THE LIBRARY 
 
 [HE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGE .ES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS
 
 V 
 
 (Breat Commanbers 
 
 EDITED BY JAMES GRANT WILSON 
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES
 
 dsreat oramatttet# 
 
 EDITED BY GENERAL JAMES GRANT WILSON. 
 
 Each, tamo, Cloth, gilt top, $1.50 net; 
 postage, u cents additional. 
 
 Admiral Farragut. By Captain A. T. MAHAN, U. S. N. 
 General Taylor. By General O. O. HOWARD, U. S. A. 
 General Andrew Jackson. By JAMES PARTON. 
 
 General Greene. By General FRANCIS V. GREENE. 
 General J. E. Johnston. 
 
 By ROBERT M. HUGHES, of Virginia. 
 General Thomas. By HENRY COPPEE, LL. D. 
 
 General Scott. By General MARCUS J. WRIGHT. 
 
 General Washington. 
 
 By General' BRADLEY T. JOHNSON. 
 General Lee. By General FITZHUGH LEE. 
 
 General Hancock. By General FRANCIS A. WALKER. 
 General Sheridan. By General HENRY E. DAVIES. 
 General Grant. By General JAMES GRANT W : ILSON. 
 General Sherman. By General MANNING F. FORCE. 
 Commodore Paul Jones. 
 
 By CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY. 
 
 General Meade. By ISAAC R. PENNYPACKER. 
 
 General McClellan. By General PETER S. MICHIE. 
 General Forrest. By Captain J. HARVEY MATHES. 
 Admiral Porter. By JAMES RUSSELL SOLEY. 
 
 D. APPLETON' AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
 
 GREAT COMMANDERS 
 
 * * * * 
 
 COMMODORE 
 PAUL JONES 
 
 BY 
 
 CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 REUBEN JAMES, A HERO OF THE FORECASTLE; 
 THE GRIP OF HONOR ; STEPHEN DECATUR ; ETC. 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT AND MAPS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 1906
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1900, 
 BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 
 
 All rights reserved.
 
 THIS STORY 
 
 OF THE LIFE OF ONE OF THE 
 GREAT FOUNDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE CLIFFORD THOMAS, 
 
 A NOBLE EXEMPLAR 
 OF ITS CITIZENSHIP. 
 
 963196
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN preparing this work I began, I admit, with 
 an ardent admiration for John Paul Jones, born of 
 long study of his career. I have endeavored, how- 
 ever, so far as possible, to lay aside my precon- 
 ceived opinions and predisposition in his favor, and 
 I have conscientiously gone over the immense mass 
 of material bearing upon him, de novo, in an attempt 
 to be absolutely and strictly impartial. Perhaps I 
 have not altogether succeeded, but if it be found 
 that I have erred in Jones' favor, I shall be glad 
 that I have followed the impulses of affection rather 
 than those of depreciation. I have not, I trust, been 
 blind to the faults in the character of the great 
 sailor, nor to the mistakes he committed, nor to the 
 wrongdoings in his career to which I have called 
 attention ; but, in spite of these things, which I 
 have most reluctantly recorded, I am happy that re- 
 newed investigation, careful study, and much 
 thought have only endeared him the more to me. 
 I lay down the pen with a higher respect, with a 
 more affectionate regard, with a greater admiration 
 for him than ever. 
 
 In Miss Seawell's fine phrase, " It may be said
 
 viii COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 of him as of the great Conde : ' This man was born 
 a captain.' " His place among the great sea kings 
 as a strategist, a tactician, and a fighter is now un- 
 questioned by the most calumnious of his defamers ; 
 but the wound he inflicted upon British pride still 
 rankles after the lapse of more than a century, and 
 his professional status and personal character are 
 still bitterly aspersed. So doth prejudice blind the 
 eyes of truth. I have devoted some space to the 
 old charge that he was a pirate, which was renewed 
 recently in an article in the London Academy, one 
 of the leading journals of England, and I trust that 
 the reader will find that I have finally disposed of 
 that absurd statement, and the other slanders con- 
 cerning him, in these pages. And I have tried to 
 be fair to the enemy as well. 
 
 Wherever it has been possible, without clogging 
 the narrative or letting it assume the form of a mere 
 collection of letters, Paul the sailor, like Paul the 
 Apostle, hath been permitted to speak for himself. 
 Contrary to some of his biographers, I have made it 
 a rule to accept Jones' o\vn statements unless they 
 were controverted by adequate evidence. It is 
 proper to call attention to the fact that' the intent of 
 the series, of which this is one, which deals prima- 
 rily with the subjects of the different volumes as 
 great commanders, naturally emphasizes their pub- 
 lic exploits rather than their private life. This will 
 account for a lack of amplification in certain direc- 
 tions, and for the omission of details of certain 
 periods of his life which, were "the circumstances 
 other than they are, would probably be treated of 
 at greater length. However, it is believed that
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 enough appears in 'the pages to complete the picture 
 and exhibit the man. 
 
 There is a great amount of matter available for 
 the study of his life, in the shape of lives, essays, 
 sketches, and general histories, and contemporary 
 memoirs, and an immense mass of manuscript re- 
 ports and correspondence, and Jones himself left 
 several interesting accounts of his career and serv- 
 ices, which are of great value to his biographers. 
 I have freely used all sources of information to which 
 I could gain access, and they have not been few. 
 It will be only justice, however, if I acknowledge 
 that among the authorities consulted I have found 
 the excellent life by Commodore Alexander Slidell 
 Mackenzie, U. S. N., published in 1841, the most 
 useful. Mackenzie was an officer and seaman of 
 wide experience and fine talents, whose life cov- 
 ered the period of our naval development suc- 
 ceeding the War of 1812, and his comments from 
 a sailor's point of view are instructive and in- 
 valuable. His work is marred by an unfortu- 
 nate bias against Jones, which appears in several in- 
 stances ; in a desire to be accurate and just he has 
 gone to a censurable extreme. Two other books 
 have been most helpful : the life by John Henry 
 Sherburne, sometime Register of the United States 
 Navy, published in 1825, with its valuable collection 
 of reports of participants in different actions, and 
 statements and official documents not otherwise 
 preserved ; and the life compiled from the manu- 
 script furnished by Miss Janette Taylor, a niece of 
 the great commodore, published in 1830. I may 
 also add that I have found Captain Mahan's ad-
 
 X COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 mirable papers upon the subject, in Scribner's 
 Magazine, of great value. Indeed, there are facts, 
 observations, and deductions in these articles which 
 appear nowhere else, so sure is the touch of a genius 
 for historical accuracy and investigation like his. 
 Among other essayists, Miss Molly Elliott Seawell, 
 whose facile pen has done so much to exploit our 
 early naval heroes, has written a notable and inter- 
 esting paper which appeared in the Century Maga- 
 zine; while Professor John Knox Laughton, the 
 English naval expert, in his celebrated but scandal- 
 ous and utterly unjustifiable attack, gives us a 
 modern British estimate of the commodore. I shall 
 pay my respects to his contribution later. No ex- 
 tended life has been published for fifty years. 
 
 My thanks are due to General Horace Porter 
 and the Honorable Charlemagne Tower, LL. D., 
 ambassadors of the United States to France and 
 Russia respectively, for investigations in answers 
 to inquiries, and for suggestions ; to Dr. Talcott 
 Williams, of Philadelphia, for valuable suggestions 
 as to 'sources of possible information ; to the Rev. 
 Dr. William Elliot Griffis, of Ithaca, New York, for 
 much interesting matter connected with the Baron 
 van der Capellen, for unpublished manuscript notes 
 on North Holland, the Helder, and the Texel, and 
 for the rare copy of the old Dutch song, " Hir 
 komt Pauwel Jones aan," which appears in the 
 appendix ; to Lieutenant-General O. V. Stuben- 
 dorff, Chief of the Topographical Section of 
 the Imperial Russian General Staff, and to Major- 
 General E. Sarantchof, of the Russian army, for 
 maps, reports, and other data concerning the cam-
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 paign on the Dnieper-Liman, not accessible in any 
 American books ; to Mr. Charles T. Harbeck, of 
 New York, for generous permission to make use of 
 rare books and pamphlets relating to Paul Jones in 
 his valuable collection of Americana ; to Messrs. W. 
 M. Gumming and Junius Davis, of Wilmington, 
 N. C, and Mrs. A. I. Robertson, of Columbia, S. C, 
 for information concerning the assumption of the 
 name of Jones by John Paul, not hitherto published 
 in book form ; to Mr. E. G. McCollin and the 
 Misses Mabel S. Meredith, Edith Lanigan, and 
 Bertha T. Rivailles for much important work in 
 translation ; and to Miss Isabel Paris for invaluable 
 assistance in transcribing the manuscript. 
 
 Lest any of the above should be involved in pos- 
 sible criticisms which may be made of the book, I 
 beg to close this preface with the assurance that for 
 everything which follows I alone am responsible. 
 
 CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY. 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA., July, 1900.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. ANCESTRY BIRTH EARLY YEARS PROFESSION 
 
 SUCCESS CHANGE OF NAME .... I 
 
 II. COMMISSIONED IN THE NAVY HOISTS THE FIRST 
 
 FLAG EXPEDITION TO NEW PROVIDENCE 
 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GLASGOW . l6 
 
 III. THE CRUISE OF THE PROVIDENCE ... 38 
 IV. THE CRUISE OF THE ALFRED . . . .51 
 V. SUPERSEDED IN RANK PROTESTS VAINLY 
 
 AGAINST THE INJUSTICE ORDERED TO COM- 
 MAND THE RANGER HOISTS FIRST AMERICAN 
 
 FLAG 61 
 
 VI. THE FIRST CRUISE OF THE RANGER SALUTE 
 
 TO THE AMERICAN FLAG 77 
 
 VII. THE SECOND CRUISE OF THE RANGER THE 
 DESCENT ON WHITEHAVEN THE ATTEMPT ON 
 LORD SELKIRK THE CAPTURE OF THE DRAKE 91 
 
 VIII. STANDING AND WAITING 116 
 
 IX. THE CRUISE OF THE SQUADRON . . . .158 
 
 X. THE BATTLE WITH THE SERAPIS . . .175 
 
 XI. AFTER THE BATTLE REMARKS ON THE ACTION 209 
 XII. UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR IN THE TEXEL . 229 
 XIII. THE ESCAPE OF THE ALLIANCE .... 258 
 XIV. HONORS AND REWARDS QUARREL WITH LAN- 
 DAIS RELINQUISHES THE ALLIANCE . . 268 
 
 xiii
 
 xiv COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XV. THE CRUISE OF THE ARIEL .... 291 
 XVI. CAREER IN THE UNITED STATES TO THE CLOSE 
 
 OF THE WAR 304 
 
 XVII. PRIZE AGENT IN FRANCE AND DENMARK LAST 
 VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES A BLOT ON 
 THE ESCUTCHEON FAMOUS PASSAGE OF THE 
 
 BALTIC . . 319 
 
 XVIII. IN THE RUSSIAN SERVICE OTCHAKOFF AND 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN IN THE LlMAN . . -351 
 
 XIX. SLANDERED IN RUSSIA A SLAVONIC REWARD 
 
 FOR FAITHFUL SERVICES 390 
 
 XX. LAST YEARS AND DEATH ... . 407 
 
 XXI. PERSONAL APPEARANCE CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 WAS HE A PIRATE ? FAREWELL . . . 424 
 
 APPENDICES 459 
 
 INDEX . . . . . . . . . 477
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCESTRY BIRTH EARLY YEARS PROFESSION 
 
 SUCCESS CHANGE OF NAME. 
 
 OF the three great captains whose magnificent 
 fighting has added such glorious chapters to the 
 history of our naval campaigns, but one, George 
 Dewey, the last of them all, is purely an American 
 by birth and generations of ancestors. Farragut, 
 the greatest of the three, was but one remove from 
 a Spaniard. John Paul Jones, first of the group 
 in point of time and not inferior to the others in 
 quality and achievement, was a Scotsman. Only the 
 limitation in means necessitated by the narrow cir- 
 cumstances of his adopted country during his life- 
 time prevented his surpassing them all. He remains 
 to this day a unique character among the mighty 
 men who trod the deck and sailed the ocean a 
 strange personality not surpassed by any in the long 
 line of sea fighters from Themistocles to Sampson. 
 In spite of, nay, because of his achievements, he 
 was among the most calumniated of men. What 
 follows is an attempt to tell his story and to do him 
 justice. 
 
 Near the close of the fifth decade of the eight-
 
 2 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 eenth century, George I reigned in England, by 
 the grace of God and because he had succeeded 
 in putting down the rebellion of 1745 ; Frederick 
 the Great was tenaciously clutching the fair prov- 
 ince of Silesia which Maria Theresa, with equal 
 resolution but with faint prospect of success, was 
 endeavoring to retain ; Louis XV (the well be- 
 loved !) was exploiting the privileges and opportu- 
 nities of a king with Madame de Pompadour and the 
 Pare aux Ccrfs; and the long war of the Austrian 
 succession was just drawing to a close, when there 
 was born on July 6, 1747, to a Scots peasant, named 
 John Paul, and to Jean MacDuff, his wife, a son, 
 the fifth child of a large family.* 
 
 The youngster was duly christened John Paul, 
 Junior, after his sire. He is the hero of this history. 
 
 * Among the gross slanders by which envy strove to 
 blacken the fame of the great commodore in after years 
 the foulest, because it attempted to rob a virtuous woman of 
 her crown of honest motherhood and question the legitimacy 
 of Jones' birth was one which ascribed his paternity to the 
 Earl of Selkirk. To the English snob of that day it may 
 probably have seemed impossible that so much greatness 
 could spring from so plain a stock, and in a left-handed 
 descent from Lord Selkirk was sought an explanation of 
 Jones' fame. The calumny was refuted not only by its 
 antecedent incredibility, but by the testimony of persons in 
 position to affirm as to the high personal character of Jean 
 MacDuff Paul and by the loving and tender family relation- 
 ship she ever sustained to her husband and children. The 
 family was well known and highly respected. It may be 
 noted, by the way, that the Earl of Selkirk was not conspic- 
 uous for ability or anything else, and if it had not been for 
 a subsequent exploit of Jones' he would have been forgotten 
 long since.
 
 ANCESTRY. 3 
 
 He first saw the light on the estate of Arbigland, 
 in the parish of Kirkbean, in the county of Kirkcud- 
 bright, a province once called the Royal Stewartry 
 of Kirkcudbright (pronounced " Kircoobree "), be- 
 cause it had been governed formerly by a steward or 
 deputy, appointed by the crown, of which the 
 county had been an appanage. 
 
 The father of the subject of this memoir filled 
 the modest situation of a master gardener, a pre- 
 cursor of the modern and scientific landscape gar- 
 dener, or engineer, in a small scale, in the employ of 
 a Scots bonnet laird named Craik. His remote 
 family peasants, yeomen always had come from 
 the ancient lands of the Thanes of Fife, whence his 
 grandfather had removed to Leith, where he kept 
 a mail garden or wayside inn in short, a tavern. 
 It is to the credit of Master John Paul, Senior 
 evidently a most honest and capable man in that 
 humble station in life into which it had pleased God 
 to call him that he forsook the tavern and clung 
 to the garden. When he had finished his appren- 
 ticeship as gardener he removed to Arbigland, 
 where he married Jean MacDuff, the daughter of a 
 sturdy yeoman farmer of the neighboring parish 
 of New Abbey, whose family had been established 
 in their present location from time immemorial. 
 
