Jacob Jones was the son of an independent and respectable farmer,
near the village of Smyrna, in the county of Kent, in the state of
Delaware, and was born in the year 1770. His mother, who was an
amiable and interesting woman, died when Jacob was two years old.
Some time afterwards his father married a second time to a Miss Holt,
granddaughter of the Hon. Ryves Holt, formerly Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of Delaware, or, as it was then denominated, “the lower
counties on Delaware.” Shortly after this second marriage his father
died, when this, his only child, was scarcely four years of age. It was
the happiness of our hero to be left under the care of a step-mother
who possessed all the kind feelings of a natural parent. The affection
which this excellent woman had borne towards the father, was, on his
death, transferred to his child. By her he was nurtured from infancy to
manhood, with a truly maternal care and tenderness. At an early age he
was placed at school, where his proficiency exceeded her most anxious
expectations. He was soon transferred to a grammar school at Lewes,
in Sussex county, where he read the classics with much assiduity, and
became well acquainted with the Latin and Greek languages. At the age
of eighteen he left school and commenced the study of medicine at
Dover, in the county of Kent, where he remained four years, after which
he attended the usual courses of medical lectures of the University
of Pennsylvania, and returned to Dover to commence the practice of
his profession. He did not, however, continue long in the practice.
Discouraged by the scanty employment that is commonly the lot of the
young physician, and impatient of an inactive life, he determined to
abandon it for a more lucrative occupation. Governor Clayton, who was
a personal friend of his father, conferred upon him the clerkship of
the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware, for the county of Kent.
In this situation he remained some time, but the sedentary nature
of its duties caused it to become irksome to him, and possessing a
spirit of enterprise, and not content with the tranquil ease of common
life, he resolved upon a measure as indicative of the force of his
character, as it was decisive of his future fortunes. This was to
enter the navy of the United States. Jones, it appears, had weighed
all the inconveniences and sacrifices incident to his determination,
and had made up his mind to encounter and surmount them all. The
only consolation to his friends was the reflection, that if courage,
activity and hardihood could ensure naval success, Jacob Jones was
peculiarly fitted for the life he had adopted; and it is probable they
felt some degree of admiration for that decision of character which, in
the pursuit of what he conceived a laudable object, could enable him to
make such large sacrifices of personal pride and convenience. Through
the exertions of his friends, he obtained a midshipman’s warrant and
joined the frigate United States, Commodore Barry, from whom he derived
great instruction in the theory and practice of his profession, blended
with the utmost kindness and civility. He was a midshipman on board of
the United States, when she bore to France Chief Justice Ellsworth and
General Davie, as envoys extraordinary to the French Republic. He was
next transferred to the Ganges, where he remained till the breaking
out of the war with Tripoli, when he was stationed on board of the
frigate Philadelphia, under the command of the gallant Bainbridge. The
disaster which befel that ship and her crew before Tripoli, forms a
solemn page in our naval history; atoned for, however, by the brilliant
achievements to which it gave rise.
Twenty months of severe captivity among a barbarous people, and
in a noxious climate, neither broke the spirit nor impaired the
constitution of our hero. Blest by nature with vigorous health and an
invincible resolution, when relieved from bondage by the bravery of
his countrymen, he returned home full of life and ardor. He was soon
after promoted to a lieutenancy, which grade he merited before his
confinement in Tripoli, but older warrant officers had stood in the way
of his preferment.
After being employed for some length of time on the Orleans station,
he was appointed to the command of the brig Argus, stationed for the
protection of our commerce on the southern maritime frontier. In this
situation he acted with vigilance and fidelity, and conformed to his
instructions, to the public interest and the entire satisfaction of his
government. In 1811, Captain Jones was transferred to the command of
the sloop of war Wasp, mounting eighteen twenty-four pound carronades,
and was dispatched, in the spring of 1812, with communications to the
courts of St. Cloud and St. James. During this voyage, war was declared
by the United States against Great Britain.
