It was in the autumn of this year that the renowned sea-fight took place, which made the name of Paul Jones one of terror in the British seas. Paul Jones was a native of Scotland, who emigrated to America, made money and in 1773 settled in Virginia. On the breaking out of the war, he was one of the first officers commissioned in the American navy. He cruised in the West Indies, picked up many prizes, and showed on all occasions great boldness and address. In 1777 he was sent to France, and there appointed to the command of a French ship under American colours. The next year, cruising on the coast of Great Britain, from the Land’s End to Solway Frith, where as yet the American flag had never ventured, he made a descent on the Scotch coast near Kirkcudbright, and plundered the house of the Earl of Selkirk, where, tradition says, he had once lived as servant, and a second by night on the Cumberland coast, at Whitehaven, where he spiked the guns in the fort, and burned one or two vessels. For a whole summer he kept the north-western coast of England and the southern coast of Scotland in a continual state of alarm, and made his name one of terror. The next year he returned to cruise on the eastern coast, no longer with a single ship, but a squadron, manned by French and Americans. This squadron consisted of the Bonhomme Richard, of forty guns, which he himself commanded, the Alliance of thirty-six, the Pallas, a frigate of thirty-two, and two other smaller vessels. Cruising with these ships, he fell in with a British merchant-fleet, on its return from the Baltic, under convoy of Captain Pearson, with the Serapis, of forty-four guns, and a smaller frigate; and one of the most desperate naval engagements on record took place off Flamborough Head. About seven o’clock in the evening, Paul Jones in the Bonhomme Richard, engaged Captain Pearson in the Serapis, the ships advancing nearer and nearer, until at length they dropped alongside of each other, head and stern, and so close that the muzzles of the guns grated. In this close contact the action continued with the greatest fury till half-past ten, during which time, Jones, who had the greater number of men, vainly attempted to board, and the Serapis was set on fire ten or twelve times. Every time the fire was extinguished, till at length, a cartridge of powder taking fire, a great number of officers and men were killed. After a desperate and last attempt to board Paul Jones, Captain Pearson hauled down his colours, two-thirds of his men being killed or wounded, and his main-mast gone by the board. The Bonhomme Richard was in little better condition, for, to add to her misfortunes, the Alliance coming up in the darkness and confusion of the night, and mistaking her for the enemy, had fired a broadside into her, not discovering his error till the glare of the burning Serapis had revealed it. The next day, Paul Jones was obliged to quit his ship, and she sank at sea almost