another flag, his companions fired small arms at the cheering British sailors, dampening the celebration.

Jones seized the moment. He grabbed the Serapis’s jib, which had fallen on the deck of the Richard, and called to sailing master Samuel Stacey for help. Together, the two men strained to secure the stiff, heavy rope of the Serapis’s jib to the Richard’s mizzenmast. As they struggled, Stacey began swearing like—well, like a sailor. John Paul Jones, officer and gentleman, rebuked him. “Mr. Stacey, it is no time for swearing now,” he said. “You may the next moment be in eternity; but let us do our duty.”11

Amid the thunder of cannons and the screams of dying men, John Paul Jones maintained his character. He did not want to face his Maker with the stain of foul oaths on his soul—and he urged Mr. Stacey to keep eternity in mind.

After the duel had raged for more than two hours, the Richard was losing the battle and had few guns capable of firing. The Serapis had blown so many holes in the Richard’s hull that many of its cannon shots were whistling through the ship without hitting anything.

At this point, one of Jones’s crew, William Hamilton, crawled out on a yardarm (the outer end of the horizontal spar on which the sail is set) with a sack of incendiary grenades. Overlooking the enemy’s deck, Hamilton lobbed grenades at the open hatches. With one fortunate throw, he dropped a grenade close to a charge of gunpowder. The explosion scattered flaming debris along the Serapis’s gun deck, setting off a chain reaction of deadly explosions.

With his losses mounting, Captain Pearson saw the battle swinging in favor of his enemy. In desperation, he sent a boarding team to assault the Richard. The British sailors were met by a determined force of defenders who drove them back onto their own ship.

After another hour of fighting, Captain Landais of the Alliance finally decided to lend Jones a hand.

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