He now determined to cruise around the English coasts, to intercept the colliers bound to London, many of which he destroyed. It was during this cruise that he was joined by the _Alliance_, the _Pallas_, and the _Vengeance_, these, with the _Richard_, formed the squadron of which he was commander. On the 23d of September the squadron was standing to the northward, toward Flamboro Head, with a light breeze, when they discovered a fleet of forty-one sail running down the coast, very close in with the land. Jones soon discovered that this was the Baltic fleet which he had been so anxious to encounter, but had never before had the chance. This fleet was under convoy of the _Serapis_, a new ship, mounting forty-four guns, and the _Countess of Scarborough_, of twenty guns. Early in the evening the _Serapis_ was observed to haul round and place herself between her convoy and the _Richard_, as if preparing to engage her; she soon came within pistol-shot, when the captain of the _Serapis_ demanded, “What ship is that?” and in reply, a shot was fired from the _Richard_. This was the commencement of a battle more famous for stubborn courage and heroic daring than perhaps the world ever knew. The biographers of this eccentric but gallant officer have so often described this triumphant conflict, that we shall content ourselves with a few incidents with which our veteran sailor was more immediately connected. He relates that the _Richard_ suffered severely at the first of the battle, till Jones ordered his ship to be laid across the hawse of the enemy; in doing so the two ships swung broadside and broadside, the muzzles of the guns touching each other. Jones sent one of his men to lash the two ships together, and commenced with his own hand in making fast the jib-stay of the _Serapis_ to the _Richard’s_ mizenmast; when the sailors saw what he was about to do, Johnson, with two others, ran to his assistance, and soon performed the task. The firing continued from the starboard sides of both vessels for more than an hour, the effect of which was terrible to both ships. There was much skirmishing with pistols and pikes through the ports, but no effort was made from the _Serapis_ to board the _Richard_, although they must have observed her crippled condition, she had begun to leak fast.