 The marriage was blessed with seven children, 
 the two youngest sons dying in infancy. The first 
 was a boy named William ; the next three were girls, 
 named Elizabeth, Janet, and Mary Ann; and the 
 fifth and last, considering the death of the infants, 
 the boy named John, after his father. En passant, 
 there must have been something favorable to the
 
 4 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 development of latent possibilities in gardeners' sons 
 in that corner of Scotland, for in the neighboring 
 county of Ayr, a few years later was born of simi- 
 lar bucolic stock the son of another tiller of the 
 soil, known to fame as Robbie Burns ! 
 
 The cottage in which young Paul made his first 
 appearance was a little stone building in a verdant 
 glade in a thriving wood hard by the north shore 
 of the Sohvay. In front of the cottage whose white- 
 washed walls were in full view of the ships which 
 entered the Firth there was a patch of greensward. 
 The country of that section of bonnie Scotland 
 in which is the parish of Arbigland is rugged 
 and broken. . To the east and to the west, huge, 
 craggy mountains shut in a thickly wooded plateau, 
 diversified by clear, rapid streams abounding in fish. 
 The fastnesses in the hills even then were covered 
 with romantic ruins of decayed strongholds of feu- 
 dal times, reminiscent of the days of the Black 
 Douglasses and their men. The coast line, unusu- 
 ally stern and bold, is broken by many precipitous 
 inlets, narrow and deep. At the foot of the cliffs at 
 low tide broad stretches of sand are exposed to 
 view, and the rapid rise of the tide makes these 
 shelving beaches dangerous places upon which to 
 linger. The water deepens abruptly beyond the 
 beaches, and vessels under favorable circumstances 
 are enabled to approach near the shore. 
 
 Amid such scenes as these the childhood of 
 young Paul was passed. Like every thrifty Scots 
 boy of the period, he had plenty of work to do in 
 assisting his mother and father. The life of a Scots 
 peasant of that time was one of hard and incessant
 
 EARLY YEARS. 
 
 5 
 
 toil ; his recreations were few, his food meager, his 
 opportunities limited, and the luxuries absent. 
 Young John Paul ate his porridge and did his work 
 like the rest. It would probably now be considered 
 a sad and narrow life, which the stern and rigid 
 austerity of the prevailing form of Calvinism did 
 nothing to lighten. That gloomy religion, however, 
 did produce men. 
 
 It was the parish school which shaped and 
 molded the minds of the growing Scots, and it 
 was the Kirk which shaped and directed the schools, 
 and the one was not more thorough than the other. 
 I doubt if anywhere on earth at that day was the 
 standard of education among the common people 
 higher and more universally reached than in Scot- 
 land. During the short school year Paul was sent 
 religiously to the nearest parish school, where he 
 was well grounded in the rudiments of solid learn- 
 ing with the thoroughness which made these little 
 schools famous. No demands of labor were allowed 
 to interfere with the claims of education. On Sun- 
 day he was religiously and regularly marched to 
 the kirk to be duly inducted into the mysteries of 
 the catechism, and thoroughly indoctrinated with 
 the theory of predestination and its rigorous con- 
 comitants. 
 
 Of him, as of other boys, it is veraciously stated 
 that he conceived a great fondness for the sea, and 
 it is related that all his plays were of ships and 
 sailors a thing easily understood when it is re- 
 membered that his most impressionable hours were 
 spent in sight and sound of the great deep, and that 
 the white sails of ships upon the horizon were quite
 
 6 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 as familiar a picture to his youthful vision as the 
 tree-clad hills and valleys of his native land. It is 
 evident that he had no fancy for the garden. A 
 man of action he, from his bib-and-tucker days. His 
 chroniclers have loved to call attention to the fact 
 that even as a lad he manifested the spirit of one 
 born to rule, for in the sports and games it was his 
 will which dominated his little group of comrades 
 and the Scotsman, even when he is a child, is not 
 easily dominated, be it remembered. His was a 
 healthy, vigorous boyhood. 
 
 His desire for the sea must have been stronger 
 than the evanescent feeling which finds a place 
 sooner or later in the life of most boys, for in 1759, 
 with the full consent of his parents, he crossed the 
 Solway to Whitehaven, the principal port of the 
 Firth, where he was regularly bound apprentice to 
 a merchant named Younger, who was engaged in 
 the American trade. He was immediately sent to 
 sea on the ship Friendship, Captain Benson, and at 
 the tender age of twelve years he made his first 
 voyage to the new land toward whose freedom and 
 independence he was afterward destined to contrib- 
 ute so much. The destination of the ship happened 
 to be the Rappahannock River. As it fortunately 
 turned out, his elder brother, William, had some 
 years before migrated to Virginia, where he had 
 married and settled at Fredericksburg, and by his 
 industry and thrift finally amassed a modest fortune. 
 Young Paul at once conceived a great liking for 
 America which never faltered ; long afterward he 
 stated that he had been devoted to it from his youth. 
 
 The ship duties in port not being arduous, the
 
 EARLY YEARS. 7 
 
 young apprentice, through the influence of his 
 brother, was permitted to spend the period of the 
 vessel's stay in America on shore under the roof 
 of his kinsman. There he continued his studies with 
 that zeal for knowledge which was one of his distin- 
 guishing characteristics, and which never left him 
 in after life ; for it is to be noted that he was always 
 a student ; indeed, had he not been so, his subse- 
 quent career would have been impossible. It was 
 largely that habit of application, early acquired, that 
 enabled him to advance himself beyond his original 
 station. He especially applied himself to the 
 science of navigation, the intricacies of which he 
 speedily mastered, so that he became subsequently 
 one of the most expert navigators that sailed 
 the sea. 
 
 His natural inclination for the sea stood him in 
 good stead, and he finally acquired a complete 
 knowledge of the details of his trying profession. 
 Upon the failure of Mr. Younger, who surren- 
 dered the indentures of young Paul to him as 
 the only thing he could do for him in his present 
 circumstances, he was sufficiently capable to receive 
 an appointment as third mate on the slaver King 
 George, of Whitehaven. A few years after, in 1766, 
 being then but nineteen years of age, he was ap- 
 pointed to the most responsible position of chief 
 mate of the slaver Two Friends, a brigantine of 
 Jamaica. The contrast between the old and the new 
 regime is brought vividly before us when we learn 
 that to-day a cadet midshipman the lowest naval 
 rank at present of the same age has still a year of 
 schooling to undergo before he can even undertake
 
 8 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the two years' probationary t cruise at sea required 
 before he can be commissioned in the lowest grade. 
 
 Slave trading was a popular and common voca- 
 tion in that day, not reprehended as it would be at 
 present. Gentlemen of substance and station did 
 not scruple to engage in it, either as providing 
 money and receiving profit, or as actually participat- 
 ing as master or supercargo of ships in the traffic. 
 It is interesting to note that young Paul, as he grew 
 in years and acquired character, became intensely 
 dissatisfied with slaving. The sense of the cruelties, 
 iniquities, and injustice of the trade developed in him 
 with coming manhood, and gradually took such 
 possession of him that, as was stated by his rela- 
 tives and himself, he finally resolved to withdraw 
 from it. 
 
 This determination, scarcely to be expected from 
 one of his birth and circumstances, was greatly to 
 his credit. The business itself was a most stirring 
 and lucrative one, and for a young man to have 
 attained the rank he enjoyed so early in life was 
 evidence that he need have no fear but that the 
 future would bring him further advancement and 
 corresponding pecuniary reward. In this decision 
 he was certainly in advance of his time as well ; but 
 that love of liberty which had been bred in him by 
 the free air of the bold hills of his native land, and 
 which afterward became the master passion of his 
 life, for which he drew his sword, was undoubtedly 
 heightened and intensified by this close personal 
 touch with the horrors of involuntary servitude. 
 
 In the year 1768, therefore, giving up his posi- 
 tion on the Two Friends, he sailed as a passenger
 
 PROFESSION. g 
 
 in the brigantine John, bound for Kirkcudbright. 
 It happened that the captain and mate of the vessel 
 both died of fever during the voyage, and at the 
 request of the crew Paul assumed command and 
 brought the vessel safely to her port. Currie, Beck 
 & Co., the owners of the John, were so pleased with 
 this exploit that they appointed young Paul master 
 and supercargo of the vessel, in which he made two 
 voyages to the West Indies. He was a captain, 
 therefore, and a merchant at the age of twenty-one. 
 The owners of the John dissolved partnership on 
 the completion of his second voyage, and disposed 
 of the ship, giving Paul the following honorable 
 certificate upon his discharge from their employ : 
 
 " These do certify to whom it may concern, that 
 the bearer, Captain John Paul, was two voyages 
 master of a vessel called the John, in our employ in 
 the West India trade, during which time he ap- 
 proved himself every way qualified both as a navi- 
 gator and supercargo ; but as our present firm is 
 dissolved, the vessel was sold, and of course he is 
 out of our employ, all accounts between him and the 
 owners being amicably adjusted. Certified at Kirk- 
 cudbright this ist April, 1771. 
 
 " CURRIE, BECK & Co." 
 
 One incident in his West Indian service is wor- 
 thy of mention, because it afterward crept out in 
 a very ugly manner. On the second voyage of the 
 John the carpenter, a man named Mungo Maxwell, 
 formerly of Kirkcudbright, who had been muti- 
 nous, was severely flogged by the order of Paul. 
 Maxwell was discharged at the island of Tobago.
 
 I0 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 He immediately caused Paul to be summoned be- 
 fore the judge of the vice-admiralty court for as- 
 sault. The judge, after hearing the testimony and 
 statement of Captain Paul, dismissed the complaint 
 as frivolous. Maxwell subsequently entered on a 
 Barcelona packet, and in a voyage of the latter ship 
 from Tobago to Antigua died of a fever. Out of 
 this was built up a calumny to the effect that Max- 
 well had been so badly punished by Paul that he 
 died from his injuries. When Paul was in the Rus- 
 sian service years afterward the slander was en- 
 hanced by the statement that Maxwell was his 
 nephew. There was nothing w-hatever in the 
 charge. 
 
 After his retirement from the command of the 
 John he engaged in local trading with the Isle of 
 Man. It has been charged that he was a smuggler 
 during this period ; but he specifically and vehe- 
 mently denied the allegation, and it is certain that 
 the first entry of goods shipped from England to the 
 Isle of Man, after it was annexed to the crown, 
 stands in his name on the custom-house books of 
 the town of Douglas. Soon after this he com- 
 manded a ship, the Betsy, of London, in the West 
 India trade, in which he engaged in mercantile 
 speculations on his own account at Tobago and 
 Grenada, until the year 1773, when he went to Vir- 
 ginia again to take charge of the affairs of his 
 brother William, "who had died intestate, leaving 
 neither wife nor children. 
 
 Very little is known of his life from this period 
 until his entry into the public service of the United
 
 SUCCESS. ! j 
 
 States. From remarks in his journal and corre- 
 spondence, it is evident, in spite of his brother's 
 property, to which he was heir, and some other 
 property and money which he had amassed by trad- 
 ing, which was invested in the island of Tobago, 
 West Indies, that he continued for some time in 
 very straitened circumstances. He speaks of 
 having lived for nearly two years on the small sum 
 of fifty pounds. It is probable that his poverty was 
 due to his inability to realize upon his brother's 
 estate, and the difficulty of getting a return of his 
 West Indian investments, on account of the unset- 
 tled political conditions, though they were of con- 
 siderable value. During this period, however, he 
 took that step which has been a puzzle to so many 
 of his biographers, and which he never explained in 
 any of his correspondence that remains. He came 
 to America under the name of John Paul ; he reap- 
 peared after this period of obscurity under the name 
 of John Paul Jones. 
 
 It is claimed by the descendants of the Jones 
 family of North Carolina that while in Fredericks- 
 burg the young mariner made the acquaintance of 
 the celebrated Willie (pronounced Wylie) Jones, 
 one of the leading attorneys and politicians of North 
 Carolina. Jones and his brother Allen were people 
 of great prominence and influence in that province. 
 It was Jones' influence, by the way, which in later 
 years postponed the ratification of the proposed 
 Constitution of the United States by North Caro- 
 lina. Willie Jones seems to have attended to the 
 legal side of Paul's claims to his deceased brother's
 
 12 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 estate, and a warm friendship sprang up between 
 the two young men, so dissimilar in birth and breed- 
 ing, which, it is alleged, ended in an invitation to 
 young Paul to visit Jones and his brother on their 
 plantations. 
 
 The lonely, friendless little Scotsman gratefully 
 accepted the invitation the society of gentle people 
 always delighted him ; he ever loved to mingle with 
 great folk throughout his life and passed a long pe- 
 riod at " The Grove," in Northampton County, the 
 residence of Willie, and at " Mount Gallant," in 
 Halifax County, the home of Allen. While there, 
 he was thrown much in the society of the wife of 
 Willie Jones, a lady noted and remembered for her 
 graces of mind and person, and who, by the way, 
 made the famous answer to Tarleton's sneer 
 wholly unfounded, of course at the gallant Colonel 
 William A. Washington for his supposed illiteracy. 
 Morgan and Washington had defeated Tarleton 
 decisively at the Cowpens, and in the course of 
 the action Washington and Tarleton had met in 
 personal encounter. Washington had severely 
 wounded Tarleton in the hand. The Englishman 
 had only escaped capture by prompt flight and the 
 speed of his horse. " Washington," said the sneer- 
 ing partisan to Mrs. Jones, " why, I hear he can't 
 even write his name ! " " No ? " said the lady quietly 
 and interrogatively, letting her eyes fall on a livid 
 scar across Tarletpn's hand, " Well, he can make his 
 mark, at any rate." 
 
 The Jones brothers were men of culture and re- 
 finement. They were Eton boys, and had com- 
 pleted their education by travel and observation
 
 CHANGE OF NAME. 13 
 
 in Europe. That they should have become so at- 
 tached to the young sailor as to have made him 
 their guest for long periods, and cherished the high- 
 est regard for him subsequently, is an evidence of the 
 character and quality of the man. Probably for the 
 first time in his life Paul was introduced to the 
 society of refined and cultivated people. A new 
 horizon opened before him, and he breathed, as it 
 were, another atmosphere. Life for him assumed 
 a different complexion. Always an interesting per- 
 sonality, with his habits of thought, assiduous study, 
 coupled with the responsibilities of command, he 
 needed but a little contact with gentle people and 
 polite society to add to his character those graces of 
 manner which are the final crown of the gentle- 
 man, and which the best of his contemporaries 
 have borne testimony he did not lack. The im- 
 pression made upon him by the privilege of this 
 association was of the deepest, and he gave to his 
 new friends, and to Mrs. Jones especially, a warm- 
 hearted affection and devotion amounting to ven- 
 eration. 
 
 It is not improbable, also, that in the society in 
 which he found himself and it must be remembered 
 that North Carolina was no less fervidly patriotic, 
 no less desirous of independence, than Massachu- 
 setts : it was at Mecklenburg that the first declara- 
 tion took place the intense love of personal lib- 
 erty and independence in his character which had 
 made him abandon the slave trade was further de- 
 veloped, and that during this period he finally de- 
 termined to become a resident of the new land ; 
 a resolution that made him cast his lot with the
 
 14 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 other colonists when the inevitable rupture came 
 about. 
 
