The carpenters were immediately employed in examining the Bon Homme Richard, to see if her wounds were capable of being healed. The lashings were cut which bound her to the Serapis, and all the available hands were employed, at the pumps, to keep her afloat. Captain Jones took possession of his shattered prize, the Serapis, to which he transferred all the crew, excepting those which attended the pumps. Boats were in waiting, ready to take them on board the Serapis should the water gain upon them too fast. The surveying officers soon reported unanimously, that the ship could not be kept afloat long enough to reach port. It took all the night, and some hour’s the next morning hastily but carefully to remove the wounded. Captain Jones was very anxious to save the ship, and made every possible effort until nine o’clock the next evening. The water was then up to her lower deck. She rolled in the waves in utter helplessness, threatening every moment to go down. The water was gushing from her port-holes and swashing through her hatchways. It was necessary at once to abandon her. From the deck of the Serapis Captain Jones sadly watched the dying convulsions of his “good old ship.” He wrote: “We did not abandon her till after nine o’clock. A little after ten, I saw, with inexpressible grief, the last glimpse of the Bon Homme Richard. No lives were lost with the ship; but it was impossible to save the stores of any sort whatever. I lost the best part of my clothes, books, and papers. Several of my officers lost all their clothes and effects.” Making one or two dying surges, the Richard plunged headlong into the fathomless abyss, carrying her dead with her to their sublime ocean burial. There the mangled bodies will repose till, at the summons of the archangel’s trump, the sea shall give up the dead that are in it. According to the most accurate estimate which can be made, forty-two were killed, and forty severely wounded. Light wounds were not counted. There was no accurate account taken of the killed and wounded on board the Serapis. The surgeon’s report to the British Admiralty, gives the number of wounded at seventy-five, but does not give the number killed. Captain Pearson states that there were many more wounded than appears on the surgeon’s list. Captain Jones, who had the best opportunity for knowing, and who was not given to exaggeration, estimates the killed at one hundred, and the wounded at about the same number.