This hero of the American Revolution was born on the 6th of July, 1747,
on the estate of Arbigland, in the parish of Kirkbean, Scotland. His
father was a gardener, whose name was Paul, but the son assumed that of
Jones, after his settlement in America. The birthplace of young Paul was
a bold promontory, jutting into the sea, and was well calculated to
excite a love of the briny element, for which he soon displayed a
decided predilection.
At the age of twelve, he was bound apprentice to a merchant of
Whitehaven, in the American trade. He soon after went to sea, in a
vessel bound for Virginia. While in port, he spent his time on shore
with his brother William, who was a respectable planter in the colony.
He devoted himself to the study of navigation and other subjects
connected with the profession he had chosen. These he pursued with great
steadiness, displaying those habits of industrious application, which
raised him to the distinguished place he afterwards attained. His good
conduct secured him the respect of his employers, and he rose rapidly in
his profession.
At the age of nineteen, he had become the chief mate of the Two Friends,
a slave ship, belonging to Jamaica. At this period, the traffic in
slaves was exceedingly profitable, and was followed without scruple or
reproach by the most respectable merchants of Bristol and Liverpool. But
young Paul had pursued this business for only a short time, when he
became so shocked and sickened at the misery which it inflicted upon the
negroes, that he left it forever in disgust.
In 1768, he sailed from Jamaica for Scotland, as a passenger. Both the
master and mate dying of fever on the voyage, he assumed the command,
and arrived safely at port. Gratified by his conduct, the owners placed
him on board the brig John, as master and supercargo, and despatched him
to the West Indies. He made a second voyage in the same vessel, during
which he inflicted punishment on the carpenter, named Maxwell, for
mutinous conduct. As Maxwell died of fever, soon after, Paul was
charged, by persons who envied his rising reputation, with having
caused his death by excessive punishment. This has been since abundantly
disproved. Paul continued some time in the West India trade, but in
1773, he went to Virginia to arrange the affairs of his brother William,
who had died without children, leaving no will. His brother was reported
to have left a large estate; but as Paul was, soon after, in a state of
penury, it is probable that this was a mistake. He now devoted himself
to agriculture, but his planting operations do not seem to have
prospered.
The American Revolution soon broke out, and considering himself a
settled resident of the country, he determined to take her part in the
bloody struggle which was about to follow. Impelled by a noble
enthusiasm for the cause of liberty, a spirit of adventure, and a
chivalrous thirst for glory, he offered his services to Congress, which
were accepted, and he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the navy, in
December, 1775. At this time, he bore the name of Jones, which he had
perhaps assumed to conceal his conduct from his family, who might be
pained to know that one of their name had taken part against England.
Jones was appointed first lieutenant of the Alfred, a flag-ship, and
when the commander-in-chief came on board, he hoisted the American flag,
with his own hands, being the first time it was ever displayed. At that
time, the flag is said to have borne a device, representing a pine tree,
with a rattlesnake coiled at the root, as if about to strike. The
standard of the stars and stripes was not adopted till nearly two years
later.
At this period, our hero was in the twenty-ninth year of his age. His
figure was light, graceful and active, yet his health was good, his
constitution vigorous, and he was capable of great endurance. There was
in his countenance an expression of mingled sternness and melancholy,
and his bearing was decidedly officer-like.
The first American squadron fitted out during the revolution, sailed in
1776. Jones was on board the Alfred in this expedition, but subsequently
received the command of the sloop of war Providence. In this he cruised
along the coast, meeting with a variety of adventures, in which he
displayed admirable skill and coolness of conduct. On one occasion, he
was chased by the British frigate Milford, off the Isle of Sable.
Finding his vessel the faster of the two, he hovered near the frigate,
yet beyond the reach of her shot. She, however, continued to pour forth
her broadsides. This excited the contempt of Jones, and, with a humor
peculiar to himself, he ordered the blustering battery of the frigate to
be answered by a single shot from the musket of a marine.
