=211. The Bon Homme Richard.=—The most famous of these cruisers was a merchant ship that had been hastily fitted up for war and given the name of _Bon Homme Richard_. This vessel, commanded by John Paul Jones,[97] a Scotchman who had renounced his country and lived some years in America, made havoc among the British merchantmen, especially in the British and Irish Channels and off the east coast of Scotland. On the 23d of September, 1779, Jones, with two small accompanying vessels, met the British frigate _Serapis_, with similar support, convoying a small fleet of merchantmen, off Flamborough Head. The _Serapis_ was slightly more powerful than the _Richard_, but Jones did not hesitate to attack, and the result was one of the most obstinate and bloody battles in all naval history. Jones received no assistance from his attendant ships, which even fired into the _Richard_. After both ships had been partially disabled, Jones ran alongside the _Serapis_ and lashed them together. From that moment a terrible battle with canister, musket balls, hand grenades, and cutlasses went on, until more than half of all the men engaged were either killed or disabled. The _Serapis_ finally surrendered, but it was immediately found that the _Richard_ had been so riddled with shot that it was sinking, and Jones therefore was obliged to transfer his men to the other vessel. A few hours later the _Richard_ went down. =212. Importance of Jones’s Victory.=—This desperate naval battle was important for two reasons: first, it everywhere gave the Americans a reputation as sailors; and secondly, it led to an important international dispute. Jones took the _Serapis_ into a port in Holland. The British at once demanded that the commander of the _Richard_ should be given up to be tried as a pirate. The Dutch refused, on the ground that Jones had done only what the British had long been doing. This, with some other complications, led to war between Holland and Great Britain. The English, in consequence, were then at war with Holland, as well as with America and France. Spain was also drawn in as the ally of France. Russia had long been apparently on the point of joining in the contest, but the Empress Catherine, before taking a final step, wrote a personal letter of inquiry to Frederick the Great, who advised her to keep out of the trouble. Thus England, left without a single ally, found herself confronted by three of the most powerful naval forces of continental Europe. The united fleets of France and Spain, even without the help of Holland, were scarcely weaker than the British fleet, and they at once threatened, while the English were occupied in America, not only to destroy the commerce of England in the open seas, but also to recover Gibraltar, and to overwhelm all the English possessions in the West Indies. The influence of these alliances on the American war may be inferred from the fact that while in 1779 the British had three hundred