And,
although, Jones did not know it at the time, the guns themselves
had all been condemned as unsafe before they were sent on board.
The other ships of the squadron were also traders fitted up with
guns in the same way, but were all much smaller than the Bonhomme.
With this raffish little fleet Paul Jones set out to do great
deeds. His bold plan was to attack Liverpool, the great centre of
shipping, but that had to be given up, for he found it impossible
to keep his little squadron together. Sometimes he would only have
one other ship with him, sometimes he would be quite alone. So
he cruised about the North Sea, doing a great deal of damage to
British shipping, catching merchantmen, and sending them to France
as prizes.
At length one afternoon in September, when he had only the Pallas
with him, he sighted a whole fleet of merchantmen off the coast
of England and at once gave chase. The merchantmen were being
convoyed by two British men-of-war, the Serapis and the Countess of
Scarborough, and they at once got between Jones and his prey. Then
the merchantmen made off as fast as they could, and the men-of-war
came on. Presently the captain of the Serapis hailed the Bonhomme
Richard.
"What ship are you?" he shouted.
"I can't hear what you say," replied Jones, who wanted to get
nearer.
That made the British captain suspicious.
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