with
six or seven feet of water in the hold.

In the meantime Captain Piercy had been closely engaged with the
_Pallas_ and _Vengeance_, but perceiving another frigate bearing down on
him, he also was compelled to surrender. The next day the _Bon Homme
Richard_ sank, and Paul Jones and the French frigate carried their
prizes into the Texel. The two English captains had done their duty,
and saved their convoy, which all escaped. Of the numerous crew on
board the _Richard_ no less a number than 317 were killed or wounded,
while the _Serapis_ lost 49 killed and 68 wounded, many others suffering
from burns--while, from the ill-treatment the prisoners received, many
of the wounded died.

On the return of Captains Pearson and Piercy, the former was knighted
and the latter promoted, and both received testimonials from the London
Assurance Company, as an acknowledgment of their skill and bravery,
which had preserved the valuable fleet from capture. Had ships of
sufficient force been sent out to convoy the fleet, the enemy would, in
all probability, have been captured.

A considerable change was now about to be introduced in the character of
the guns used on board ships of war. On the banks of the River Carron
in Scotland, the ironworks of the Carron Company for some time existed.
In these works, in the year 1779, a piece of ordnance had been cast, the
invention of John Robert Melville, shorter than a 4-pounder, and lighter
than a 12-pounder. It carried a shot of 68 pounds, and from its
destructive effects, when fired against a mass of timber, its inventor
called it the "Smasher." From the works in which it was cast, it soon
obtained the name of "carronade." Several smaller pieces were shortly
afterwards cast, to carry shot of 24, 18, and 12 pounds. These guns
were eagerly purchased by the owners of privateers fitted out to cruise
against the Americans, and the Lords of the Admiralty approving of them,
directed some 18 and 12-pounder carronades to be placed on board a few
frigates and smaller vessels of the Royal Navy. It was some time,
however, before naval officers approved of them; some complained that
the carronade was too short to allow its fire to pass clear of the
ship's side, and that its range was not of sufficient extent to be of
use; that one pair of their quarter-deck carronades being in the way of
the rigging, endangered the lanyards and shrouds. The Board of Ordnance
also asserted that the old gun, f