 It is stated that in view of this determination on 
 his part to begin life anew in this country, and as a 
 mark of the affection and gratitude he entertained 
 for the family of his benefactors, he assumed the 
 name of Jones. It was a habit in some secluded 
 parts of Scotland and in Wales to take the father's 
 Christian name as a surname also, .and this may 
 have been in his mind at the time. He did not as- 
 sume the name of Jones, however, out of any dis- 
 regard for his family or from any desire to dis- 
 guise himself from them, for, although he last saw 
 them in 1/71, he ever continued in correspondence 
 with them, and found means, whatever his circum- 
 stances, to make them frequent remittances of 
 money during his busy life. To them he left all his 
 property at his death. It is certain, therefore, that 
 for no reason for which he had cause to be ashamed 
 did he affix the name of Jones to his birth name, and 
 it may be stated that whatever name he took he 
 honored. Henceforth in this volume he will be 
 known by the name which he made so famous.* 
 
 One other incident of this period is noteworthy. 
 During his visit to North Carolina he was introduced 
 by the Jones brothers to Joseph Hewes, of Edenton, 
 one of the delegates from North Carolina to the first 
 and second Provincial Congresses, and a signer of 
 the great Declaration of Independence. In Congress 
 Hewes was a prominent member of the Committee 
 on Naval Affairs, upon which devolved the work 
 
 * See Appendix I.
 
 A NAVAL APPOINTMENT. 15 
 
 of beginning and carrying on the navy of the Revo- 
 lution. When the war broke out Paul Jones was 
 still living in Virginia. But when steps were 
 taken to organize a navy for the revolted colonies, 
 attracted by the opportunities presented in that field 
 of service in which he was a master, and glad of the 
 chance for maintaining a cause so congenial to his 
 habit of life and thought, he formally tendered his 
 services to his adopted country. The influence of 
 Willie Jones and Hewes was secured, and on the 
 7th of December, 1775, Jones was appointed a lieu- 
 tenant in the new Continental navy. 
 
 Additional note on the assumption of the name of Jones. 
 
 Mr. Augustus C. Buell, in his exhaustive and valuable 
 study of Paul Jones, published since this book was written, 
 states that the name was assumed by him in testamentary 
 succession to his brother, who had added the name of Jones 
 at the instance of a wealthy planter named William Jones, 
 who had adopted him. Mr. Buell's authority rests on tradi- 
 tion and the statements made by Mr. Louden, a great-grand- 
 nephew of the commodore (since dead), and of the sometime 
 owner of the Jones plantation. On the other hand, in addi- 
 tion to the letters quoted in the Appendix, I have received 
 many others from different sources, tending to confirm the 
 version given by me. Among them is one from a Fredericks- 
 burg antiquarian, who claims that William Paul never bore 
 the name of Jones in Fredericksburg. General Cadwallader 
 Jones (who died in 1899, aged eighty-six), in a privately pub- 
 lished biography, also states explicitly that he heard the 
 story from Mrs. Willie Jones herself. Mr. Buell, in a recent 
 letter to me, calls attention to the fact and it is significant 
 that absolutely no reference to the North Carolina claim 
 appears in any extant letter of the commodore, and claims 
 that Hewes and Jones were acquainted before John Paul 
 settled in America. As the official records have all been 
 destroyed, the matter of the name will probably never be 
 absolutely determined.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 COMMISSIONED IN THE NAVY HOISTS THE FIRST 
 
 FLAG EXPEDITION TO NEW PROVIDENCE 
 
 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GLASGOW. 
 
 THE honor of initiative in the origin of the 
 American navy belongs to Rhode Island, a doughty 
 little State which, for its area, possesses more miles 
 of seaboard than any other. On Tuesday, October 
 3, 1775, the delegates from Rhode Island introduced 
 in the Continental Congress a resolution which had 
 been passed by the General Assembly of the prov- 
 ince on August 26th of the same year, in which, 
 among other things, the said delegates were in- 
 structed to " use their whole influence, at the en- 
 suing Congress, for building, at the Continental ex- 
 pense, a fleet of sufficient force for the protection 
 of these colonies, and for employing them in such 
 manner and places as will most effectually annoy 
 our enemies, and contribute to the common defense 
 of these colonies." 
 
 Consideration of the resolution was twice post- 
 poned, but it was finally discussed on the 7th of 
 October and referred to a committee. On the I3th 
 of October the committee reported, and Congress 
 so far accepted the Rhode Island suggestion that 
 the following resolution was passed : 
 16
 
 COMMISSIONED IN THE NAVY. 17 
 
 " Resolved, That a swift sailing vessel, to carry 
 ten carriage guns and a proportionate number of 
 swivels with eighty men, be fitted with all possible 
 dispatch for a cruise of three months, and that the 
 commander be instructed to cruise eastward for in- 
 tercepting such transports as may be laden with 
 warlike stores and other supplies for our enemies, 
 and for such other purposes as the Congress shall 
 direct." Another vessel was also ordered fitted out 
 for the same purpose. 
 
 Messrs. Deane, Langden, and Gadsden were ap- 
 pointed a committee to carry out the instructions 
 embodied in the resolution. When the committee 
 submitted a report, on the 3Oth of October, it was 
 further resolved " that the second vessel ordered to 
 be fitted out on the I3th inst. be of such size as to 
 carry fourteen guns and a proportionate number of 
 swivels and men." Two other vessels were also 
 ordered to be put into service, one to carry not more 
 than twenty and the other not more than thirty-six 
 guns, " for the protection and defense of the United 
 Colonies, as the Congress shall direct." 
 
 This may be considered as the real and actual 
 beginning of the American navy. There had been 
 numerous naval encounters between vessels of war 
 of the enemy and private armed vessels acting under 
 the authority of the various colonies ; and Wash- 
 ington himself, with the approval of the Congress, 
 which passed some explicit resolutions on the sub- 
 ject on October 5th, had made use of the individual 
 colonial naval forces, and had issued commissions 
 to competent men empowering them to cruise and 
 Intercept the transports and other vessels laden with 
 3
 
 1 8 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 powder and supplies for the enemy, but no formal 
 action looking to the creation of a regular naval 
 force had been taken heretofore. 
 
 Congress had long clung to the hope of recon- 
 ciliation with the mother country, and had been ex- 
 ceedingly loath to take the radical step involved in 
 the establishment of a navy, for in the mind of the 
 Anglo-Saxon, who always claimed supremacy on 
 the sea, a navy is primarily for offense. To constitute 
 a navy for defense alone is to invite defeat. Aggres- 
 sion and initiative are of the essence of success in 
 war on the sea. Now, in the peculiar condition in 
 which the United Colonies found themselves, a 
 naval force could be used for no other purpose than 
 offense. The capacity of any navy which the colo- 
 nies could hope to create, for defensive warfare, 
 would be so slender as to be not worth the outlay, 
 and the creation of a navy to prey upon the enemy's 
 commerce and to take such of his armed vessels as 
 could be overcome would controvert the fiction that 
 we were simply resisting oppression. It would be 
 making war in the most unmistakable way. 
 
 It is a singular thing that men have been willing 
 to do, or condone the doing of, things on land which 
 they have hesitated to do or condone on the sea. 
 The universal diffusion of such sentiments is seen 
 in the absurdly illogical contention on the part of 
 the British Government subsequently, that, al- 
 though a soldier on land was a rebel, he could be 
 treated as a belligerent ; while a man who stood in 
 exactly the same relation to the King of England 
 whose field of action happened to be the sea was of 
 necessity a pirate.
 
 COMMISSIONED IN THE NAVY. 19 
 
 At any rate, by the acts of Congress enumer- 
 ated, a navy was assembled, and the plan of Rhode 
 Island was adopted. It was Rhode Island, by the 
 way, which, by preamble and resolution, sundered 
 its allegiance to Great Britain just two months to 
 a day before the Declaration of Independence. To 
 the naval committee already constituted, Stephen 
 Hopkins, Richard Henry Lee, John Adams, and 
 Joseph Hewes were soon added. The committee 
 at once undertook the work of carrying out the 
 instructions they had received. On the 5th of No- 
 vember they selected for the command of the pro- 
 posed navy Esek Hopkins, of Rhode Island, a 
 brother of the famous Stephen Hopkins who was 
 a member of the committee and one of the most 
 influential members of the Congress. Other officers 
 were commissioned from time to time as selections 
 were made, and commissions and orders were issued 
 to them by the committee, subject, of course, to the 
 ratification or other action by the Congress. Paul 
 Jones' commission as a lieutenant, as has been 
 stated, was dated the 7th of December, 1775. 
 
 Esek Hopkins, who was born in 1718, was 
 therefore fifty-seven years of age. He had been a 
 master mariner for thirty years. He was a man of 
 condition and substance wlio had traded in his own 
 ships in all the then visited parts of the globe. As 
 a commander of privateers and letters of marque 
 he was not without experience in arms. He had 
 been created a brigadier general of the Rhode Island 
 militia on the threatened outbreak of hostilities, a 
 position he resigned to take command of the navy. 
 On the 22d of December Congress confirmed the
 
 20 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 nomination of Hopkins as commander-in-chief, and 
 regularly appointed the following officers : 
 
 fjohn Paul Jones, 
 [ Dudley Saltonstall, 
 
 Rhodes Arnold, 
 Can- Abraham Whipple, rirst Lieu- 
 
 4 Stansbury, 
 
 tains. ] N.cholas B.ddle tenants. H H 
 
 [John Burroughs Hopkins. [ Jonathan Pitcher] 
 
 f Benjamin Seabury, 
 
 Second Joseph Olney, Third r John Fanning, 
 
 Lieuten- < Elisha Warner, Lieuten- { Ezekiel Burroughs, 
 ants. Thomas Weaver, ants. I Daniel Vaughan. 
 l_ McDougall. 
 
 These were, therefore, the forerunners of that 
 long line of distinguished naval officers who have 
 borne the honorable commission of the United 
 States. 
 
 In addition to the regular course pursued, other 
 action bearing upon the subject of naval affairs was 
 had. On Saturday, November, 25th, Congress, en- 
 raged by the burning of Falmouth, adopted radical 
 resolutions, looking toward the capture and confis- 
 cation of armed British vessels and transports, di- 
 recting the issuance of commissions to the captains 
 of cruisers and privateers, and creating admiralty 
 courts and prescribing a scheme for distributing 
 prize money. On November 28th resolutions pre- 
 scribing " Regulations for the Government of the 
 Navy of the United Colonies " were adopted, the 
 first appearance of that significant phrase in the 
 records, by the way. 
 
 On December 5th the seizure of merchant ves- 
 sels engaging in trade between the Tories of Vir- 
 ginia and the West Indies under the inspiration of 
 Lord Dunmore, was ordered. On December nth
 
 APPOINTED TO THE ALFRED. 21 
 
 a special committee to devise ways and means for 
 *' furnishing these colonies with a naval armament " 
 was appointed. Two days later the report of the 
 committee was adopted, and thirteen ships were or- 
 dered built, five of thirty-two, five of twenty-eight, 
 and three of twenty-four guns. They were to be 
 constructed one in New Hampshire, two in Mas- 
 sachusetts, one in Connecticut, two in Rhode Island, 
 two in New York, four in Pennsylvania, and one in 
 Maryland ; the maximum cost of each of them was 
 sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars 
 and sixty-six and two thirds cents. They had a fine 
 idea of accuracy in the construction corps of that 
 day. 
 
 But, while Congress had been therefore pre- 
 paring to build the navy, the regular marine com- 
 mittee had not been idle. By strenuous effort the 
 committee assembled a squadron. A merchant ves- 
 sel called the Black Prince, which had lately arrived 
 from London under the command of John Barry 
 (afterward a famous American commodore), was 
 purchased and renamed the Alfred, after King 
 Alfred the Great, who is commonly believed to be 
 the founder of the British navy. She was a small, 
 stanch trading vessel, very heavily timbered, and 
 with unusually stout scantlings for a ship of her 
 class, although of course not equal to a properly 
 constructed ship of war. The committee armed her 
 with twenty 9-pounders on the main deck, and four 
 smaller guns, possibly 6- or 4-pounders, on the fore- 
 castle and poop, and she was placed under the com- 
 mand of Captain Dudley Saltonstall. Jones, whose 
 name stood first on the list of first lieutenants, was
 
 22 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 appointed her executive officer. Hopkins selected 
 her for his flagship. Jones had been offered the 
 command of one of the smaller vessels of the squad- 
 ron, but elected to fill his present station, as pre- 
 senting more opportunities .for acquiring informa- 
 tion and seeing service. His experience in armed 
 vessels had been limited ; he knew but little of the 
 requirements of a man-of-war, and deemed he could 
 best fit himself for that higher command to which 
 he aspired and determined to deserve by beginning 
 his service under older and more experienced offi- 
 cers a wise decision. 
 
 The next important vessel was another con- 
 verted merchantman, originally called the Sally, 
 now named the Columbus, after the great discov- 
 erer. She was a full-rigged ship of slightly less 
 force and armament than the Alfred, commanded by 
 Captain Abraham Whipple, already distinguished in 
 a privateering way. In addition to these there were 
 two brigs called the Andrea Doria and the Cabot, 
 commanded by Captains Nicholas Diddle and John 
 Burroughs Hopkins, a son of the commander-in- 
 chief. The Andrea Doria and Cabot carried four- 
 teen 4-pounders each. 
 
 Hopkins arrived at Philadelphia in December, 
 1775, in the brig Katy, of the Rhode Island navy, 
 which was at once taken into the Continental serv- 
 ice and renamed the Providence, after the com- 
 mander's native town. She carried twelve light 
 guns, 4-pounders. There were also secured a ten- 
 gun schooner called the Hornet, and the Wasp and 
 Fly, two eight-gun schooners or tenders, one of 
 which Jones had refused. The work of outfitting
 
 HOISTS THE FIRST FLAG. 23 
 
 these ships as generously as the meager resources 
 of the colonies permitted had been carried on as- 
 siduously before the arrival of the commander-in- 
 chief, whose first duty, when he reached Philadel- 
 phia, was formally to assume the command. 
 
 This assumption of command entailed the put- 
 ting of the ships in commission by publicly read- 
 ing the orders appointing the commodore, and as- 
 signing him to command, and hoisting and saluting 
 the flags. The officers previously appointed had 
 been proceeding somewhat irregularly, doubtless, 
 by going on with their preparations prior to this im- 
 portant ceremony. At any rate, in the latter part of 
 December, 1775, or the early part of January, 1776 
 the date not being clear, the authorities not only 
 differing, but in no single case venturing upon a defi- 
 nite statement all things having been made ready, 
 Commodore Hopkins with his staff officers entered 
 the commodore's barge, lying at the foot of Wal- 
 nut Street, and was rowed to the flagship. The 
 wharves and houses facing the river were crowded 
 with spectators to witness so momentous a cere- 
 mony as the commissioning of the first American 
 fleet. 
 
