The Logs of the Serapis--Allance--Ariel, Under the Command of John Paul Jones, 1779-1780. Various
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governments, however, became acute. Jones was ordered to sail from the Texel, then blockaded by an English fleet, and the Dutch Admiral was ordered to use forcible measures, if found necessary, to compel him to do so. With Dr. Franklin's approval it was decided to turn over to the French the prizes, and all the ships except the Alliance, which, having been built in America, was accepted as a properly commissioned Continental ship-of-war. In pursuance of this decision Jones turned over to Captain Cottineau the command of the Serapis, who hoisted the French flag over her on November 21, 1779. Landais was deposed from the command of the Alliance, to which ship Jones transferred his flag, having first stripped the Serapis of everything movable and useful and sent the same on board the Alliance.[11]
The log-book now continues with "A Journall Kept on Board the American Continental Frigate of War, Alliance, of 36 guns, under the Command of the Honble. John Paul Jones, Commencing in the Road of Texel in Holland."
Commencing on the 22d of November, the log states the daily occurrences until June 12, 1780. According to Jones' account the ship was in a deplorable condition, which he attributed to the incapacity of Landais, whom he had supplanted, and with whom he was on bad terms, having charged him with being responsible, in part, for the collision with the Richard on her first cruise; with cowardice during the action with the Serapis; with intentionally firing upon the Richard; with disobedience of orders, disrespect, and insolence. Jones states that the Alliance had not a good cable or sail; the officers and men were intemperate and idle; filth, insubordination, and epidemic diseases prevailed among the crew; she was badly supplied with arms; and her powder was of bad quality. Some of these deficiences Jones supplied from the Serapis.
The remaining officers and crew of the Richard were transferred to the Alliance, except the French volunteers; and the French volunteers and marines on the Alliance were sent to the Serapis, as it had been arranged that no French subject was to remain on the Alliance. Until the 27th of December the ship's company and mechanics from shore were busily employed in making necessary repairs, refitting the rigging, making new yards, and altering the old ones. Every effort was apparently made to get the ship ready for sea. Gales of wind and rotten cables placed her often in peril. Her bottom being foul, the ship was careened and the bottom scrubbed.
The English kept a squadron cruising off the port, but Jones determined to get to sea as soon as the weather would permit. He thought he had recovered the trim of the ship which had been lost under Landais. He states that the ship was well manned, and would not be given away; that the Holland squadron had been drawn up ready for battle for more than a month to drive him out if he should attempt to remain after the wind became fair, while the English fleet was almost constantly in sight of the harbor.
He was requested by the Dutch Admiral to declare whether the Alliance was a French or an American vessel, and if French to display the French flag, and to omit no occasion of departing. To this Jones replied, declining to display French colors, and saying that he would get to sea whenever a pilot would take the ship out of the harbor.
On the 27th of December, the wind serving, he set sail from the Texel, fell foul of a Dutch merchant ship, lost the best bower-anchor and cable, and had other mishaps, owing to the ignorance or drunkenness of the old pilot.
The Alliance passed along the Flemish banks, got to windward of the enemy's fleet in the North Sea, and passed through the Strait of Dover in full view of the enemy's fleet in the Downs. He then ran the Alliance past the Isle of Wight, in view of the enemy's fleet at Spithead, got safe through the Channel, and cruised about the Bay of Biscay and Cape Finisterre, overhauling many neutral ships and making a few unimportant prizes. On the 17th of January he came to anchor in the harbor of Corunna, Spain. Here he remained until the 28th of January. He received and entertained visitors; again careened the ship and scrubbed her bottom; made changes in her spars; obtained a new anchor; and gave his men liberty. The men were complaining that their wages and prize money had not been paid, and were in a mutinous condition. On the 19th of January they all refused doing duty, but Jones succeeded in satisfying them, and they returned to duty the following day.[12]
On the 28th of January, after entertaining the governor, the Alliance again put to sea, and cruised in the neighboring waters, overhauling several ships, capturing a few unimportant prizes. She met the American letter-of-marque ship Livingston, and in company with her anchored within the Isle of Groix on the 11th of February, and on the 19th moved up to the harbor of L'Orient, and moored the Alliance to the King's Moorings.
Jones' first object now appears to have been to repair and refit the ship and make extensive alterations, the extent and cost of which were the subject of remonstrance on the part of Benjamin Franklin, who positively forbids his sheathing the ship's bottom with copper, buying new canvas and cordage, thus adding to the extraordinary expenses already incurred in Holland, especially as Jones seemed to impute the damages the Alliance had sustained more to Landais' negligence than to accidents of the cruise; Franklin concludes his admonitions with an appeal to Jones—"For God's sake be sparing unless you mean to make me a bankrupt, or have your drafts dishonoured for want of money in my hands to pay them."[13]
Notwithstanding this appeal for economy, from the 19th of February to the 12th of June the Alliance remained at anchor at L'Orient, and the repairs, renewals, and refitting were prosecuted with energy by the crew of the ship, assisted by carpenters and mechanics from shore. The log relates the work done day by day with some precision. The essential repairs were completed in April, and Jones states that, when finished, judges allowed that everything about the frigate was perfect, and that he knew not what was the amount of disbursements. In his journal for the King he says: "She was thought one of the completest frigates in France."
Meantime, it was Mr. Franklin's intention to send the Alliance back to America with large supplies of arms and clothing. Mr. Arthur Lee, one of our commissioners, also desired to return in her. Landais was annoying Franklin with importunities to such an extent that the latter wrote Jones that he was determined to have nothing further to do with him.
On the 4th of March Franklin wrote the President of Congress that Jones would carry the Alliance home, and that Landais had not applied to be replaced in her, but on the 17th of March he asked Franklin to be replaced in command of the Alliance. To this request Franklin replied that he considered him so imprudent, so litigious and quarrelsome a man, that if he had twenty ships-of-war in his disposition, he would not give him command of one of them. Franklin, on the 18th of March, states that he knew of nothing to prevent Jones from proceeding immediately to such part of North America as he could reach in safety.
The prize-money question was in abeyance; Franklin in his letters to Jones referred to it, and stated that the ships-of-war he had taken were to be valued, the King intending to purchase them, but that the muster-roll of the Bon Homme Richard was wanting in order to regulate the proportions to each ship. At the same time Franklin authorized Jones to draw on him for 24,000 livres in advance to the people of the Bon Homme Richard, and stated that M. LeRay de Chaumont had authorized his correspondent in L'Orient to advance 100,000 livres for the Americans of the Alliance and Bon Homme Richard, on account.
This prize-money question, as shown by the voluminous correspondence of the time, was a troublesome matter, the cause of dissension, controversy, and insubordination amounting to mutiny in the ship's company.
The subject is fully treated in the various biographies of Jones, and it is unnecessary to do more than allude to it here. It was, however, the cause which induced Jones to go frequently to Paris, ostensibly to hasten proceedings for the adjustment of the claims for prize money. In his absence on shore at L'Orient Captain Landais, acting under the advice of Arthur Lee and Commodore Gillon, of the South Carolina navy, took possession of the Alliance on the 12th of June. The log entry on that day is the last of the Alliance's journal. It forms a terse but accurate account of this extraordinary transaction. A more detailed account, by a participant in this event, will be found in the Appendix.[14]
It appears from the correspondence of Mr. Franklin that Landais had been furnished with money to enable him to return to America for trial upon the charges