On his return, Captain Jones refitted his ship with all possible
dispatch, and repaired to sea on a cruise, in which he met with no
other luck than the capture of an inconsiderable prize. He again put to
sea on the 13th of October, and on the 18th of the same month, after
a long and heavy gale, he fell in with a number of strongly armed
merchantmen, under convoy of his Britannic majesty’s sloop of war The
Frolic, Captain Whinyates.
As this engagement has been one of the most decidedly honorable to
the American flag, from the superior force of the enemy, we vouch for
the following account of it to be scrupulously correct:--“There was a
heavy swell in the sea, and the weather was boisterous. The top-gallant
yards of the Wasp were taken down, her top-sails were close reefed,
and she was prepared for action. About eleven o’clock A. M., the
Frolic showed Spanish colors, and the Wasp immediately displayed the
American ensign and pendant. At thirty-two minutes past eleven, the
Wasp came down to windward on her larboard side, within about sixty
yards and hailed. The enemy hauled down the Spanish colors, hoisted
the British ensign, and opened a fire of cannon and musketry. This the
Wasp instantly returned, and coming nearer to the enemy, the action
became close and without intermission. In four or five minutes the
main-topmast of the Wasp was shot away, and falling down with the
main-top sail yard across the larboard fore and fore-topsail braces,
rendered her head-yards unmanageable during the rest of the action. In
two or three minutes more her gaft and mizzen top-gallant sail were
shot away. Still she continued a close and constant fire. The sea was
so rough that the muzzles of the Wasp’s guns were frequently in the
water. The Americans, therefore, fired as the ship’s side was going
down, so that their shot went either on the enemy’s deck or below it,
while the English fired as the vessel rose, and thus her balls chiefly
touched the rigging, or were thrown away. The Wasp now shot ahead of
the Frolic, raked her, and then resumed her position on her larboard
bow. Her fire was now obviously attended with such success, and that of
the Frolic so slackened that Captain Jones did not wish to board her,
lest the roughness of the sea might endanger both vessels; but in the
course of a few minutes more every brace of the Wasp was shot away,
and her rigging so much torn to pieces that he was afraid that his
masts, being unsupported, would go by the board and the Frolic be able
to escape. He thought, therefore, the best chance of securing her was
to board and decide the contest at once. With this view he wore ship,
and running down upon the enemy, the vessels struck each other, the
Wasp’s side rubbing along the Frolic’s bow so that her jib-boom came
in between the main and mizzen rigging of the Wasp, directly over the
heads of Captain Jones and the first lieutenant, Mr. Biddle, who were
at that moment standing together near the capstan. The Frolic lay so
fair for raking, that they decided not to board until they had given
a closing broadside. Whilst they were loading for this, so near were
the two vessels, that the rammers of the Wasp were pushed against the
Frolic’s sides, and two of her guns went through the bow-ports of the
Frolic, and swept the whole length of her deck. At this moment, Jack
Lang,[A] a seaman of the Wasp, a gallant fellow, who had been once
impressed by a British man-of-war, jumped on a gun with his cutlass,
and was springing on board the Frolic. Captain Jones, wishing to fire
again before boarding, called him down, but his impetuosity could not
be restrained, and he was already on the bowsprit of the Frolic; when,
seeing the ardor and enthusiasm of the Wasp’s crew, Lieutenant Biddle
mounted on the hammock-cloth to board.
[A] John Lang was a native of New Brunswick, in New Jersey.
This seaman is a proof that conspicuous bravery is confined to
no rank in the naval service.