Jones pursued his career with great industry and success. He seemed to
glide over the seas like a hawk, passing rapidly from point to point,
and pouncing upon such prey as he could master. Some of his feats
resemble the prodigies of the days of chivalry. He seemed to court
adventure and to sport with danger, yet a cool discretion presided over
his conduct. In the year 1776, he captured no less than sixteen prizes
in the space of six weeks.
Notwithstanding these signal services, Jones was superseded in the
command of the Alfred, probably through the mean jealousy of Commodore
Hopkins. There is, perhaps, no higher proof of elevation of character
than is furnished by a calm and dignified endurance of injustice and
ingratitude. This evidence was afforded by Jones, who, while he
remonstrated against the injury that was done him, steadily adhered to
the cause he had espoused, and exerted his abilities to the utmost to
bear it forward with success. His letters of this period are full of
enlightened views on the subject of naval affairs, and of hearty zeal in
the cause of liberty. They show that his mind was far above mere
personal considerations, and that even with statesman-like sagacity he
looked forward to the establishment of a naval power in the United
States, suited to the exigencies of the country.
The time for a recognition of his services speedily arrived. In 1777, he
received orders from Congress to proceed in the French merchant ship
Amphitrite, with officers and seamen, to take command of a heavy ship,
to be provided for him by the American commissioners, Franklin, Dean and
Lee, on his arrival in Europe. These he met at Paris, and arrangements
were made by which he received the command of the Ranger, in which he
sailed from Brest, on the 10th of April, 1778.
An insight into the views of Jones, at this period, as well as his
general character, may be gathered from the following extract from one
of his letters:--"I have in contemplation several enterprises of some
importance. When an enemy thinks a design against him improbable, he can
always be surprised and attacked with advantage. It is true, I must run
great risk, but no gallant action was ever performed without danger.
Therefore, though I cannot ensure success, I will endeavor to deserve
it."
In fulfilment of these views, he set sail, and in four days after,
captured and burnt a brigantine loaded with flaxseed, near Cape Clear.
On the 17th, he took a ship bound for Dublin, which he manned and
ordered to Brest. On the 19th, he took and sunk a schooner; on the 20th,
a sloop; and soon after, made a daring, but unsuccessful attempt to
capture, by surprise, the English sloop of war Drake, of twenty guns,
lying in the loch of Belfast.
On the 22d, he determined to attack Whitehaven, with which he was of
course well acquainted. The number of ships lying here amounted to two
hundred and fifty, and were protected by two batteries, mounting thirty
pieces of artillery. The attack was made in the dead of night, and while
the unsuspecting inhabitants lay wrapped in repose. Roused to this
daring enterprise by the fires, massacres, and ravages inflicted by the
British forces upon the unprotected inhabitants of the American coast,
and determined to check them by one signal and fearful act of
retaliation, Jones pursued his measures with a stern and daring hand.
He proceeded, in the first place, to secure the forts, which were
scaled, the soldiers made prisoners, and the guns spiked. He now
despatched the greater portion of his men to set fire to the shipping,
while he proceeded with a single follower to another fort, the guns of
which he spiked. On returning to the ships, he found, to his
mortification, that his orders had not been obeyed, from a reluctance,
on the part of the seamen, to perform the task assigned them. One ship
only was destroyed, which was set on fire by Jones himself.
Greatly disappointed at the partial failure of his scheme, Jones
proceeded to the Scottish shore, for the purpose of carrying off the
person of the Earl of Selkirk, whose gardener his father had been. The
earl, however, was absent, and this part of the design failed. His men,
however, proceeded to the earl's residence, and carried off his plate.
Lady Selkirk was present, but she was treated with respect. Jones took
no part in this enterprise, and only consented to it upon the urgent
demands of his crew.
By this time, the people on both sides of the Irish channel were
thoroughly roused by the daring proceedings of the Ranger. On the
morning of the 24th April, Jones was hovering near Belfast, and the
Drake worked out of the bay, to meet him. She had on board a large
number of volunteers, making her crew amount to one hundred and sixty
men. Alarm smokes were now seen rising on both sides of the channel, and
several vessels loaded with people, curious to witness the coming
engagement, were upon the water. As evening was approaching, however,
they prudently put back.