 It has been recorded that it was a bright, cold, 
 clear winter morning. The barge picked its way 
 among the floating ice cakes of the Delaware, and 
 finally reached the Alfred. The commodore 
 mounted the side, followed by his staff, and was re- 
 ceived with due honors in the gangway by the cap- 
 tain and his officers in such full dress as they could 
 muster. The crew and the marines were drawn up 
 in orderly ranks in the waist and on the quarter
 
 24 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 deck. After the reading of the commodore's com- 
 mission and the orders assigning him to the com- 
 mand of the fleet, Captain Dudley Saltonstall 
 nodded his head to John Paul Jones, his executive 
 officer. The young Scotsman, with, I imagine, a 
 heart beating rarely, stepped forward and received 
 from the veteran quartermaster the end of the hal- 
 liards, to which, in the shape of a neatly rolled-up 
 ball, was bent a handsome yellow silk flag, bearing 
 the representation of a rattlesnake about to strike 
 (and perhaps a pine tree also), with the significant 
 legend " Don't tread on me." With his own hands 
 the young lieutenant hauled the rolled-up ensign to 
 the masthead, and then, with a slight twitch, he 
 broke the stops and there blew out in the morning 
 breeze, before the eyes of the commodore, his offi- 
 cers, the men of the ships, and the delighted specta- 
 tors on shore, the first flag that ever flew from a 
 regularly commissioned war ship of the United 
 Colonies. The grand union flag, a red and white 
 striped ensign with the English cross in the canton, 
 was also hoisted. The flags \vere saluted by the 
 booming of cannon from the batteries of the ships, 
 and with cheers from the officers and men of the 
 squadron and the people on the shore, and thus the 
 transaction was completed, and the navy of the 
 United States began to be. 
 
 The ships were slight in force, their equipments 
 meager and deficient, and of inferior quality at best. 
 The men had but little experience in naval warfare, 
 and their officers scarcely much more. There were 
 men of undoubted courage and capacity among 
 them, however, and several to whom the profession
 
 EXPEDITION TO NEW PROVIDENCE. 25 
 
 of arms was not entirely new. At least two of them, 
 Jones and Biddle, were to become forever famous 
 for their fighting. Compared with the huge and 
 splendid navy of England, the whole force was an 
 unconsidered trifle, but it was a beginning, and not 
 a bad one at that, as the mother country was to find 
 out. The outfitting of the squadron was by no 
 means complete, and, though the commodore with 
 the others labored hard, the work proceeded slowly 
 and with many hindrances and delays ; it was never 
 properly done. Then the ships were ice-bound in 
 Delaware Bay, and it was not until nearly two 
 months had elapsed that they were able to get to 
 sea. 
 
 The principal difficulty in the rebellious colonies, 
 from the standpoint of military affairs, was the scar- 
 city of powder. There were guns in respectable 
 numbers, but without powder they were necessarily 
 useless. The powder mills of the colonies were few 
 and far between, and their output was inadequate to 
 meet the demand. It is now well known that 
 although Washington maintained a bold front when 
 he invested the British army in Boston, at times 
 his magazines did not contain more than a round 
 or two of powder for each of his guns. His posi- 
 tion was a magnificent specimen of what in modern 
 colloquialism would have been called a " bluff." 
 There was, of course, but little powder to spare for 
 the improvised men-of-war, and most of what they 
 had was borrowed from the colony of Pennsylvania. 
 To get powder was the chief end of military men 
 then. 
 
 On February 17, 1776, the little squadron
 
 2 6 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 cleared the capes of the Delaware, and before night- 
 fall had disappeared from view beneath the south- 
 east horizon. It appears that the orders were for 
 Hopkins to sail along the coast toward the south, 
 disperse Dunmore's squadron, which was maraud- 
 ing in Virginia, pick up English coasting vessels, 
 and capture scattered English ships cruising be- 
 tween Pennsylvania and Georgia to break up the 
 colonial coasting trade and capture colonial mer- 
 chantmen. But it also appears from letters of the 
 Marine Committee that another object of the ex- 
 pedition was the seizure of large stores of powder 
 and munitions of warfare which had been allowed 
 to accumulate at New Providence, in the Bahama 
 group, and that Hopkins sailed with much discre- 
 tion as to his undertaking and the means of carry- 
 ing it out. The Bahama project was maintained as 
 a profound secret between the naval committee and 
 its commodore, the matter not being discussed in 
 Congress even. 
 
 With that end in view the commander-in-chief, 
 by orders published to the fleet before its de- 
 parture, appointed the island of Abaco, one of the 
 most northerly of the Bahama group, as a rendez- 
 vous for his vessels in case they became separated 
 by the usual vicissitudes of the sea. The scattered 
 ships were directed to make an anchorage oft' the 
 southern part of the island, and wait at least four- 
 teen days for the other vessels to join them before 
 cruising on their own account in such directions 
 as in the judgment of their respective commanders 
 would most annoy, harass, and damage the enemy. 
 
 Shortly after leaving the capes the squadron ran
 
 EXPEDITION TO NEW PROVIDENCE. 2 / 
 
 into a severe easterly gale off Hatteras, then, as 
 now, one of the most dangerous points on the whole 
 Atlantic seaboard. The ships beat up against it, 
 and all succeeded in weathering the cape and escap- 
 ing the dreaded perils of the lee shore. If lack of 
 training prevented the officers from claiming to be 
 naval experts, there were prime seamen among 
 them at any rate. When the gale abated Hopkins 
 cruised along the coast for a short time, meeting 
 nothing of importance in the way of a ship. Rightly 
 concluding that the fierce winter weather would 
 have induced the enemy's vessels to seek shelter in 
 the nearest harbors, and his cruise in that direction, 
 if further continued, would be profitless, he squared 
 away for the Bahamas, to carry out the second and 
 secret part of his instructions. 
 
 It was for a long time alleged that he took this 
 action on his own account, and one of the charges 
 against him in the popular mind was disobedience 
 of orders in so doing ; but he was undoubtedly 
 within his orders in the course which he took, and 
 it is equally certain that the enterprise upon which 
 he was about to engage was one in which more 
 immediate profit would accrue to the colonies than 
 in any other. He should be held not only guiltless 
 in the matter, but awarded praise for his decision. 
 On the ist of March the squadron, with the excep- 
 tion of the Hornet and the Fly, which had parted 
 company in the gale, reached the island of Abaco, 
 about forty miles to the northward of New Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 No part of the western hemisphere had been 
 longer known than the Bahamas. Upon one of
 
 2g COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 them Columbus landed. The principal island 
 among them, not on account of its size, which was 
 insignificant, but because it possessed a commodi- 
 ous and land-locked harbor, is the island of New 
 Providence. No island in the great archipelago 
 which forms the northeastern border of the Carib- 
 bean had enjoyed a more eventful history. From 
 time immemorial it had been the haunt of the buc- 
 caneer and the pirate. From it had sailed many 
 expeditions to ravage the Spanish Ivlain. It had 
 been captured and recaptured by the successive na- 
 tionalities which had striven for domination in the 
 Caribbean, and in their brutal rapacity had made a 
 hell of every verdant tropic island which lifted itself 
 in the gorgeous beauty peculiar to those latitudes, 
 above the deep blue of that lambent sea. It had come 
 finally and definitely under the English crown, and 
 a civilized government had been established by the 
 notorious Woodes Rogers, who was himself a sort 
 of Jonathan Wild of the sea, but one remove and 
 that not a great one from the gentry whose nests 
 he broke up and whose ravages he had put down. 
 It had been taken since then by the Spaniards, but 
 had been restored to the British. 
 
 The town of Nassau, which lies upon the north- 
 ern face of the island, is situated upon the side of 
 a hill which slopes gently down toward the water. 
 The harbor, which is sufficiently deep to accom- 
 modate vessels drawing not more than twelve feet, 
 is formed by a long island which lies opposite the 
 town. There are two entrances to the harbor, only 
 one of which was practicable for large ships, though 
 both were open for small vessels. At the ends of the
 
 EXPEDITION TO NEW PROVIDENCE. 59 
 
 harbor, commanding each entrance, two forts had 
 been erected : Fort Montague on the east and Fort 
 Nassau on the west. Through culpable negligence, 
 in spite of the quantity of military stores it con- 
 tained, there was not a single regular soldier on 
 the island at that time, and no preparations for de- 
 fense had been made. 
 
 It was proposed to make the descent upon the 
 western end of the island and then march up and take 
 the town in the rear. Paul Jones, however, in the 
 council which was held on the Alfred before the de- 
 barkation, pointed out the greater distance which the 
 men would have to march in that case, the alarm 
 which would be given by the passage of the ships, 
 and advised that a landing be effected upon the east- 
 ern end of the island, whence the attack could be 
 more speedily delivered, and, as the ships would not 
 be compelled to advance, no previous alarm would 
 be given. Hopkins demurred to this plan on the 
 ground that no safe anchorage for the ships was 
 afforded off the eastern end. The Alfred had taken 
 two pilots from some coasting vessels which had 
 been captured, and from them it was learned that 
 about ten miles away was a small key which would 
 afford the larger vessels safe anchorage. As Hop- 
 kins hesitated to trust the pilots, Jones, at the peril 
 of his commission, offered in conjunction with them 
 to bring the ships up himself. His suggestions were 
 agreed to, his offer accepted, and when the vicinity 
 of the key was reached he took his station on the 
 fore-topmast crosstrees of the Alfred. He had 
 sailed in the West Indian waters many times, 
 and was familiar with the look of the sea and the
 
 30 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 indications near the shore. With the assistance of 
 the pilots, after a somewhat exciting passage, he 
 succeeded in bringing all the ships to a safe an- 
 chorage. That he was willing to take the risk, and, 
 having done so, successfully carry out the difficult 
 undertaking, gives a foretaste of his bold and de- 
 cisive character, and of his technical skill as well. 
 
 Preparations for attack were quickly made. 
 Commodore Hopkins, having impressed some local 
 schooners, loaded them with two hundred and fifty 
 marines from the squadron, under the command of 
 Captain Samuel Nichols, the ranking officer of the 
 corps, and fifty seamen under the command of Lieu- 
 tenant Thomas Weaver of the Cabot, and on March 
 2d the transports with this attacking force were dis- 
 patched to Xew Providence.* They were convoyed 
 by the Providence and the Wasp, and a landing 
 was effected under the cover of these two ships of 
 war. Unfortunately, however, some of the other 
 larger vessels got under way at the same time, and 
 their appearance alarmed the town. 
 
 It never seems to have occurred to any one but 
 Jones that the west exit from the harbor should 
 be guarded by stationing two of the smaller vessels 
 off the channel to close it while the rest of the 
 squadron took care of the eastern end. It seems 
 probable from his correspondence that he ventured 
 upon the suggestion, for he specifically referred in 
 condemnatory terms to the failure to do so. At any 
 rate, if he did suggest it, and from his known ca- 
 
 * The Marine Corps was established by the Congress 
 November 10, 1775.
 
 EXPEDITION TO NEW 1'ROYIDENCE. 31 
 
 pacity it is extremely likely that the obvious precau- 
 tion would have occurred to him, his suggestion was 
 disregarded, and the western pass from the harbor 
 was left open a fatal mistake. 
 
 The point where the expedition landed without 
 opposition was some four and a half miles from 
 Fort Montague. It was a bright Sunday morning 
 when the first American naval brigade took up its 
 march under Captain Nichols' orders. The men ad- 
 vanced steadily, and, though they were met by a 
 discharge of cannon from Fort Montague, they cap- 
 tured the works by assault without loss, the militia 
 garrison flying precipitately before the American 
 advance. The marines behaved with great spirit 
 on this occasion, as they have ever done. Instead 
 of promptly moving down upon the other fort, how- 
 ever, they contented themselves during that day with 
 their bloodless achievement, and not until the next 
 morning did they advance to complete the capture 
 of the place. 
 
 The inhabitants of the island were in a state of 
 panic, and when the marines and sailors marched 
 up to attack Fort Nassau they found it empty of any 
 garrison except Governor Brown, who opened the 
 gates and formally surrendered it to the Americans. 
 During the confusion of the night Brown seems to 
 have preserved his presence of mind, and rightly di- 
 vining that the powder would be the most precious 
 of all the munitions of warfare in his charge, he had 
 caused a schooner which lay in the harbor to be 
 loaded with one hundred and fifty barrels, the limit 
 of its capacity, and before daybreak she set sail and 
 made good her escape through the unguarded west-
 
 32 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ern passage. A dreadful misfortune that, which 
 would not have occurred had Jones been in com- 
 mand. 
 
 However, a large quantity of munitions of war 
 of great value to the struggling colonies fell into 
 the hands of Hopkins' men, including eighty-eight 
 
 n Sfjtutdrvn, 
 Efcapt of Powder Se\oont 
 tt of Landing Party. 
 SCALE OF WILES 
 
 Map of attack on New Providence in the Bahamas. 
 
 cannon, ranging in size from 9- to 36-pounders, fif- 
 teen large mortars, over eleven thousand round 
 shot, and twenty precious casks of powder. The 
 Americans behaved with great credit in this con- 
 quest. None of the inhabitants of the island were 
 harmed, nor was their property touched. It was a 
 noble commentary on some of the British forays 
 along our own coast. Hopkins impressed a sloop, 
 promising to pay for its use and return it when he 
 was through with it, which promise was faithfully 
 kept, and the sloop was loaded with the stores, etc., 
 which had been captured.
 
 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GLASGOW. 
 
 33 
 
 His own ships were also heavily laden with these 
 military stores, the Alfred in particular being so 
 overweighted that it was almost impossible to fight 
 her main-deck guns, so near were they to the water- 
 line, except in the most favorable circumstances of 
 wind and weather. 
 
 Taking Governor Brown, who was afterward 
 exchanged for General Lord Stirling, and one or 
 two other officials of importance as hostages on 
 board his fleet, Hopkins set sail for home on the 
 1 7th of March. He had done his work expedi- 
 tiously and well, but through want of precaution 
 which had been suggested by Jones, he had failed 
 in part when his success might have been com- 
 plete. Still, he was bringing supplies of great value, 
 and his handsome achievement was an auspicious 
 beginning of naval operations. The squadron pur- 
 sued its way toward the United Colonies without 
 any adventures or happenings worthy of chron- 
 icle until the 4th of April, when off the east end 
 of Long Island they captured the schooner Hawk, 
 carrying six small guns. On the 5th of April the 
 bomb vessel Bolton, eight guns, forty-eight men, 
 filled with stores of arms and powder, was captured 
 without loss. 
 
 On the 6th, shortly after midnight, the night 
 being dark, the wind gentle, the sea smooth, and the 
 ships very much scattered, swashing along close- 
 hauled on the starboard tack between Block Island 
 and the Rhode Island coast, they made out a large 
 ship, under easy sail, coming down the wind toward 
 the squadron. It was the British sloop of war Glas- 
 gow, twenty guns and one hundred and fifty men, 
 4
 
 34 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 commanded by Captain Tyringham Howe. She 
 was accompanied by a small tender, subsequently 
 captured. The nearest ships of the American squad- 
 ron luffed up to have a closer look at the stranger, 
 the men being sent to quarters in preparation for any 
 emergency. By half after two in the morning the 
 brig Cabot had come within a short distance of her. 
 The stranger now hauled her wind, and Captain 
 John Burroughs Hopkins, the son of the commo- 
 dore, immediately hailed her. Upon ascertaining 
 who and what she was he promptly poured in a 
 broadside from his small guns, which was at once 
 returned by the formidable battery of the Glasgow. 
 The unequal conflict was kept up with great spirit 
 for a few moments, but the Cabot alone was no 
 match for the heavy English corvette, and after a loss 
 of four killed and several wounded, including the 
 captain severely, the Cabot, greatly damaged in hull 
 and rigging, fell away, and her place was taken by 
 the Alfred, still an unequal match for the English 
 vessel, but more nearly approaching her size and 
 capacity. 
 
