330 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



waged ; then the Alliance came up and Jones reason- 

 ably supposed that the victory was as good as won. 

 But to his amazement that ship, instead of attacking the 

 Englishman, fired a broadside full into the Richards 

 stern. 



Furious and incredulous, Jones and his people shouted 

 to the Alliance to stop firing into the Richard '; but she 

 passed along the offside of the ship and continued her 

 cannonade. There could not be any mistaking the 

 vessels, for it was full moonlight, and they were quite 

 different in appearance and construction. The Richards 

 sides were black, while those of the Serapis were yellow. 



Jones in desperation showed his reconnaissance 

 signal three lanterns, placed horizontally, one at the 

 head, another in the middle, and the third at the stern ; 

 yet Landais, the captain of the Alliance, took no notice. 

 He passed round, firing into the Richard's head, stern, 

 and broadside, mortally wounding an officer and killing 

 several men. Truly Jones was justified in declaring that 

 his situation now was deplorable ; nor can some of his 

 officers be blamed for urging him to strike. In any case 

 Jones was not likely to surrender. He knew what his 

 punishment would be, in view of his nationality and 

 piratical performances. He refused to haul down his 

 colours, although his ship was sinking and was also on 

 fire. To complete the apparent hopelessness of his 

 situation, the master-at-arms released the prisoners, of 

 whom there were on board three hundred, taken from 

 prizes and ransomed. These men swarmed on deck, 

 but what seemed like a very imminent peril was turned 

 by the resourceful commander into a means of salvation. 

 He ordered them to set to work at once on the pumps, 



