“On the 23d of April, about ten o’clock in the morning, 30 armed men came in a boat from a privateer of 20 guns, and pretending at first to be a press gang, the men surrounded the house, and the officers entered and desired to see the heads of the family. As Lord Selkirk was then at London, Lady Selkirk made her appearance. They soon made known to her who they really were; said they meant to have seized Lord Selkirk’s person had he been at home, and to have carried him off, but all they now asked was to have the plate of the house. As there could be no thought of resistance, this was at once complied with; and having taken possession of it they walked off and reimbarked. They behaved civily, and only the officers presumed to enter the house, and happily her ladyship did not suffer from the alarm.” With this British account of this affair in mind, let the reader turn back and read the British account of the burning of Portland (then Falmouth), Maine, and so compare the American deed with that of the British. The silver taken was of the real value of £500, but when it was sold for the benefit of the crew Jones bought it and returned it at his own expense--at a cost of £1,000, all told--to the noble Lord. In August, 1789, years after the plate was returned, the earl was constrained to write Jones that, “notwithstanding all the precautions you took for the easy and uninterrupted conveyance of the plate,” there were considerable delays; nevertheless, it arrived safely. “I intended to have put an article in the newspapers about your having returned it,” he adds, but his good intentions miscarried. However, if he did not publicly acknowledge the honor of the American naval captain who had spent $5,000 to return the plate, he privately “mentioned it to many people of fashion,” so reads his letter. The British historians deliberately omit mentioning that Jones returned the silver. After the descent upon the Isle of St. Mary’s the _Ranger_ still lingered on that coast. Captain Jones knew very well that many cruisers were already under orders to seek him; but they were still far away, and he must needs try conclusions with the _Drake_ that he had tried to take over in the bay near Belfast. On the morning of April 24, 1778, he hove to off the bay, and then filled and backed until well along in the afternoon. The commander of the _Drake_, seeing a stranger outside, sent a young officer in a small boat to see what she was. Captain Jones handled his ship so skilfully that her stern was kept toward the coming boat until she was directly under the _Ranger’s_ counter. Then the officer was induced to come on board, and not until he had climbed up the ladder and reached the deck did he know that he was on a Yankee cruiser.