 The Andrea Doria now got within range and 
 joined in the battle. For some three hours in the 
 night the ships sailed side by side, hotly engaged. 
 After a time the Columbus, Captain Whipple, which 
 had been farthest to leeward, succeeded in crossing 
 the stern of the Glasgow, and raked her as she was 
 passing. The aim of the Americans was poor, 
 and instead of smashing her stern in and doing 
 the damage which might have been anticipated, the 
 shot flew high and, beyond cutting the Englishman 
 up aloft, did no appreciable damage. The Provi-
 
 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GLASGOW. 35 
 
 dence, which was very badly handled, managed to 
 get in long range on the lee quarter of the Glasgow 
 and opened an occasional and ineffective fire upon 
 her. But the bulk of the fighting on the part of 
 the Americans was done by the Alfred. 
 
 Captain Howe maneuvered and fought his ves- 
 sel with the greatest skill. During the course of 
 the action a lucky shot from the Glasgow carried 
 away the wheel ropes of the Alfred, and before the 
 relieving tackles could be manned and the damage 
 repaired the American frigate broached to and was 
 severely raked several times before she could be got 
 under command. At daybreak Captain Howe, who 
 had fought a most gallant fight against overwhelm- 
 ing odds, perceived the hopelessness of continuing 
 the combat, and, having easily obtained a command- 
 ing lead on the pursuing Americans, put his helm 
 up and ran away before the wind for Newport. 
 
 Hopkins followed him for a short distance, keep- 
 ing up a fire from his bow-chasers, but his deep- 
 laden merchant vessels were no match in speed for 
 the swift-sailing English sloop of war, and, as with 
 every moment his little squadron with its precious 
 cargo was drawing nearer the English ships sta- 
 tioned at Newport, some of which had already heard 
 the firing and were preparing to get under way, 
 Hopkins hauled his wind, tacked and beat up for 
 New London, where he arrived on the 8th of April 
 with his entire squadron and the prizes they had 
 taken, with the exception of the Hawk, recaptured. 
 
 The loss on the Glasgow was one man killed 
 and three wounded ; on the American squadron, ten 
 killed and fourteen wounded, the loss being con-
 
 36 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 fined mainly to the Alfred and the Cabot, the Colum- 
 bus having but one man wounded. During this 
 action Paul Jones was stationed in command of the 
 main battery of the Alfred. He had nothing what- 
 ever to do with the maneuvers of the ships, and was 
 in no way responsible for the escape of the Glasgow 
 and the failure of the American force to capture her. 
 
 The action did not reflect credit on the Ameri- 
 can arms. The Glasgow, being a regular cruiser 
 and of much heavier armament than any of the 
 American ships, was more than a match for any 
 of them singly, though taken together, if the per- 
 sonnel of the American squadron had been equal 
 to, or if it even approximated, that of the British 
 ship, the latter would have been captured without 
 difficulty. The gun practice of the Americans was 
 very poor, which is not surprising. With the 
 exception of a very few of the officers, none of the 
 Americans had ever been in action, and they knew 
 little about the fine art of hitting a mark, especially 
 at night. They had had no exercise in target prac- 
 tice and but little in concerted fleet evolution. 
 There seems to have been no lack of courage except 
 in the case of the captain of the Providence, who 
 was court-martialed for incapacity and cowardice, 
 and dismissed from the service. Hopkins' judgment 
 in withdrawing from the pursuit for the reasons 
 stated can not be questioned, neither can he be 
 justly charged with the radical deficiency of the 
 squadron, though he was made to suffer for it. 
 
 While the Glasgow escaped, she did not get off 
 scot free. She w r as badly cut up in the hull, had ten 
 shot through her mainmast, fifty-two through her
 
 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GLASGOW. 
 
 37 
 
 mizzen staysail, one hundred and ten through her 
 mainsail, and eighty-eight through her foresail. 
 Her royal yards were carried away, many of 
 her spars badly wounded, and her rigging cut to 
 pieces. This catalogue tells the story. The Ameri- 
 cans in their excitement and inexperience had fired 
 high, and their shot had gone over their mark. The 
 British defense had been a most gallant one, and the 
 first attack between the ships of the two navies had 
 been a decided triumph for the English. 
 
 Paul Jones' conduct in the main battery of the 
 Alfred had been entirely satisfactory to his superior 
 officers. He, with the other officers of that ship, 
 was commended, and subsequent events showed that 
 he still held the confidence of the commodore.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CRUISE OF THE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 THE British fleet having left Newport in the 
 interim, on the 24th of April, 1776, the American 
 squadron got under way from New London for 
 Providence, Rhode Island. The ships were in bad 
 condition ; sickness had broken out among their 
 crews, and no less than two hundred and two men 
 out of a total of perhaps eight hundred and fifty at 
 best an insufficient complement were left ill at 
 New London. Their places were in a measure 
 supplied by one hundred and seventy soldiers, lent 
 to the squadron by General Washington, who had 
 happened to pass through New London, en route 
 to New York, on the day after Hopkins' arrival. 
 There was a pleasant interview between the two 
 commanders, and it was then that Jones caught his 
 first glimpse of the great leader. 
 
 The voyage to New London was made with- 
 out incident, except that the unfortunate Alfred 
 grounded off Fisher's Island, and had to lighten 
 ship before she could be floated. This delayed her 
 passage so that she did not arrive at Newport until 
 the 28th of April. The health of the squadron was 
 not appreciably bettered by the change, for over 
 one hundred additional men fell ill. Many of the 
 38
 
 THE CRUISE OF THE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 39 
 
 seamen had been enlisted for the cruise only, and 
 they now received their discharge, so that the crews 
 of the already undermanned ships were so depleted 
 from these causes that it would be impossible for 
 them to put to sea. Washington, who was hard 
 pressed for men, and had troubles of his own, de- 
 manded the immediate return to New York of the 
 soldiers he had lent to the fleet. The captain of 
 the Providence being under orders for a court-mar- 
 tial for his conduct, on the ioth of May Hopkins 
 appointed John Paul Jones to the command of the 
 Providence. 
 
 The appointment is an evidence of the esteem in 
 which Jones was held by -his commanding officer, 
 and is a testimony to the confidence which was felt 
 in his ability and skill ; for he alone, out of all 
 the officers in the squadron, was chosen for im- 
 portant sea service at this time. Having no blank 
 commissions by him, Hopkins made out the new 
 commission on the back of Jones' original commis- 
 sion as first lieutenant. It is a matter of interest 
 to note that he was the first officer promoted to 
 command rank from a lieutenancy in the American 
 navy. His first orders directed him to take Wash- 
 ington's borrowed men to New York. After spend- 
 ing a brief time in hurriedly overhauling the brig 
 and preparing her for the voyage, Jones set sail for 
 New York, which he reached on the i8th of May, 
 after thirty-six hours. Having returned the men, 
 Jones remained at New York in accordance with 
 his orders until he could enlist a crew, which he 
 presently succeeded in doing. Thereafter, under 
 supplemental orders, he ran over to New London,
 
 4 Q COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 took on board such of the men left there who were 
 sufficiently recovered to be able to resume their 
 duties, and came back and reported with them to 
 the commander-in-chief at Providence. He had 
 performed his duties, routine though they were, 
 expeditiously and properly. 
 
 He now received instructions thoroughly to 
 overhaul and fit the Providence for active cruising. 
 She was hove down, had her bottom scraped, and 
 was entirely refitted and provisioned under Jones's 
 skillful and practical direction. Her crew was ex- 
 ercised constantly at small arms and great guns, and 
 every effort made to put her in first-class condition. 
 In spite of the limited means at hand, she became a 
 model little war vessel. On June loth a sloop of war 
 belonging to the enemy appeared off the bay, and in 
 obedience to a signal from the commodore Jones 
 made sail to engage. Before he caught sight of the 
 vessel she sought safety in flight. On the 131!! of 
 June the Providence was ordered to Newburyport, 
 Massachusetts, to convoy a number of merchant 
 vessels loaded with coal for Philadelphia. Before 
 entering upon this important duty, however, Jones 
 was directed to accompany the tender Fly, loaded 
 with cannon, toward New York, and, after seeing 
 her safely into the Sound, convoy some merchant 
 vessels from Stonington to Newport. 
 
 There were a number of the enemy's war vessels 
 cruising in these frequented waters, arid the carry- 
 ing out of Jones' simple orders was by no means 
 an easy task ; but by address and skill, and that 
 careful watchfulness which even then formed a part 
 of his character, he succeeded in executing aU his
 
 ENCOUNTER WITH THE CERBERUS. 41 
 
 duties without losing a single vessel under his 
 charge. He had one or two exciting encounters 
 with English war ships, the details of which are un- 
 fortunately not preserved. In one instance, by 
 boldly interposing the Providence between the Brit- 
 ish frigate Cerberus and a colonial brigantine loaded 
 with military stores from Hispaniola, he diverted 
 the attention of the frigate to his own vessel, and 
 drew her away from the pursuit of the helpless mer- 
 chantman, which thereby effected her escape. Then 
 the Providence, a swift little brig admirably handled, 
 easily succeeded in shaking off her pursuer, al- 
 though she had allowed the frigate to come within 
 gunshot range. The brigantine whose escape Jones 
 had thus assured was purchased into the naval serv- 
 ice and renamed the Hampden. 
 
 The coal fleet had assembled at Boston instead 
 of Newburyport, and in pursuance of his original 
 orders Jones brought them safely to the capes of 
 the Delaware on the ist of August. The run to 
 Philadelphia was soon made, and Hopkins' appoint- 
 ment, under which he was acting, was ratified by the 
 Congress, and the commission of captain was given 
 him, dated the 8th of August, 1776. 
 
 Hitherto Jones, like all the others engaged in 
 the war, had been a subject of England, a colonist 
 in rebellion against the crown. By the Declaration 
 of Independence he had become a citizen of the 
 United States engaged in maintaining the independ- 
 ence and securing the liberty of his adopted country. 
 The change WPS "most agreeable to him. It added a 
 dignity and value to his commission which could 
 not fail to be acceptable to a man of his tempera-
 
 42 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ment. It was pleasant to him also to have the 
 confidence of his commander-in-chief, which had 
 been shown in the appointment to the command of 
 the Providence, justified by the government in the 
 commission which had been issued to him. 
 
 Jones had made choice of his course of action 
 in the struggle between kingdom and colony de- 
 liberately, not carried away by any enthusiasm of 
 the moment, but moved by the most generous senti- 
 ments of liberty and independence. He had much 
 at stake, and he was embarked in that particular 
 profession fraught with peculiar dangers not inci- 
 dent to the life of a soldier. It must have been, 
 therefore, with the greatest satisfaction that he per- 
 ceived opportunities opening before him in that 
 cause to which he had devoted himself, and in that 
 service of which he was a master. A foreigner with 
 but scant acquaintance and little influence in Amer- 
 ica, he had to make his way by sheer merit. The 
 value of what has been subsequently called " a 
 political pull " with the Congress was as well known 
 then as it is now, and nearly as much used, too. 
 He practically had none. Nevertheless, his foot was 
 already upon that ladder upon which he intended to 
 mount to the highest round eventually. He was not 
 destined to realize his ambition, however, without 
 a heartbreaking struggle against uncalled-for re- 
 straint, and a continued protest against active in- 
 justice which tried his very soul. 
 
 It was first proposed by the Marine Committee 
 that he return to New England and assume com- 
 mand of the Hampden, but he wisely preferred to 
 remain in the Providence for the time being. He
 
 THE CRUISE OF THE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 43 
 
 thoroughly knew the ship and the crew, over which 
 he had gained that ascendency he always enjoyed 
 with those who sailed under his command. Not so 
 much by mistaken kindness or indulgence did he 
 win the devotion of his men for he was ever a stern 
 and severe, though by no means a merciless, disci- 
 plinarian but because of his undoubted courage, 
 brilliant seamanship, splendid audacity, and uniform 
 success. There is an attraction about these qualities 
 which is exercised perhaps more powerfully upon 
 seamen than upon any other class. The profession 
 of a sailor is one in which immediate decision, ad- 
 dress, resource, and courage are more in evidence 
 than in any other. The seaman in an emergency has 
 but little time for reflection, and in the hour of 
 peril, when the demand is made upon him, he must 
 choose the right course instantly as it were by in- 
 stinct. 
 
 With large discretion in his orders, which were 
 practically to cruise at pleasure and destroy the 
 enemy's commerce, the Providence left the Dela- 
 ware on the 2 ist of August. In the first week of 
 the cruise she captured the brigs Sea Nymph, Fa- 
 vorite, and Britannia ; the first two laden with rum, 
 sugar, etc., and the last a whaler. These rich prizes 
 were all manned and sent in. 
 
 On the morning of the ist of September, being 
 in the latitude of the Bermudas, five vessels were 
 sighted to leeward. The sea was moderately 
 smooth, with a fresh breeze blowing at the time, and 
 the Providence immediately ran off toward the 
 strangers to investigate. It appeared to the ob- 
 servers on Jones' brig that the largest was an East
 
 44 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 Indiaman and the others ordinary merchant vessels. 
 They were in error, however, in their conclusions, 
 for a nearer approach disclosed the fact that the sup- 
 posed East Indiaman was a frigate of twenty-eight 
 guns, called the Solebay. Jones immediately hauled 
 his wind and clapped on sail. The frigate, which 
 had endeavored to conceal her force with the hope 
 of enticing the Providence under her guns, at once 
 made sail in pursuit. The Providence was a smart 
 goer, and so was the Solebay. The two vessels set- 
 tled down for a long chase. On the wind it be- 
 came painfully evident that the frigate had the heels 
 of the brig. With burning anxiety Jones and his 
 officers saw the latter gradually closing with them. 
 Shot from her bow-chasers, as she came within 
 range, rushed through the air at the little American 
 sloop of war, which now hoisted her colors and re- 
 turned the fire. Seeing this, the Solebay set an 
 American ensign, and fired one or two guns to lee- 
 ward in token of amity, but Jones was not to be 
 taken in by any transparent ruse of this character. 
 He held on, grimly determined. As the Solebay 
 drew nearer she ceased firing, confident in her abil- 
 ity to capture the chase, for which, indeed, there ap- 
 peared no escape. 
 
 An ordinary seaman, even though a brave man, 
 would probably have given up the game in his mind, 
 though his devotion to duty would have compelled 
 him to continue the fight until actually overhauled, 
 but Tones had no idea of being captured then. Al- 
 ready a plan of escape had developed in his fertile 
 brain. Communicating his intentions to his officers, 
 he completed his preparations, and only awaited the
 
 ESCAPE FROM THE SOLEBAY. 
 
 45 
 
 favorable moment for action. The Solebay had 
 crept up to within one hundred yards of the lee 
 quarter of the Providence. If the frigate yawed and 
 delivered a broadside the brig would be sunk or 
 crippled and captured. Now was the time, if ever, 
 to put his plan in operation. If the maneuver failed, 
 it would be all up with the Americans. As usual, 
 Jones boldly staked all on the issue of the moment. 
 As a preliminary the helm had been put slightly 
 a-weather, and the brig allowed to fall off to leeward 
 a little, so bringing the Solebay almost dead astern 
 if anything, a little to windward. In anticipation 
 of close action, as Jones had imagined, the English 
 captain had loaded his guns with grape shot, which, 
 of course, would only be effective at short range. 
 Should the Englishman get the Providence under 
 his broadside, a well-aimed discharge of grape 
 would clear her decks and enable him to capture the 
 handsome brig without appreciably damaging her. 
 
