That was a great disappointment to Captain Jones, but he cheerfully obeyed the orders of the commissioners, who decided that “after equipping the _Ranger_ in the best manner for the cruise you shall proceed with her in the manner you shall judge best for distressing the enemies of the United States, by sea or otherwise, consistent with the laws of war.” Accordingly on February 10, 1778, the _Ranger_ sailed from Nantes, having in convoy several American merchant ships that were bound home, and that were to be placed in charge of a French squadron then lying in Quiberon Bay (Brest) and bound eventually for America; for France had by this time acknowledged the United States as an independent nation, and had decided to openly aid the Americans in their fight for liberty. On reaching Quiberon Bay he had the great satisfaction of seeing the French admiral salute the American flag after the _Ranger_ had, under the custom of such occasions, saluted the French flag. It was an honor especially gratifying for the reason that this was the first occasion on which a foreign power saluted the Stars and Stripes. Having overhauled his rigging and taken on additional supplies, Captain Jones sailed from Brest on April 10, 1778, and steered across to the coast of England. Passing between the Scilly Islands and Cape Clear, he overhauled a brig loaded with flax bound from Ireland to Ostend. As she was of small value he scuttled her, and to save himself the bother of prisoners, sent her crew ashore in their boat, for the capture was made in plain view of the land. This was done on April 14th. Three days later he was off Dublin, where he seized the ship _Lord Chatham_ and sent her to Brest. Thereafter he headed away to Whitehaven, that is found a short distance south of the Clyde. It was a port with which Jones was entirely familiar, for there he had passed his childhood. It was his intention to burn the shipping which, as he knew, thronged the harbor. He arrived off the harbor at ten o’clock at night of the same day he captured the _Lord Chatham_, but a gale of wind prevented his landing, so he cruised on to the north. The next day (April 18th) the _Ranger_ chased a revenue cutter that escaped him, but on the 19th he sank a coasting schooner loaded with barley. [Illustration: Map of the BRITISH ISLES AND THE COAST OF FRANCE. Showing first and second voyages of Capt. John Paul Jones, and the route of the Reprisal. ] Thereafter he continued his cruise to the north. The weather prevented an attack on a fleet of merchantmen with a man-of-war at Lochryan, so the _Ranger_ was headed across to the Bay of Carrickfergus, Ireland, at the head of which lies the city of Belfast. A fisherman picked up outside told Captain Jones that the man-of-war _Drake_, a ship that mounted twenty guns and was a larger ship and carried more men than the _Ranger_, lay at anchor inside.