g the book, and dashing it to the floor, Jones sprang to his
feet exclaiming, "I will go to Versailles this very day." Before night
he set out, and soon reached the royal court. His reputation easily
gained him an interview; and his frank, self-reliant way so impressed
the monarch, that in five days the American was tendered the command
of the ship "Daras," mounting forty guns.

Great was the exultation of the American seaman at this happy
termination of his labor. Full of gratitude to the distinguished
philosopher whose advice had proved so effective, he wrote to the
minister of marine, begging permission to change the name of the
vessel to the "Poor Richard," or, translated into French, the "Bon
Homme Richard." Permission was readily granted; and thereafter the
"Bon Homme Richard," with Paul Jones on the quarter-deck, did valiant
work for the cause of the young American Republic.

The "Bon Homme Richard" was lying in the harbor of L'Orient when Jones
visited her to examine his new ship. He found her a fairly well
modelled craft, giving promise of being a good sailer. She had one of
the high pitched poops that were so common in the early part of the
last century, and that gave to the sterns of ships of that period the
appearance of lofty towers. Originally she was a single-decked ship,
mounting her battery on one gun-deck, with the exception of a few
cannon on the quarter-deck and forecastle. The gun-deck mounted
twenty-eight guns, all twelve-pounders. On the quarter-deck and
forecastle were eight long nines. To this armament Jones at once added
six eighteen-pounders, which were mounted in the gun-room below.

To man this vessel, Jones was obliged to recruit a most motley crew.
Few American seamen were then in France, and he considered himself
fortunate to find enough to fill the stations of officers on the
quarter-deck and forward. For his crew proper he was forced to accept
an undisciplined crowd of Portuguese, Norwegians, Germans, Spaniards,
Swedes, Italians, Malays, Scotch, Irish, and even a few Englishmen.
About a hundred and thirty-five marines were put aboard to keep order
among this rabble; and, even with this aid to discipline, it is
wonderful that no disturbance ever broke out in a crew that was made
up of so many discordant elements.

While the "Bon Homme Richard" was being made ready for sea, the
vessels that were to sail with her as consorts were making for the
rendezvous at L'Orient. These vessels wer