 From his knowledge of the qualities of the 
 Providence, Jones felt sure that going free that is, 
 with the wind aft, or on the quarter he could run 
 away from his pursuer. The men, of course, had 
 been sent to their stations long since. The six 4- 
 pounders, which constituted the lee battery, were 
 quietly manned, the guns being double-shotted with 
 grape and solid shot. The studding sails light 
 sails calculated to give a great increase in the spread 
 of canvas to augment the speed of the ship in a light 
 breeze, which could be used to advantage going 
 free and in moderate winds were brought out and 
 prepared for immediate use. Everything having 
 been made ready, and the men cautioned to pay
 
 46 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 strict attention to orders,. and to execute them with 
 the greatest promptitude and celerity, Jones sud- 
 denly put his helm hard up. 
 
 The handy Providence spun around on her heel 
 like a top, and in a trice was standing boldly across 
 the forefoot of the onrushing English frigate. 
 When she lay squarely athwart the bows of the 
 Solebay Jones gave the order to fire, and the little 
 battery of 4-pounders barked out its gallant salute 
 and poured its solid shot and grape into the eyes 
 of the frigate. In the confusion of the moment, ow- 
 ing to the suddenness of the unexpected maneuver, 
 and the raking he had received, the English captain 
 lost his head. Before he could realize what had 
 happened, the Providence, partially concealed by the 
 smoke from her own guns, had drawn past him, and, 
 covered with great wide-reaching clouds of light 
 canvas by the nimble fingers of her anxious crew, 
 was ripping through the water at a great rate at a 
 right angle to her former direction. 
 
 When the Solebay, rapidly forging ahead, 
 crossed the stern of the saucy American a few mo- 
 ments after, she delivered a broadside, which at that 
 range, as the guns were loaded with grape shot, did 
 little damage to the brig and harmed no one. The 
 distance was too great and the guns were badly 
 aimed. By the time the Solebay had emulated the 
 maneuvers of the Providence and had run off, the 
 latter had gained so great a lead that her escape 
 was practically effected. The English frigate proved 
 to be unable to outfoot the American brig on this 
 course, and after firing upward of a hundred shot at 
 her the Solebay gave over the pursuit. This escape
 
 CHASED BY THE MILFORD. 
 
 47 
 
 has ever been counted one of the most daring and 
 subtle pieces of seamanship and skill among the 
 many with which the records of the American navy 
 abound. As subsequent events proved, the failure 
 to capture Jones was most unfortunate on the part 
 of the English. 
 
 Jones now shaped his course for the Banks of 
 Newfoundland, to break up the fishing industry and 
 let the British know that ravaging the coast, which 
 they had begun, was a game at which two could 
 play. On the i6th and i7th of the month he ran 
 into a heavy gale, so severe in character that he 
 was forced to strike his guns into the hold on ac- 
 count of the rolling of the brig. The gale abated on 
 the iQth, and on the 2Oth of September, the day be- 
 ing pleasant, the Providence was hove to and the 
 men were preparing to enjoy a day of rest and 
 amusement, fishing for cod, when in the morning 
 two sail appeared to windward. As Jones was pre- 
 paring to beat up and investigate them, they saved 
 him that trouble by changing their course and run- 
 ning down toward him. They proved to be a mer- 
 chant ship and a British frigate, the Milford, 32. 
 
 Jones kept the Providence under easy canvas 
 until he learned the force of the enemy, and then 
 made all sail to escape. Finding that he was very 
 much faster than his pursuer, he amused himself 
 during one whole day by ranging ahead and then 
 checking his speed until the frigate would get 
 almost within range, when he would run off again 
 and repeat the performance. Tt was naturally most 
 tantalizing to the officers of the Milford, and they 
 vented their wrath in futile broadsides whenever
 
 48 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 there appeared the least possibility of reaching the 
 Providence. After causing the enemy to expand a 
 large quantity of powder and shot, having tired of 
 the game, Jones contemptuously discharged a 
 musket at them and sailed away. 
 
 On the 2 ist of September he appeared off the 
 island of Canso, one of the principal fishing depots 
 of the Grand Banks. He sent his boat in that night 
 to gain information, and on the 22d he anchored in 
 the harbor. There were three fishing schooners 
 there, one of which he burned, one he scuttled, and 
 the third, called the Ebenezer, he loaded with the 
 fish taken from the two he had destroyed, and 
 manned as a prize. After replenishing his wood and 
 water, on the 23d he sailed up to Isle Madame, 
 having learned that the fishing fleet was lying there 
 dismantled for the winter. Beating to and fro with 
 the Providence off the island, on that same evening 
 he sent an expedition of twenty-five men in a shal- 
 lop which he had captured at Canso, accompanied 
 by a fully manned boat from the Providence. Both 
 crews were heavily armed. The expedition cap- 
 tured the fishing fleet of nine vessels without loss. 
 The crews of most of them, numbering some three 
 hundred men, were ashore at the time, and the ves- 
 sels were dismantled. Jones promised that if the 
 men ashore would help to refit the vessels he de- 
 sired to take with him as prizes, he would leave 
 them a sufficient number of boats to enable them to 
 regain their homes. By his ready address he actu- 
 ally persuaded them to comply with his request, and 
 the unfortunate Englishmen labored assiduously to 
 get the ships ready for sea.
 
 DESTRUCTION AT CANSO. 
 
 49 
 
 On the 25th of September their preparations 
 were completed, but a violent autumn gale blew up, 
 and their situation became one of great peril. The 
 Providence, anchored in Great St. Peter Channel, 
 rode it out with two anchors down to a long scope 
 of cable. The ship Alexander and the schooner 
 Sea Flower, which were heavily laden with valuable 
 plunder, had also reached the same channel. The 
 Alexander succeeded in making an anchorage 
 under a point of rocks which sheltered her, and en- 
 abled her to sustain the shock of the gale unharmed. 
 The Sea Flower was driven on the lee shore, and, 
 being hopelessly wrecked, was scuttled and fired the 
 next day. The Ebenezer, loaded with fish from 
 Canso, was also wrecked. The gale had abated 
 about noon, when, after burning the ship Adven- 
 ture, dismantled and in ballast, and leaving a brig 
 and two small schooners to enable the English sea- 
 men to reach home, the Providence, accompanied 
 by the Alexander and the brigs Kingston Packet 
 and Success, got under way for home. On the 2/th 
 the Providence, in spite of the fact that she was now 
 very shorthanded on account of the several prizes 
 she had manned, chased two armed transports ap- 
 parently bound in for Quebec, which managed to 
 make good their escape. The little squadron re- 
 sumed its course, and arrived safely at Rhode Island 
 without further mishap on the 7th of October. 
 
 On this remarkable cruise Jones had captured 
 sixteen vessels, eight of which he manned and sent 
 in as prizes, destroying five of the remainder, and 
 generously leaving three for the unfortunate fisher- 
 men to reach their homes. He had carried out 
 
 5
 
 50 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 his orders to sink, burn, destroy, and capture with 
 characteristic thoroughness, but without needless 
 cruelty and oppression. He burned no dwelling 
 houses, and turned no non-combatants out of their 
 homes in the middle of winter, as Mo watt had done 
 at Falmouth. He had entirely broken up the fish- 
 ery at Canso, had escaped by the exercise of the 
 highest seamanship from one British frigate, and 
 had led another a merry dance in impotent pursuit. 
 Property belonging to the enemy had been de- 
 stroyed to the value of perhaps a million of dollars 
 in round numbers, not to speak of the effect upon 
 their pride by the bold cruising of the little brig of 
 twelve 4-pound guns and seventy men.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CRUISE OF THE ALFRED. 
 
 WHEN his countrymen heard the story of this 
 daring and successful cruise, Jones immediately be- 
 came the most famous officer of the new navy. The 
 eclat he had gained by his brilliant voyage at once 
 raised him from a more or less obscure position, 
 and gave him a great reputation in the eyes of his 
 countrymen, a reputation he did not thereafter lose. 
 But Jones was not a man to live upon a reputation. 
 He had scarcely arrived at Providence before he 
 busied himself with plans for another undertaking. 
 He had learned from prisoners taken on his last 
 cruise that there were a number of American pris- 
 oners, at various places, who were undergoing hard 
 labor in the coal mines of Cape Breton Island, and 
 he conceived the bold design of freeing them if pos- 
 sible. 
 
 We are here introduced to one striking charac- 
 teristic, not the least noble among many, of this 
 great man. The appeal of the prisoner always pro- 
 foundly touched his heart. The freedom of his na- 
 ture, his own passionate love for liberty and inde- 
 pendence, the heritage of his Scotch hills perhaps, 
 ever made him anxious and solicitous about those 
 who languished in captivity. It was but the work- 
 Si
 
 Squadron, starting at Ph 
 and ending at A'tru-port. 
 
 Crui*c uf the 
 
 ttarting at Xewport, via Xrui Fork, 
 
 Boston, Phi/a,Utpliia, Canto, and 
 
 ending at Provident*. 
 ^__,_^_Crt(i of the Mfftd, 
 
 starting at Prm'itlence and 
 
 ending at Botton. 
 
 SCALE OF MILES 
 
 Map showing the cruise of the first American squadron, and 
 of the Providence and the Alfred.
 
 WRECK OF THE HAMPDEN. 
 
 53 
 
 ing out of that spirit which compelled him to relin- 
 quish his participation in the lucrative slave trade. 
 In all his public actions, he kept before him as one 
 of his principal' objects the release of such of his 
 countrymen as were undergoing the horrors of Brit- 
 ish prisons. 
 
 The suggested enterprise found favor in the 
 mind of Commodore Hopkins, who forthwith as- 
 signed Jones to the command of a squadron com- 
 prising the Alfred, the Providence, and the brigan- 
 tine Hampden. Jones hoisted his flag on board the 
 Alfred and hastened his preparations for departure. 
 He found the greatest difficulty in manning his little 
 squadron, and finally, in despair of getting a suf- 
 ficient crew to man them all, he determined to set 
 sail with the Alfred and the Hampden only, the lat- 
 ter vessel being commanded by Captain Hoysted 
 Hacker. He received his orders on the 22d of 
 October, and on the 27th the two vessels got under 
 way from Providence. The wind was blowing fresh 
 at the time, and Hacker, who seems to have been an 
 indifferent sailor, ran the Hampden on a ledge of 
 rock, where she was so badly wrecked as to be un- 
 seaworthy. Jones put back to his anchorage, and, 
 having transferred the crew of the Hampden to the 
 Providence, set sail on the 2d of November. 
 
 Both vessels were very short-handed. The Al- 
 fred, whose proper complement was about three 
 hundred, which had sailed from Philadelphia with 
 two hundred and thirty-five, now could muster no 
 more than one hundred and fifty all told. The two 
 vessels were short of water, provisions, munitions, 
 and everything else that goes to make up a ship
 
 54 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 of war. Jones made up for all this deficiency by his 
 own personality. 
 
 On the evening of the first day out the two 
 vessels anchored in Tarpauling Cove, near Nan- 
 tucket. There they found a Rhode Island priva- 
 teer at anchor. In accordance with the orders of 
 the commodore, Jones searched her for deserters, 
 and from her took four men on board the Alfred. 
 He was afterward sued in the sum of ten thousand 
 pounds for this action, but, though the commodore, 
 as he stated, abandoned him in his defense, nothing 
 came of the suit. 
 
 On the 3d of November, by skillful and success- 
 ful maneuvering, the two ships passed through the 
 heavy British fleet off Block Island, and squared 
 away for the old cruising ground on the Grand 
 Banks. In addition to the release of the prisoners 
 there was another object in the cruise. A squadron 
 of merchant vessels loaded with coal for the British 
 army in New York was about to leave Louisburg 
 under convoy. Jones determined to intercept them 
 if possible. 
 
 On the 1 3th, off Cape Canso again, the Alfred 
 encountered the British armed transport Mellish, 
 of ten guns, having on board one hundred and fifty 
 soldiers. After a trilling resistance she was cap- 
 tured. She was loaded with arms, munitions of 
 war, military supplies, -and ten thousand suits of 
 winter clothing, destined for Sir Guy Carleton's 
 army in Canada. She was the most valuable prize 
 which had yet fallen into the hands of the Ameri- 
 cans. The warm clothing, especially, would be a 
 godsend to the ragged, naked army of Washington.
 
 A VALUABLE PRIZE. 
 
 55 
 
 Of so much importance was this prize that Jones 
 determined not to lose sight of her. and to convoy 
 her into the harbor himself. Putting a prize crew 
 on board, he gave instructions that she was to be 
 scuttled if there appeared any danger of her recap- 
 ture. 
 
 About this time two other vessels were captured, 
 one of which was a large fishing vessel, from which 
 he was able to replenish his meager store of pro- 
 visions. On the I4th of November a severe gale 
 blew up from the northwest, accompanied by a vio- 
 lent snowstorm. Captain Hacker bore away to the 
 southward before the storm and parted company 
 during the night, returning incontinently to New- 
 port. The weather continued execrable. Amid 
 blinding snowstorms and fierce winter gales the 
 Alfred and her prizes beat up along the desolate 
 iron-bound shore. Jones again entered the har- 
 bor of Canso, and, finding a large English trans- 
 port laden with provisions for the army aground 
 on a shoal near the mouth of the harbor, sent a 
 boat party which set her on fire. Seeing an im- 
 mense warehouse filled with oil and material for 
 whale and cod fisheries, the boats made a sudden 
 dash for the shore, and, applying a torch to the 
 building, it was soon consumed. 
 
 Beating off the shore, still accompanied by his 
 prizes, he continued up the coast of Cape Breton to- 
 ward Louisburg, looking for the coal fleet. It was 
 his good fortune to run across it in a dense fog. It 
 consisted of a number of vessels under the convoy 
 of the frigate Flora, a ship which would have made 
 short work of him if she could have run across him.
 
 56 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 Favored by the impenetrable fog, with great ad- 
 dress and hardihood Jones succeeded in capturing 
 no less than three of the convoy, and escaped un- 
 noticed with his prizes. 
 
 Two days afterward he came across a heavily 
 armed British privateer from Liverpool, which he 
 took after a slight resistance. But now, when he 
 attempted to make Louisburg to carry out his de- 
 sign of levying on the place and releasing the pris- 
 oners, he found that the harbor was closed by 
 masses of ice, and that it was impossible to effect a 
 landing. Indeed, his ships were in a perilous con- 
 dition already. He had manned no less than six 
 prizes, which had reduced his short crew almost 
 to a prohibitive degree. On board the Alfred he 
 had over one hundred and fifty prisoners, a number 
 greatly in excess of his own men ; his water casks 
 were nearly empty, and his provisions were ex- 
 hausted. He had six prizes with him, one of ex- 
 ceptional value. Nothing could be gained by lin- 
 gering on the coast, and he decided, therefore, to 
 return. 
 
 The little squadron, under convoy of the Alfred 
 and the armed privateer, which he had manned and 
 placed under the command of Lieutenant Saunders, 
 made its way toward the south in the fierce winter 
 weather. Off St. George's Bank they again en- 
 countered the Milford. It was late in the afternoon 
 when her^topsails rose above the horizon. The wind 
 was blowing fresh from the northwest ; the Alfred 
 and her prizes were on the starboard tack, the enemy 
 was to windward. From his previous experience 
 Jones was able fairly to estimate the speed of the
 
 THE MILFORD AGAIN. 
 
 57 
 
 Milford. A careful examination convinced him that 
 it would be impossible for the latter to close with 
 his ships before nightfall. He therefore placed the 
 Alfred and the privateer between the English frigate 
 lasking down upon them and the rest of his ships, 
 and continued his course. He then signaled the 
 prizes, with the exception of the privateer, that they 
 should disregard any orders or signals which he 
 might give in the night, and hold on as they were. 
 
