The moment Jones identified the enemy, he signaled to his consorts to join him in pursuit. Night had closed in and the moon was shining, when the captain of the _Serapis_ hailed Jones, who answered by opening fire. The enemy was equally prompt, and thus one of the most famous fights in naval history began. It is almost past comprehension how Jones fought so terrifically when the disadvantages under which he labored are known. Firing had scarcely begun when one of the guns on the lower deck exploded, killing several men. The survivors ran above, and the piece was not used again during the fight. Jones tried to close with the _Serapis_, but, finding he could not bring his guns to bear, he allowed his ship to fall off. The prisoners, who outnumbered his crew, were kept busy extinguishing the fires that continually broke out, by being told that it was the only way to save themselves from death by burning. In the midst of the terrific fighting, when the _Richard_ seemed doomed, Captain Pearson of the _Serapis_ shouted: "Have you struck?" "Struck!" replied Jones; "I am just beginning to fight." [Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN BON HOMME RICHARD AND SERAPIS.] While the ships were lurching, one of the enemy's anchors caught the quarter of the _Richard_ and the two held fast, thenceforward fighting side by side. They were so close indeed that the _Serapis_ could not open her starboard ports, and the cannon were fired through the port-lids, which were blown off; but the main deck of the _Richard_ was so high that the broadsides of the enemy injured no one, though they did great damage to the vessel. This tremendous battle lasted for two hours, the muzzles of the guns scraping one another, and the cannon being discharged as fast as they could be loaded. The _Richard_ was soon shattered to that extent that she began sinking. Fire broke out repeatedly on both vessels, and finally Jones was able to work only three of his guns. At this crisis, he found that his consort, the _Alliance_, Captain Landais, was firing into him as well as the _Serapis_; but not heeding him, he continued his battle with the _Serapis_, whose sailors fought as bravely as his own. The fearful struggle was decided by a sailor in the rigging of the _Richard_, who was engaged in throwing hand-grenades on the deck of the _Serapis_. One of these dropped into the hatchway and exploded a mass of eighteen-pound cartridges, which killed twenty and wounded twice as many more. Captain Pearson placed himself at the head of his boarders and made a rush for the deck of the _Richard_. Jones, leading his own men, drove them back. The explosion of the grenades silenced the main battery of the _Serapis_, and Captain Pearson himself hauled down his colors, both crews in the awful confusion believing for some minutes that it was the _Richard_ that had surrendered.