“At this signal, the crew followed, but Lieutenant Biddle’s feet
got entangled in the rigging of the enemy’s bowsprit, and Midshipman
Baker, in his ardor to get on board, laying hold of his coat, he fell
back on the Wasp’s deck. He sprang up, and as the next swell of the
sea brought the Frolic nearer, he got on her bowsprit where Lang and
another seaman were already. He passed them on the forecastle, and was
surprised at not seeing a single man alive on the Frolic’s deck, except
the seaman at the wheel and three officers. The deck was slippery with
blood and strewed with the bodies of the dead. As he went forward,
the Captain of the Frolic, with two other officers, who were standing
on the quarter-deck, threw down their swords, with an inclination of
their bodies, denoting that they had surrendered. At this moment the
colors were still flying; Lieutenant Biddle, therefore, jumped into the
rigging himself and hauled down the British ensign, and possession was
taken of the Frolic in forty-three minutes after the first fire. She
was in a shocking condition; the birth-deck, particularly, was crowded
with dead, wounded and dying; there being but a small portion of the
Frolic’s crew who had escaped.
“Captain Jones instantly sent on board his surgeon’s mate, and all the
blankets of the Frolic were brought from her slop room for the comfort
of the wounded. To increase this confusion, both the Frolic’s masts
soon fell, covering the dead and everything on deck, and she lay a
complete wreck.
“It now appeared that the Frolic mounted sixteen thirty-two pound
carronades, four twelve pounders on the maindeck, and two twelve pound
carronades.
“She was, therefore, superior to the Wasp, by exactly four twelve
pounders. The number of men on board, as stated by the officers of the
Frolic, was one hundred and ten; the number of seamen on board the
Wasp, was one hundred and two; but it could not be ascertained, whether
in this one hundred and ten, were included the marines and officers,
for the Wasp had besides her one hundred and two men, officers and
marines, making the whole crew about one hundred and thirty-five. What
is, however, decisive, as to their comparative force is, that the
officers of the Frolic acknowledged that they had as many men as they
knew what to do with, and in fact the Wasp could have spared fifteen
men. There was, therefore, on the most favorable view, at least an
equality of men, and an inequality of guns. The disparity of loss was
much greater. The exact number of killed and wounded on board the
Frolic, could not be precisely determined, but from the observation
of our officers, and the declarations of those of the Frolic, the
number could not have been less than about thirty killed, including two
officers, and of the wounded between forty and fifty, the captain and
second lieutenant being of the number. The Wasp had five men killed
and five slightly wounded. All hands were now employed in clearing the
deck, burying the dead, and taking care of the wounded, when Captain
Jones sent orders to Lieutenant Biddle to proceed to Charleston, or
any southern port of the United States; and, as there was a suspicious
sail to windward, the Wasp would continue her cruise. The ships then
parted. The suspicious sail was now coming down very fast. At first it
was supposed that she was one of the convoy, who had fled during the
engagement, and who now came for the purpose of attacking the prize.
The guns of the Frolic were therefore loaded, and the ship cleared for
action; but the enemy, as she advanced, proved to be a seventy-four,
the Poictiers, Captain Beresford. She fired a shot over the Frolic,
passed her, overtook the Wasp, the disabled state of whose rigging
prevented her from escaping; and then returned to the Frolic, who
could, of course, make no resistance. The Wasp and Frolic were both
carried into Bermuda.”
On the return of Captain Jones to the United States, he was everywhere
received with the utmost demonstrations of gratitude and admiration.
Brilliant fêtes were given him in the cities through which he passed.
The legislature of his native state appointed a committee to wait
on him with their thanks, and to express the “pride and pleasure”
they felt in recognizing him as a native of their state; in the same
resolution they voted him an elegant piece of plate, embellished with
appropriate designs.
The Congress of the United States appropriated twenty-five thousand
dollars, as a compensation to Captain Jones and his crew for the loss
they sustained by the recapture of the Frolic. They also ordered a gold
medal (_see_ Plate X.) to be presented to the Captain, and a silver
one to each of his officers. Various other marks of honor have been
paid by the legislatures and citizens of different states, but the
most substantial testimony of approbation which he received, was the
appointment to the command of the frigate Macedonian, captured from the
British.
Since the peace with England, Captain Jones has been alternately
employed on foreign or home stations; he has now retired to his farm in
his native state, to enjoy the evening of his days in tranquillity and
peace. May they be as serene and happy as those of his early years were
patriotic and brave!