 The prizes were slow sailers, and, as the slowest 
 necessarily set the pace for the whole squadron, the 
 Milford gradually overhauled them. At the close of 
 the short winter day, when the night fell and the 
 darkness rendered sight of the pursued impossible, 
 Jones showed a set of lantern signals, and, hanging 
 a top light on the Alfred, right where it would be 
 seen by the Englishmen, at midnight, followed by 
 the privateer, he changed his course directly away 
 from the prizes. The Milford promptly altered her 
 course and pursued the light. The prizes, in obedi- 
 ence to their orders, held on as they were. At day- 
 break the prizes were nowhere to be seen, and the 
 Milford was booming along after the privateer and 
 the Alfred. 
 
 To run was no part of Paul Jones* desires, and 
 he determined to make a closer inspection of the 
 Milford, with a view to engaging if a possibility of 
 capturing her presented itself; so he bore up and 
 headed for the oncoming British frigate. The 
 privateer did the same. A nearer view, however, 
 developed the strength of the enemy, and convinced 
 him that it would be madness to attempt to engage 
 with the Alfred and the privateer in the condition he
 
 58 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 then was, so he hauled aboard his port tacks once 
 more, and, signaling to the privateer, stood off 
 again. For some reason Jones imagined that it 
 was caused by a mistaken idea of the strength of 
 the Milford Saunders signaled to Jones that the 
 Milford was of inferior force, and disregarding his 
 orders foolishly ran down under her lee from a posi- 
 tion of perfect safety, and was captured without a 
 blow. The lack of proper subordination in the nas- 
 cent navy of the United States brought about many 
 disasters, and this was one of them. Jones char- 
 acterized this as an act of folly ; it is difficult to dis- 
 miss it thus mildly. I would fain do no man an 
 injustice, but if a man wanted to be a traitor that 
 is the way he would act. Jones' own account of 
 this adventure, which follows, is of deep interest : 
 
 " This led the Milford entirely out of the way 
 of the prizes, and particularly the clothing ship, 
 Mellish, for they were all out of sight in the morn- 
 ing. I had now to get out of the difficulty in the 
 best way I could. In the morning we again tacked, 
 and as the Milford did not make much appearance 
 I was unwilling to quit her without a certainty of 
 her superior force. She was out of shot, on the lee 
 quarter, and as I could only see her bow, I ordered 
 the letter of marque, Lieutenant Saunders, that held 
 a much better wind than the Alfred, to drop slowly 
 astern, until he could discover by a view of the 
 enemy's side whether she was of superior or in- 
 ferior force, and to make a signal accordingly. On 
 seeing Mr. Saunders drop astern, the Milford wore 
 suddenly and crowded sail toward the northeast.
 
 LOSS OF THE PRIVATEER. 59 
 
 This raised in me such doubts as determined me to 
 wear also, and give chase. Mr. Saunders steered by 
 the wind, while the Milford went lasking, and the 
 Alfred followed her with a pressed sail, so that Mr. 
 Saunders was soon almost hull down to windward. 
 At last the Milford tacked again, but I did not tack 
 the Alfred till I had the enemy's side fairly open, 
 and could plainly see her force. I then tacked about 
 ten o'clock. The Alfred being too light to be steered 
 by the wind, I bore away two points, while the Mil- 
 ford steered close by the wind, to gain the Alfred's 
 wake ; and by that means he dropped astern, not- 
 withstanding his superior sailing. The weather, 
 too, which became exceedingly squally, enabled me 
 to outdo the Milford by carrying more sail. I began 
 to be under no apprehension from the enemy's su- 
 periority, for there was every appearance of a severe 
 gale, which really took place in the night. To my 
 great surprise, however, Mr. Saunders, toward four 
 o'clock, bore down on the Milford, made .the signal 
 of her inferior force, ran under her lee, and was 
 taken!" 
 
 With the exception of one small vessel, which 
 was recaptured, the prizes all arrived safely, the 
 precious Mellish finally reaching the harbor of Dart- 
 mouth. The Alfred dropped anchor at Boston, De- 
 cember 15, 1/76. The news of the captured cloth- 
 ing reached Washington and gladdened his heart 
 and the hearts of his troops as well on the eve of 
 the battle of Trenton. 
 
 The reward for this brilliant and successful 
 cruise, the splendid results of which had been
 
 60 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 brought about by the most meager means, was an 
 order relieving him of the command of the Alfred 
 and assigning him to the Providence again. When 
 he arrived at Philadelphia the next spring he found 
 that by an act of Congress, on the loth of October, 
 1776, which had created a number of captains in 
 the navy, he, who had been first on the list of lieu- 
 tenants, and therefore the sixth ranking sea officer, 
 was now made the eighteenth captain. He was 
 passed over by men who had no claim whatever to 
 superiority on the score of their service to the Com- 
 monwealth, which had been inconsiderable or noth- 
 ing at all. Indeed, there was no man in the coun- 
 try who by merit or achievement was entitled to 
 precede him, except possibly Nicholas Biddle. 
 
 If the friendless Scotsman had commanded more 
 influence, more political prestige, so that he might 
 have been rewarded for his auspicious services by 
 placing him at the head of the navy, I venture to 
 believe that some glorious chapters in our marine 
 history would have been written.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SUPERSEDED IN RANK PROTESTS VAINLY AGAINST 
 
 THE INJUSTICE ORDERED TO COMMAND THE 
 
 RANGER HOISTS FIRST AMERICAN FLAG. 
 
 THE period between the termination of his last 
 cruise and his assignment to his next important 
 command was employed by Jones in vigorous and 
 proper protests against the arbitrary action of Con- 
 gress, which had deprived him of that position on 
 the navy list which was his just due, were either 
 merit, date of commission, or quality of service con- 
 sidered. To the ordinary citizen the question may 
 appear of little interest, but to the professional sol- 
 dier or sailor it is of the first importance. Indeed, 
 it is impossible to conceive of properly maintaining 
 an army or navy without regular promotion, defini- 
 tive station, and adequate reward of merit. To feel 
 that rank is temporary and position is at the will of 
 unreasonable and irresponsible direction is to under- 
 mine service. 
 
 The same injustice drove John Stark, of New 
 
 Hampshire, to resign the service with the pithy 
 
 . observation that an officer who could not protect 
 
 his own rights was unfit to be trusted with those of 
 
 his country. It did not prevent his winning the 
 
 61
 
 62 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 fight at Bennington, though. The same treatment 
 caused Daniel Morgan to seek that retirement from 
 which he was only drawn forth by his country's 
 peril to win the Battle of the Cowpens. And, lastly, 
 it was the same treatment which, in part at least, 
 made Arnold a traitor. Then, as ever, Congress 
 was continually meddling with matters of purely 
 military administration, to the very great detriment 
 of the service. 
 
 Jones has been censured as a jealous stickler for 
 rank, a quibbler about petty distinctions in trying 
 times. Such criticisms proceed from ignorance. If 
 there were nothing else, rank means opportunity. 
 The range of prospective enterprises is greater the 
 higher the rank. The little Scotsman was properly 
 tenacious of his prerogatives we could not admire 
 him if he were not so and naturally exasperated by 
 the arbitrary course of Congress, against which 
 he protested with all the vehemence of his passion- 
 ate, fiery, and it must be confessed somewhat irri- 
 table nature. On this subject he thus wrote to the 
 Marine Board at Philadelphia: 
 
 " I am now to inform you that by a letter from 
 Commodore Hopkins, dated on board the Warren, 
 January 14, 1777, which came to my hands a day 
 or two ago, I am superseded in the command of the 
 Alfred, in favour of Captain Hinrnan, and ordered 
 back to the sloop in Providence River. Whether 
 this order doth or doth not supersede also your 
 orders to me of the loth ult. you can best deter- 
 mine ; however, as I undertook the late expedition 
 at his (Commodore Hopkins') request, from a prin-
 
 SUPERSEDED IN RANK. 63 
 
 ciple of humanity, I mean not now to make a dif- 
 ficulty about trifles, especially when the good of 
 the service is to be consulted. As I am unconscious 
 of any neglect of duty or misconduct, since my ap- 
 pointment at the first as eldest lieutenant of the 
 navy, I can not suppose that you have intended to 
 set me aside in favour of any man who did not at 
 that time bear a captain's commission, unless, in- 
 deed, that man, by exerting his superior abilities, 
 hath rendered or can render more important serv- 
 ices to America. Those who stepped forth at the 
 first, in ships altogether unfit for war, were gen- 
 erally considered as frantic rather than wise men, 
 for it must be remembered that almost everything 
 then made against them. And although the success 
 in the affair with the Glasgow was not equal to 
 what it might have been, yet the blame ought not 
 to be general. The principal or principals in com- 
 mand alone are culpable, and the other officers, 
 while they stand unimpeached, have their full merit. 
 There were, it is true, divers persons, from misrep- 
 resentation, put into commission at the beginning, 
 without fit qualification, and perhaps the number 
 may have been increased by later appointments; 
 but it follows not that the gentleman or man of 
 merit should be neglected or overlooked on their 
 account. None other than a gentleman, as well as 
 a seaman both in theory and practice, is qualified 
 to support the character of a commission officer in 
 the navy ; nor is any man fit to command a ship of 
 war who is not also capable of communicating his 
 ideas on paper, in language that becomes his rank. 
 If this be admitted, the foregoing operations will
 
 64 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 be sufficiently clear ; but if further proof is required 
 it can easily be produced. 
 
 " When I entered into the service I was not 
 actuated by motives of self-interest. I stepped forth 
 as a free citizen of the world, in defense of the vio- 
 lated rights of mankind, and not in search of riches, 
 whereof, I thank God, I inherit a sufficiency ; but I 
 should prove my degeneracy were I not in the high- 
 est degree tenacious of my rank and seniority. As 
 a gentleman I can yield this point up only to per- 
 sons of superior abilities and superior merit, and 
 under such persons it would be my highest ambition 
 to learn. As this is the first time of my having ex- 
 pressed the least anxiety on my own account, I must 
 entreat your patience until I account to you for the 
 reason which hath given me this freedom of senti- 
 ment. It seems that Captain Hinman's commis- 
 sion is No. i, and that, in consequence, he who 
 was at first my junior officer by eight, hath expressed 
 himself as my senior officer in a manner which doth 
 himself no honour, and which cloth me signal in- 
 jury. There are also in the navy persons who have 
 not shown me fair play after the service I have ren- 
 dered them. I have even been blamed for the civili- 
 ties which I have shown to my prisoners, at the 
 request of one of whom I herein inclose an appeal, 
 which 1 must beg leave to lay before Congress. 
 Could you see the appellant's accomplished lady, 
 and the innocents their children, arguments in their 
 behalf would be unnecessary. As the base-minded 
 only are capable of inconsistencies, you will not 
 blame my free soul, which cin never stoop where I 
 can not also esteem. Could I, which I never can,
 
 PROTESTS VAINLY AGAINST THE INJUSTICE. 65 
 
 bear to be superseded, I should indeed deserve your 
 contempt and total neglect. I am therefore to en- 
 treat you to employ me in the most enterprising and 
 active service, accountable to your honourable board 
 only for my conduct, and connected as much as pos- 
 sible with gentlemen and men of good sense." 
 
 The letter does credit to his head and heart alike. 
 Matter and manner are both admirable. In it he is 
 at his best, and one paragraph shows that the gen- 
 erous sympathy he ever felt for a prisoner could 
 even be extended to the enemies of his country, so 
 that as far as he personally was concerned they 
 should suffer no needless hardship in captivity. 
 Considered as the production of a man whose life 
 from boyhood had been mainly spent upon the sea 
 in trading ships and slavers, with their limited op- 
 portunities for polite learning, and an entire absence 
 of that refined society without which education 
 rarely rises to the point of culture, the form and 
 substance of Jones' letters are surprising. Of this 
 and of most of the letters hereafter to be quoted only 
 words of approbation may be used. A just yet 
 modest appreciation of his own dignity, a proper 
 and resolute determination to maintain it, a total 
 failure to truckle to great men, an absence of syc- 
 ophancy and hypocrisy, a clear insight into the re- 
 quirements of a gentleman and an effortless rising 
 to his own high standard without unpleasant self- 
 assertion, are found in his correspondence. Consid- 
 ering the humble source from which he sprang, his 
 words, written and spoken, equally with his deeds, 
 indicate his rare qualities.
 
 66 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 It is probable that no disposition existed in Con- 
 gress to do him an injustice quite the reverse, in 
 fact ; but the claims of the representatives of the 
 several States, which were insistently put forth in 
 behalf of local individuals aspiring to naval station 
 from the various colonies in which the different 
 ships were building, were too strong to be disre- 
 garded. The central administration was at no time 
 sufficiently firm for a really strong government, and 
 conciliation and temporization were necessary. It 
 was only by the very highest quality of tact that 
 greater difficulties were overcome, and that more 
 glaring acts of injustice were not perpetrated. So 
 sensible w.ere the authorities of Jones' conduct, so 
 valuable had been his services on his last two 
 cruises, that while they were unable at that time, 
 in spite of his protests, to restore him to his proper 
 place in the list, as a concession to his ability and 
 merit orders were given him assigning him to the 
 command of the squadron consisting of the Alfred, 
 Columbus, Cabot, Hampden, and Providence, to 
 operate against Pensacola. 
 
 This was virtually creating him commander-in- 
 chief of the naval forces, for outside the ships 
 mentioned there were but few others worthy 
 of consideration. Natural jealousy had, how- 
 ever, arisen in the mind of Hopkins, the comman- 
 der-in-chief, at being thus superseded and ignored 
 through one of his own subordinates by Con- 
 gress, with which his relations had become so 
 strained that he affected fo disbelieve the validity 
 of the order assigning Jones to this duty, and, re- 
 fusing to comply therewith, retained the ships
 
 PROTESTS VAINLY AGAINST THE INJUSTICE. 67 
 
 under his command. The matter thereupon fell 
 through. 
 
 Finding all efforts to secure the squadron and 
 carry out these orders fruitless, Jones journeyed to 
 Philadelphia for the purpose of emphatically plac- 
 ing before the Marine Committee his grievances. 
 There a further shock awaited him. 
 
 " My conduct hitherto," he writes on this sub- 
 ject in the memorial addressed to Congress from the 
 Texel years after, " was so much approved of by 
 Congress that on the 5th of February, 17/7, I was 
 appointed, with unlimited orders, to command a 
 little squadron of the Alfred, Columbus, Cabot, 
 Hampden, and sloop Providence. Various impor- 
 tant services were pointed out, but I was left at free 
 liberty to make my election. That service, however, 
 did not take place; for the commodore, who had 
 three of the squadron blocked in at Providence, 
 affected to disbelieve my appointment, and would 
 not at last give me the necessary assistance. Find- 
 ing that he trifled with my applications as well as 
 the orders of Congress, I undertook a journey from 
 Boston to Philadelphia, in order to explain matters 
 to Congress in person. I took this step also be- 
 cause Captain Hinman had succeeded me in the 
 command of the Alfred, and, of course, the service 
 could not suffer through my absence. I arrived at 
 Philadelphia in the beginning of April. But what 
 was my surprise to find that, by a new line of navy 
 rank, which had taken place on the loth day of 
 October, 1776, all the officers that had stepped forth 
 at the beginning were superseded ! I was myself
 
 68 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 superseded by thirteen men, not one of whom did 
 (and perhaps some of them durst not) take the sea 
 against the British flag at the first ; for several of 
 them who were then applied to refused to venture, 
 and none of them has since been very happy in 
 proving their superior abilities. Among these thir- 
 teen there are individuals who can neither pretend 
 to parts nor education, and with whom, as a private 
 gentleman, I would disdain to associate. 
 