Soon after, the two vessels met, and Jones poured in his first
broadside. This was returned with energy, and a fearful conflict ensued.
Running broadside and broadside, the most deadly fire was kept up. At
last, after the struggle had been sustained at close quarters for more
than an hour, the captain of the Drake was shot through the head, and
his crew called for quarter. The loss of the Drake, in killed and
wounded, was forty-two, while the Ranger had one seaman killed and seven
wounded.
This victory was the more remarkable as the Drake carried twenty guns,
and the Ranger but eighteen, and moreover belonged to a regular navy;
while the Ranger was fitted up with little experience and under few
advantages. Jones now set sail with his prize, and both vessels arrived
safely at Brest, on the 8th May. Immediately after, Jones despatched a
very romantic epistle to Lady Selkirk, apologizing for the violence that
had been committed at the estate of the earl, and explaining the motives
of his conduct. He promised to return the plate, which he afterwards
accomplished with infinite difficulty.
It eventually reached England, though some years after, in the same
condition in which it had been taken; even the tea leaves in the tea-pot
remaining as they were found. An acknowledgment of its receipt, by the
earl, was sent to Jones, with a recognition of the courteous behavior of
the Ranger's crew when they landed on Saint Mary's Isle.
Being now at Brest with two hundred prisoners of war, Jones became
involved in a variety of troubles, for want of means to support them,
pay his crew and refit his ship. After many delays and vexations, he
sailed from the road of Saint Croix, August 14, 1779, with a squadron of
seven sail, designing to annoy the coasts of England and Scotland. The
principal occurrence of this cruise was the capture of the British ship
of war Serapis, after a bloody and desperate engagement, off Flamborough
Head, September 23, 1779. The Serapis was a vessel much superior in
force to Jones' vessel, the Bon Homme Richard, which sunk not long after
the termination of the engagement.
The sensation produced by this battle was unexampled, and raised the
fame of Jones to its height. In a letter to him, Franklin says, "For
some days after the arrival of your express, scarce anything was talked
of at Paris and Versailles but your cool conduct and persevering bravery
during that terrible conflict. You may believe that the impression on my
mind was not less than on that of the others. But I do not choose to
say, in a letter to yourself, all I think on such an occasion."
His reception at Paris, whither he went on the invitation of Franklin,
was of the most flattering kind. He was everywhere caressed; the king
presented him with a gold sword, and requested permission of Congress to
invest him with the military order of merit--an honor never conferred on
any one before, who had not borne arms under the commission of France.
In 1781, Jones sailed for the United States, and arrived in
Philadelphia, February 18, of that year, after a variety of escapes and
encounters, where he underwent a sort of examination before the board of
admiralty, which resulted greatly to his honor. The board gave it as
their opinion, "that the conduct of Paul Jones merits particular
attention, and some distinguished mark of approbation from Congress."
That body accordingly passed a resolution highly complimentary to his
"zeal, prudence, and intrepidity." General Washington wrote him a letter
of congratulation, and he was afterwards voted a gold medal by Congress.
From Philadelphia, he went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to superintend
the building of a ship of war, and, while there, drew up some admirable
observations on the subject of the American navy. By permission of
Congress, he subsequently went on board the French fleet, where he
remained until the peace, which put a period to his naval career in the
service of the United States. He then went to Paris as agent for prize
money, and while there, joined in a plan to establish a fur-trade
between the north-west coast of America and China, in conjunction with a
kindred spirit, the celebrated John Ledyard.
In Paris he continued to be treated with the greatest distinction. He
afterwards was invited into the Russian service, with the rank of
rear-admiral, where he was disappointed in not receiving the command of
the fleet acting against the Turks in the Black Sea. He condemned the
conduct of the prince of Nassau, the admiral; became restless and
impatient; was intrigued against at court, and calumniated by his
enemies; and had permission from the empress Catherine to retire from
the service with a pension, which, however, was never paid. He returned
to Paris, where he gradually sunk into poverty, neglect and ill health,
and finally died of dropsy, July 18, 1792.
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