Page 20 - NERA1_Mariner-Winter-23-24

TWO FORGOTTEN ACCOUNTS, continued from page 19

Edward] Roby, [second lieutenant was shot through and through to a
of marines]. He informed me he degree (though all her pumps was
had just parted with my messmate, going, which was but three, for we
[Midshipman] George Ludwig, shot one through) that they could
who had received a ball in his scarce keep her above water.
breast; he took Roby by the hand,
wished he might not come to that, The next day, being little wind
and died. I looked a little about me, and no sea, the Serapis was towed
and there I saw my own boy (for so off by this ship [the Alliance], and
I must call him, he used always to the Bonhomme Richard had all the
call me father), the sweetest child assistance possible from her fleet.
I ever beheld, lie dead with a shot Notwithstanding all their carpen-
through his heart. This child was a ters and mechanics of all sorts,
midshipman, and in my berth and assisted by calm weather, to the
mess, put in by Captain Pearson, great joy of all us prisoners, down
and under my care. His name was she went.
[William] Bunting.
Alas, Poor Richard! For she was
…Our engagement lasted about named from an almanack of
three hours, or three and a quar- [Benjamin] Franklin’s called the
ter. We lost no captain or lieuten- Poor Richard, and then altered to
ants, nay not one wounded. … My the Bonhomme Richard, the “Good
berth mate [Midshipman William With the ships locked to each other, the Battle Man Richard.” I have since con-
Popplewell], who was stationed of Flamborough Head turns into a knockdown, versed with the carpenter of this
on the upper deck with me, is shot drag-out deck melee. When “I took a large ship concerning her, an old expe-
through one arm, and through his cutlass and jumped on the gunwale” of the rienced man. He said never did he
back, I am in hopes he will live. [He Bonhomme Richard’s quarterdeck, Jordan see or hear of a ship shot in such
recalled, “I was received with pikes and fixed
subsequently died of his wounds.] bayonets at my breast.” Alamy a manner. Her decks were shot
Every man was killed or wounded through and through so much
at the five guns I was stationed at, that her midshipman [Nathaniel
except two and myself …. Fanning, who used the same phraseology in his memoir]
told me “you might drive a coach and six through.” There
Captain Jones has shifted his American colours on board were whole planks knocked out of her sides. We passed
the Serapis. Good God, I have forgot to inform you of the very near as she was sinking. I never beheld anything so
Bonhomme Richard’s fate. You remember I told you she battered.

Pallas vs. Countess of Scarborough—Lieutenant Sainthill’s
Account
In addition to the main ship-on-ship fight between the is the only account surviving from a member of her crew.
Bonhomme Richard and Serapis, the Battle of Flamborough
Head also included the engagement fought between the The letter, most likely written to his future father-in-law,
Serapis’ smaller consort, HMS Countess of Scarborough, was composed during Sainthill’s short captivity (proba-
and the French frigate Pallas, a converted merchantman in bly on board the Pallas) at the Texel. His correspondence
Jones’ squadron. Apart from the short post-battle report adds valuable details on the prelude to the battle, the
by the Countess of Scarborough’s captain, the newly redis- ships involved, and the aftermath to the sinking of the
covered letter written by First Lieutenant Richard Sainthill Bonhomme Richard:

20 The Mariner • 2023/2024 WINTER Edition • Volume 66 • Issue 3