was trickling from her scuppers because of the dead and wounded on her deck. Among the dead at the last was her commander, Captain Burdon, who was killed by a musket-ball through his brain. Among the wounded was

the first lieutenant, and he was mortally hurt. The flag first spread on the Drake was shot away, but they raised another. This, too, was shot away, and falling overboard, it dragged in the water. A little later, and just as the sun was going down behind the Irish hills, a cry for quarter was raised on the Drake, and the battle came to an end.

The Ranger in this fight had eighteen guns. The Drake carried twenty. The Ranger's crew numbered 123. The Drake had 151 men on her books, and, in addition to these, had taken on a number of volunteers from the shore, who had been anxious to help whip the Yankees. These raised the number of her crew to 160 by the lowest account and 190 by the highest. The Ranger lost two killed, including Lieutenant Wallingsford, and six wounded. The Drake lost forty-two killed and wounded. It is fair to say that the British account of the battle in Allen's history says the loss was but twenty-four. But Allen probably counted only those killed and wounded among the ship's regular crew and ignored the volunteers, while the Americans

counted the corpses and men under the surgeon's care.

The odds had been against him, but the honors remained with John Paul Jones.

After the battle a merchant brig happened along, and a prize crew was put on board of her. Then the fishermen who had been captured when the Ranger first arrived on the coast were not only released, but enough gold was given them to pay for all their losses, together with a sail from the Drake's outfit as a notice to the shore people that the Yankee had won. They went away cheering the generosity of John Paul Jones.

And while speaking of the generosity of this American naval captain, it should be told that, in fitting out the Ranger on the American side, he advanced to the American government several thousand dollars (continental currency) of his own money, and that he bore all the expense of fitting and refitting her on the French coasts before her cruise. In all, he spent some 1,500 sterling of his own money, and because of the poverty of the American government he had to wait a long time to get it back again.

It was very well written of this cruise that "the news of the brilliant achievements of Paul Jones electrified France and appalled England."

Just how much England was appalled by the American demonstrations on her coast may be inferred from a statement of the number of men "raised " (i.e., gathered in by press gangs) for her navy. In 1774 she "raised" 345 men. In 1777 she "raised" 37,458, and in 1778 the number was 41,847.

CHAPTER VII

THE FIRST SUBMARINE WARSHIP

IT WAS SMALL AND INEFFECTIVE, BUT IT CONTAINED THE GERM OF A MIGHTY POWER THAT IS AS YET UNDEVELOPED WHEN NICHOLAS BIDDLE DIED HE WAS A MAN OF THE SPIRIT OF AN IDEAL AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICER-FOUGHT HIS SHIP AGAINST OVERWHELMING ODDS TILL BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER-THE LOSS OF THE HANCOCK-AN AMERICAN CAPTAIN DISMISSED FOR A GOOD REASON -CAPTAIN RATHBURNE AT NEW PROVIDENCE-LOSS OF THE VIRGINIA-CAPTAIN BARRY'S NOTABLE EXPLOIT-WITH TWENTYSEVEN MEN TO HELP HIM, HE CAPTURED A SCHOONER OF TEN GUNS BY BOARDING FROM SMALL BOATS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, ALTHOUGH THE SCHOONER WAS MANNED BY 116 SAILORS AND SOLDIERS.

ONE of the most striking features of the American naval service during the war of the Revolution was its irregularity. There was a navy continuously in existence, but the services rendered by individual men and ships were extremely irregular. It has already been told how John Paul Jones, after his successful cruise to the Cape Breton waters, had to remain idle for many months. After his famous cruise in the Ranger he was again idle until the king of France furnished him a ship. Captain Gustavus Connyngham, who gained such

a reputation in the Surprise and the Revenge on the British coasts, was actually obliged to seek service in a privateer, after his return to port, for lack of other employment. Jones had an excellent offer to do this also, but he refused on the ground that he was not fighting for money, but for the "Honour of the American flag." If men like Jones and Connyngham were left to shift for themselves, and without pay at that, it follows that others were treated in like manner.

The cause of this condition of affairs is readily found by the student in the method of caring for the navy adopted by the Congress. It was a method in keeping with a deal of the work done then. First, there was a Marine Committee of the Congress to buy ships and send them on a single "cruise eastward.' Later, there was a Marine Board, part congressmen and part plain citizens, "but no two of whom shall be from the same State." There was a "Continental Naval Board." There was a "Board of Admiralty." There were naval agents. The powers and duties of all these were changed so often that no one can follow them in less space than a large volume, and a more wearying volume than that would be is difficult to imagine. There was, in short, an utter lack of system in naval affairs throughout the whole Revolution. Worse