And no shot of that battery did fail during the first hour, and when they failed later it was because they had shot the six ports of the _Bonhomme Richard_ into one huge chasm, not only on the side of her next to them, but on the further side as well, so that when they fired some of the battery the balls passed clear and fell into the sea beyond. There was not a splinter of the American ship left in front of them. They had not only cut away the walls of the _Bonhomme Richard_; they had practically cleared her lower gundeck. There was no one left there save only a few marines that guarded the line of boys passing cartridges from the magazine up to the guns on the upper deck. Nor was that the worst effect the English fire had had upon the _Bonhomme Richard_. Taking advantage of the rolling of the vessels in the long gentle swell, the English had been able to send a half dozen of their eighteen-pound shot into the _Bonhomme Richard_ below the water-line, and she was “leaking like a basket.” By this time the _Serapis_, having the wind of the _Bonhomme Richard_, drew ahead, intending to lie across the latter’s bows and rake her. But the captain miscalculated his distance, got too far down in front, yawed off, and then putting his helm alee, came to the wind fair in front of the _Bonhomme Richard_. A minute later the _Bonhomme Richard_ ran her jibboom over the stern of the _Serapis_, and then, because no great gun would bear on either side, the fire, save for an occasional musket shot, ceased. For a moment the two ships hung together in silence, and then the voice of Captain Pearson was heard asking if the American ship had surrendered. And John Paul Jones replied: “I have not yet begun to fight.” By the shifting of sails the two ships drifted apart. Once more the commander of the _Serapis_ strove to get into position to rake, but as the _Serapis_ wore around, the _Bonhomme Richard_ forged ahead. Jones was determined to keep close to the enemy, and soon the jibboom of the _Serapis_ fouled the starboard mizzen rigging of the _Bonhomme Richard_. [Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE SERAPIS-BONHOMME RICHARD BATTLE _Note._--At 7.30 o’clock, when John Paul Jones said, “I have not yet begun to fight,” the bow of his ship was against the stern of the _Serapis_. He then backed his sails and went astern while the enemy, with full sails, went ahead until, say, 7.45, when the _Serapis_ backed her foretopsail and wore around, bow from the wind, and came back. Meantime Jones had filled away, and the two ships got together at, say, 8.10 o’clock just where they had first touched. They then drifted westerly until 9 o’clock, when the _Serapis_ anchored. ] Turning to Carpenter Stacy, who was near at hand, Jones ordered a hawser brought. When it came he helped with his own hands to lash the jibboom of the _Serapis_ fast to the mizzenmast of the _Bonhomme Richard_. While doing this the hawser fouled in some way and Stacy began to curse.