It was on February 4, 1779, that Captain Jones was ordered to the _Bonhomme Richard_. It was not until June 19th that he was able to sail with his little fleet. He had a right to suppose that his troubles were now at an end, but as a matter of fact they were only begun. Capt. Pierre Landais was, from the start, mutinous. He had claimed superiority of rank, and this not being allowed, he was determined to thwart his chief in every way possible. On the first night out he ran the _Alliance_ foul of the _Bonhomme Richard_ by steering across her bows, carrying away his own mizzenmast and a lot of the headgear of the _Bonhomme Richard_. At this a return to port became necessary, and it was two months before the investigation by the authorities and the repairs were completed. Unfortunate as this mishap appeared at the time, it proved in the end a blessing, for while lying in port 119 Americans came over from England through an exchange of prisoners, and more than 100 of them shipped with Captain Jones. In the fight that was to come not a man of these could have been spared. When, on August 14, 1779, the fleet once more sailed from L’Orient, it had been augmented by the _Monsieur_ and the _Granville_, two very good French privateers. But, although they added to the number of guns, they were a source of trouble. When four days out the _Monsieur_ captured a Holland ship that was in the hands of a British crew. The captain of the _Monsieur_ appropriated this as the private property of his ship instead of the property of the squadron. When Jones interfered the two privateers left the squadron. As they were Frenchmen many of their countrymen in the fleet sympathized with them, and discontent was thus spread in the crews. On August 21st a brigantine was captured and sent to L’Orient. On the 23d, off Cape Clear, the _Bonhomme Richard_, during a calm, was set toward some rocks by a current. When some rowboats were lowered with a line to tow her clear some Englishmen in one of them cut the tow-line and made a successful dash for shore. Sailing Master Lunt pursued them in another boat, was lost in a fog, and was finally obliged to go ashore. He was, of course, sent to Mill prison. On the 24th Captain Landais came on board the flagship, and in a most insolent manner accused Captain Jones of losing the men through incapacity. He declared that “he was the only American in the squadron and was determined to follow his own opinion in chasing when and where he thought proper, and in every other matter that concerned the service.” And he did it, too. Had he done no worse Captain Jones would have been thankful. [Illustration: Pierre Landais. _From a copy, at the Lenox Library, of a miniature._]