Lieutenant Dale found Captain Pearson standing aside, the image of despair, on the leeward of the quarter-deck. Addressing the unfortunate captain respectfully, he said: “Sir, I have orders to send you on board the ship alongside.” The first lieutenant of the Serapis, coming up at this moment, inquired: “Has the enemy struck her flag?” “No, sir,” Lieutenant Dale replied. “On the contrary, you have struck to us.” The lieutenant of the Serapis, turning anxiously to Captain Pearson, inquired: “Have you struck, sir.” “Yes, I have!” was the sad, laconic reply. All this occupied scarcely one minute. It was near midnight. Darkness and suffocating smoke enveloped the combatants. Random firing had not yet ceased, though on both ships nearly all the cannon had been dismounted. The lieutenant of the Serapis replied, “I have nothing more to say.” He turned about and was going below when Lieutenant Dale courteously arrested him saying, “It is my duty to request you sir, to accompany Captain Pearson on board the ship alongside.” “If you will first permit me,” the lieutenant replied, “to go below, I will silence the firing of the lower deck guns.” “This cannot be permitted,” was the reply. The two distinguished captives passed over to the deck of the Bon Homme Richard. Orders were sent below to cease firing. Thus terminated this most memorable of naval conflicts, after a bloody battle, with muzzle to muzzle, of nearly three hours and a half. Through all time, in all naval chronicles the battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis will occupy a conspicuous position. CHAPTER VII. _Result of the Victory._ Dreadful Spectacle.—Sinking of the Bon Homme Richard.—Escape of the Baltic Fleet.—Sails for the Texel.—Interesting Correspondence.—Sufferings of the American Prisoners.—Barbarity of the English Government.—Humanity of Captain Jones.—The Transference from the Serapis to the Alliance.—Extracts from the British Press.—Release of Prisoners. After the excitement of the conflict was over, Captain Jones was shocked at the spectacle of devastation and misery which was presented to him. All sense of triumph was lost in emotions of compassion and sadness. In his official journal he wrote: “A person must have been an eye-witness to form a just idea of the tremendous scene of carnage, wreck, and ruin that everywhere appeared. Humanity cannot but recoil from the prospect of such finished horror, and lament that war should produce such fatal consequences.”