THE LOG OF THE BON HOMME RICHARD 59

der; and Captain Jones encouraged them by telling them that he

would not abandon his own ship till every cask of powder was
out of her. This piece of service being accomplished in a few min
utes, after which Jones and the English officers embarked on
board the boats and went on board the Serapis, first leaving orders
with his officers to abandon the Good Man Richard after we had
got all the wounded men and English prisoners out of her and put
them on board the squadron.
"One circumstance relative to the first lieutenant, by the
name of Stanhope, is so singular, that I am induced to relate the
fact. It is this : early in the action he hung himself down by one of
the Serapis's stern ladders, into the water, so that his body was
immersed in water; in this situation he hung with only his head
above the water during the remainder of the action. It was noticed
by one of our officers when Stanhope surrendered among his
brother officers, and came on our quarter deck, that he appeared
to be entirely wet, and the question was put to him how his clothes
came to be wet. He said he had, just before the Serapis struck,
attempted to sound her pump well to see how much water
she had in her, and fell into it. But the petty officers of the
Serapis declared to us that the fact was as above stated, and was
also confirmed by several of the English sailors belonging to that
ship. This man (Stanhope) who was said to be a lord's son, was
for his bravery (?) on board the Serapis, afterwards appointed
to the command of an English frigate.
"The Pallas had captured the consort to the Serapis, an
English ship of war mounting 22 guns and called the Countess of
Scarborough, after a brief action which lasted about half an hour,
which two ships now joined the squadron. The Serapis having
been pierced with several shot during the action, between wind and
water, was thought to be sinking; consequently the assistance of
the crews of the different ships composing the squadron was de
manded on board the Serapis. The chain pumps on board of her