The details of this memorable cruise are familiar to the reader, and need not be repeated here. The fleet was scarcely at sea before Landais became insubordinate, asserted his independence of Jones, and left and rejoined his commodore when and where he chose. Sailing first along the west coast of Ireland and then around Scotland, Jones reached the east coast of Yorkshire, on September 23. He had by this time taken seventeen ships, and had made an unsuccessful attempt to reach Leith and Edinburgh, and lay them under contribution. Off Flamborough Head Jones’s fleet, which was now reduced to the “Bon Homme Richard,” “Alliance,” and “Pallas,” fell in with the Baltic trade of forty-one sail and convoyed by His Majesty’s ships, “Serapis,” 44, Captain Richard Pearson, and “Countess of Scarborough,” 20, Commander Thomas Piercy. There now ensued an engagement between the “Bon Homme Richard” and the “Serapis,” which lasted more than three hours. It was one of the fiercest fights recorded in the annals of naval warfare. For the greater part of the engagement the two vessels were lashed together, stem to stern, starboard to starboard, and with the muzzles of their guns touching. Both ships were set on fire in various places, and the “scene was dreadful beyond the reach of language,” to use Jones’s phrasing. The “Bon Homme Richard” won the fight only through the brilliant daring, the remarkable naval skill, and the intelligence in action of her commander. She was so badly injured that she sank the second day after the fight; her own crew were transferred to the “Serapis.” The loss to the “Bon Homme Richard” was 116 men; to the “Serapis,” 129. During the fight of the “Bon Homme Richard” and the “Serapis,” the “Pallas,” Captain Cottineau, and the “Countess of Scarborough,” Commander Piercy, engaged each other, with the result that the British ship was compelled to surrender. The “Alliance” took little or no part in the contest, as her commander was sulking throughout the engagement. The two prizes, the “Alliance,” and the “Pallas” arrived at the Texel in Holland on October 3, 1779.[362]