The unruly Simpson sailed for America in the Ranger in July, Captain Jones being retained in France “for a particular enterprise.”  And through the kindness of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Carvel remained with him.  Then followed another period of heartrending disappointment.  The fine ship the French government promised him was not forthcoming, though Captain Jones wrote a volume of beautiful letters to every one of importance, from her Royal Highness the Duchess of Chartres to his Most Christian Majesty, Louis, King of France and Navarre.  At length, when he was sitting one day in unusual dejection and railing at the vanity of courts and kings, Mr. Carvel approached him with a book in his hand.

“What have you there, Richard?” the captain demanded.

“Dr. Franklin’s Maxims,” replied my grandfather.  They were great favourites with him.  The captain took the book and began mechanically to turn over the pages.  Suddenly he closed it with a bang, jumped up, and put on his coat and hat.  Mr. Carvel looked on in astonishment.

“Where are you going, sir?” says he.

“To Paris, sir,” says the captain.  “Dr. Franklin has taught me more wisdom in a second than I had in all my life before.  ’If you wish to have any business faithfully and expeditiously performed, go and do it yourself; otherwise, send.’”

As a result of that trip he got the Duras, which he renamed the ’Bon homme Richard’ in honour of Dr. Franklin.  The Duras was an ancient Indiaman with a high poop, which made my grandfather exclaim, when he saw her, at the remarkable fulfilment of old Stanwix’s prophecy.  She was perfectly rotten, and in the constructor’s opinion not worth refitting.  Her lowest deck (too low for the purpose) was pierced aft with three ports on a side, and six worn-out eighteen-pounders mounted there.  Some of them burst in the action, killing their people.  The main battery, on the deck above, was composed of twenty-eight twelve-pounders.  On the uncovered deck eight nine-pounders were mounted.  Captain Jones again showed his desire to serve the cause by taking such a ship, and not waiting for something better.

In the meantime the American frigate ‘Alliance’ had brought Lafayette to France, and was added to the little squadron that was to sail with the ‘Bon homme Richard’.  One of the most fatal mistakes Congress ever made was to put Captain Pierre Landais in command of her, out of compliment to the French allies.  He was a man whose temper and vagaries had failed to get him a command in his own navy.  His insulting conduct and treachery to Captain Jones are strongly attested to in Mr. Carvel’s manuscript:  they were amply proved by the written statements of other officers.