 " I leave your excellency and the Congress to 
 judge how this must affect a man of honour and 
 sensibility. 
 
 " I was told by President Hancock that what 
 gave me so much pain had been the effect of a mul- 
 tiplicity of business. He acknowledged the injus- 
 tice of that regulation, said it should make but a 
 nominal and temporary difference, and that in the 
 meantime I might assure myself that no navy offi- 
 cer stood higher in the opinion of Congress than, 
 myself." 
 
 The complete news of his displacement and 
 supersession in rank does not appear to have 
 reached him before this. His efforts to secure the 
 restoration of his rank proving useless, he applied 
 for immediate sea duty. The next attempt on the 
 part of the Marine Committee to gratify Jones's 
 wish for active service, and avail themselves of his 
 ability at the same time, took the shape of a resolu- 
 tion of Congress authorizing him to choose the best 
 of three ships which it was proposed to purchase in 
 Boston, which he was to command until some better 
 provision could be made for him. He was ordered
 
 SUGGESTS NAVAL REGULATIONS. 
 
 69 
 
 to that point to fit out the ship. During this period 
 of harassing anxiety he gave great attention to for- 
 mulating plans and making suggestions looking to 
 a more effective organization of the new naval estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 To Robert Morris, chairman of the committee, 
 on different occasions, he communicated his views 
 on this important subject in a series of valuable let- 
 ters, of which the following are pertinent extracts : 
 
 " As the regulations of the navy are of the ut- 
 most consequence, you will not think me presump- 
 tuous, if, with the utmost diffidence, I venture to 
 communicate to you such hints as, in my judgment, 
 will promote its honor and good government. I 
 could heartily wish that every commissioned officer 
 were to be previously examined ; for, to my certain 
 knowledge, there are persons who have already 
 crept into commission without abilities or fit quali- 
 fications ; I am myself far from desiring to be ex- 
 cused. From experience in ours, as well as from 
 my former intimacy with many officers of note in 
 the British navy, I am convinced that the parity of 
 rank between sea and land or marine officers is of 
 more consequence to the harmony of the sea service 
 than has generally been imagined. ... I propose 
 not our enemies as an example for our general imi- 
 tation ; yet, as their navy is the best regulated of 
 any in the world, we must, in some degree, imitate 
 them, and aim at such further improvement as may 
 one day make ours vie with and exceed theirs." 
 
 With regard to the difficulty of recruiting sea- 
 men, some of whom, finding the merchant service or
 
 70 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 coasting trade was broken up, had entered the army 
 at the beginning of the war, while many more had 
 engaged in privateering a much more profitable 
 vocation than the regular service he says : 
 
 " It is to the least degree distressing to contem- 
 plate the state and establishment of our navy. The 
 common class of mankind are actuated by no nobler 
 principle than that of self-interest ; this, and this 
 alone, determines all adventurers in privateers the 
 owners, as well as those whom they employ. And 
 while this is the case, unless the private emolument 
 of individuals in our navy is made superior to that 
 in privateers, it can never become respectable, it will 
 never become formidable. And without a respect- 
 able navy alas! America. In the present critical 
 situation of affairs human wisdom can suggest no 
 more than one infallible expedient : enlist the sea- 
 men during pleasure, and give them all the prizes. 
 What is the paltry emolument of two thirds of prizes 
 to the finances of this vast continent ? If so poor a 
 resource is essential to its independence, in sober 
 sadness we are involved in a woeful predicament, 
 and our ruin is fast approaching. The situation of 
 America is new in the annals of mankind ; her 
 affairs cry haste, and speed must answer them. 
 Trifles, therefore, ought to be wholly disregarded, 
 as being, in the old vulgar proverb, penny wise and 
 pound foolish. If our enemies, with the best estab- 
 lishment and most formidable navy in the universe, 
 have found it expedient to assign all prizes to the 
 captors, how much more is such policy essential to 
 our infant fleet! But I need use no arguments to
 
 SUGGESTS NAVAL REGULATIONS. 71 
 
 convince you of the necessity of making the emolu- 
 ments of our navy equal, if not superior, to theirs. 
 We have had proof that a navy may be officered 
 on almost any terms, but we are not so sure that 
 these officers are equal to their commissions ; nor 
 will the Congress ever obtain such certainty until 
 they in their wisdom see proper to appoint a board 
 of admiralty competent to determine impartially the 
 respective merits and abilities of their officers, and 
 to superintend, regulate, and point out all the mo- 
 tions and operations of the navy." 
 
 In another letter to Robert Morris he writes : 
 
 '' There are no officers more immediately wanted 
 in the marine department than commissioners of 
 dockyards, to superintend the building and outfits 
 of all ships of war ; with power to appoint deputies, 
 to provide, and have in constant readiness, sufficient 
 quantities of provisions, stores, and slops, so that 
 the small number of ships we have may be con- 
 stantly employed, and not continue idle, as they do at 
 present. Besides all the advantages that would arise 
 from such appointments, the saving which would 
 accrue to the continent is worth attending to. Had 
 such men been appointed at the first, the new ships 
 might have been at sea long ago. The difficulty now 
 lies in finding men who are deserving, and who are 
 fitly qualified for an office of such importance." 
 
 We are surprised at the clear insight of this un- 
 trained, inexperienced Scotsman, whom, by the way, 
 I shall hereafter call an American. Most of his 
 recommendations have long since been adopted in
 
 72 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 our own navy and other navies of the world. His 
 conclusions are the results of his long and thorough 
 professional study, his habits of application, his 
 power of comprehension and faculty of clear and 
 explicit statement. His observations would do 
 credit to the most trained observer with large ex- 
 perience back of his observation. 
 
 Another curious letter to a former friend on the 
 island of Tobago, written at this time, which deals 
 with certain investments in property with balances 
 due him from his various trading ventures, contains 
 the following statement : 
 
 " As I hope my dear mother is still alive, I must 
 inform you that I wish my property in Tobago, or in 
 England, after paying my just debts, to be applied 
 for her support. Your own feelings, my dear sir, 
 make it unnecessary for me to use arguments to 
 prevail with you on this tender point. Any remit- 
 tances which you may be enabled to make, through 
 the hands of my good friend Captain John Plainer, 
 of Cork, will be faithfully put into her hands ; she 
 hath several orphan grandchildren to provide for." 
 
 All of which plainly indicates that, though a citi- 
 zen of another country and the bearer of another 
 name, he still retained those natural feelings of affec- 
 tion which his enemies would fain persuade us were 
 not in his being. 
 
 While waiting at Boston for the purchase of the 
 ships referred to, he was selected by Congress to 
 command a heavy ship of war, a frigate to be called 
 the Indien, then building at Amsterdam, which un- 
 doubtedly would be the most formidable vessel in
 
 ORDERED TO THE AMPHITRITE. 73 
 
 the American service. This would be not only a 
 just tribute to his merit, but would also solve the 
 difficulty about relative rank, for he would be the 
 highest ranking officer in Continental waters, and 
 there could be no conflict of authority. He was 
 directed to proceed at once to Europe to take com- 
 mand of this ship. The Marine Committee sent the 
 following letter, addressed to the commissioners of 
 the United States in Europe, to Paul Jones, for him 
 to present to them on his arrival in France : 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, May 9, 7777. 
 
 " HONOURABLE GENTLEMEN : This letter is in- 
 tended to be delivered to you by John Paul Jones, 
 Esquire, an active and brave commander in our 
 navy, who has already performed signal services in 
 vessels of little force; and, in reward for his zeal, 
 we have directed him to go on board the Amphitrite, 
 a French ship of twenty guns, that brought in a valu- 
 able cargo of stores from Messrs. Hortalez & Co.,* 
 and with her to repair to France. He takes with 
 him his commission, and some officers and men, so 
 that we hope he will, under that sanction, make some 
 good prizes with the Amphitrite ; but our design 
 of sending him is, with the approbation of Congress, 
 that you may purchase one of those fine frigates that 
 Mr. Deane writes us you can get, and invest him 
 with the command thereof as soon as possible. We 
 hope you may not delay this business one moment, 
 but purchase, in such port or place in Europe as it 
 can be .done with most convenience and dispatch, a 
 
 * A fictitious house, under the name of which the com- 
 missioners sent out military stores.
 
 74 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 fine, fast-sailing frigate, or. larger ship. Direct Cap- 
 tain Jones where he must repair to, and he will take 
 with him his officers and men toward manning her. 
 You will assign him some good house or agent, to 
 supply him with everything necessary, to get the 
 ship speedily and well equipped and manned ; some- 
 body that will bestir himself vigorously in the busi- 
 ness, and never quit it until it is accomplished. 
 
 " If you have any plan or service to be per- 
 formed in Europe by such a ship, that you think will 
 be more for the interest and honour of the States 
 than sending her out directly, Captain Jones is in- 
 structed to obey your orders; and, to save repeti- 
 tion, let him lay before you the instructions we have 
 given him, and furnish you with a copy thereof. 
 You can then judge what will be necessary for you 
 to direct him in ; and whatever you do will be ap- 
 proved, as it will undoubtedly tend to promote the 
 public service of this country. 
 
 " You see by this step how much dependence 
 Congress places in your advices ; and you must 
 make it a point not to disappoint Captain Jones' 
 wishes and expectations on this occasion. 
 
 At the same time the committee sent the follow- 
 ing letter to Jones himself : 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, May g, 7777. 
 
 " SIR : Congress have thought proper to author- 
 ize the Secret Committee to employ you on a voy- 
 age in the Amphitrite, from Portsmouth to Carolina 
 and France, where it is expected you will be pro- 
 vided with a fine frigate ; and as your present com- 
 mission is for the command of a particular ship, we
 
 ORDERED TO COMMAND THE RANGER. 
 
 75 
 
 now send you a new one, whereby you are appointed 
 a captain in our navy, and of course may com- 
 mand any ship in the service to which you are par- 
 ticularly ordered. You are to obey the orders of the 
 Secret Committee, and we are, sir, etc." 
 
 The Amphitrite, which was to carry out Jones 
 and the other officers and seamen to man the pro- 
 posed frigate, was an armed merchantman. The 
 French commander of the Amphitrite, however, 
 made great difficulty with regard to surrendering his 
 command to Jones, and even to receiving him and 
 his men on board the ship, and through his persist- 
 ent and vehement objections this promising ar- 
 rangement likewise fell through. Jones continued 
 his importunities for a command, however, his de- 
 sire being then, as always, for active service. Final- 
 ly, by the following resolutions passed by Congress 
 on the 1 4th of June, he was appointed to the sloop 
 of war Ranger, then nearing completion at Ports- 
 mouth, New Hampshire : 
 
 " Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United 
 States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; 
 that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, 
 representing a new constellation. 
 
 " Resolved, That Captain Paul Jones be appointed 
 to command the ship Ranger. 
 
 " Resolved, That William Whipple, Esquire, 
 member of Congress and of the Marine Committee, 
 John Langdon, Esquire, Continental agent, and the 
 said John Paul Jones be authorized to appoint lieu- 
 tenants and other commissioned and warrant officers 
 necessary for the said ship ; and that blank commis-
 
 76 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 sions and warrants be sent them, to be filled up 
 with the names of the persons they appoint, returns 
 whereof to be made to the navy board in the Eastern 
 Department." 
 
 At last, having received something tangible, he 
 hastened to Portsmouth as soon as his orders were 
 delivered to him, and assumed the command. It is 
 claimed, perhaps with justice, that his hand was 
 the first to hoist the new flag of the Republic, the 
 Stars and Stripes, to the masthead of a war ship, as 
 it had been the first to hoist the first flag of any sort 
 at the masthead of the Alfred, not quite two years 
 before. The date of this striking event is not known. 
 
 It is interesting to note the conjunction of Jones 
 with the flag in this resolution ; an association justi- 
 fied by his past, and to be further justified by his 
 future, conduct, and by the curious relationship in 
 which he was brought to the colors of the United 
 States by his opportune action upon various occa- 
 sions. The name of no other man is so associated 
 with our flag as is his.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FIRST CRUISE OF THE RANGER SALUTE TO THE 
 AMERICAN FLAG. 
 
 IN spite of the most assiduous effort on the part 
 of Jones, he was unable to get the Ranger ready for 
 sea before October, and the following extract from 
 another letter to the Marine Committee shows the 
 difficulties under which he labored, and the inade- 
 quate equipment and outfit with which he finally 
 sailed. 
 
 " With all my industry I could not get the single 
 suit of sails completed until the 2Oth current. Since 
 that time the winds and weather have laid me under 
 the necessity of continuing in port. At this time 
 it blows a very heavy gale from the northeast. The 
 ship with difficulty rides it out, with yards and top- 
 masts struck, and whole cables ahead. When it 
 clears up I expect the wind from the northwest, and 
 shall not fail to embrace it, although I have not a 
 spare sail nor materials to make one. Some of those 
 I have are made of hissings.* I never before had 
 so disagreeable service to perform as that which I 
 
 * A coarse thin stuff, a very poor substitute for the ordi- 
 nary canvas. 
 
 77
 
 78 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 have now accomplished, and of which another will 
 claim the credit as well as the profit. However, in 
 doing my utmost, I am sensible that I have done no 
 more than my duty." 
 
 The instructions under which Jones sailed for 
 Europe are outlined in the following orders from the 
 Marine' Committee : 
 
 " As soon as these instructions get to hand you 
 are to make immediate application to the proper 
 persons to get your vessel victualed and fitted for 
 sea with all expedition. When this is done you are 
 to proceed on a voyage to some convenient port in 
 France ; on your arrival there, apply to the agent, if 
 any, in or near said port, for such supplies as you 
 may stand in need of. You are at the same time to 
 give immediate notice, by letter, to the Honourable 
 Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, 
 Esquires, or any of them at Paris, of your arrival, 
 requesting their instructions as to your further des- 
 tination, which instructions you are to obey as far 
 as it shall be in your power. 
 
 " You are to take particular notice that while on 
 the coast of France, or in a French port, you are, as 
 much as you conveniently can, to keep your guns 
 covered and concealed, and to make as little war- 
 like appearance as possible." 
 
 In the original plan the ship was heavily over- 
 armed, being pierced for twenty-six guns. Consid- 
 ering her size and slight construction, Jones exer- 
 cised his usual good" judgment by refusing to take 
 more than eighteen" gnns, the ordinary complement
 
 THE FIRST CRUISE OF THE RANGER. 
 
 79 
 
 for a ship of her class. These were 6-pounders 
 manufactured in the United States and ill propor- 
 tioned, being several calibres short in the length of 
 the barrel, according to a statement of the captain 
 a most serious defect. To all these disabilities was 
 added an inefficient and insubordinate first lieu- 
 tenant named Simpson, who probably had been ap- 
 pointed to this responsible position on account of 
 the considerable family influence which was back 
 of him. He was related to the Hancocks among 
 others. The crew was a fair one, but was spoiled 
 eventually by the example of Simpson and other 
 officers. On the first of November, 1777, the im- 
 perfectly provided Ranger took her departure from 
 Portsmouth bound for Europe. Her captain la- 
 ments the fact that she had but thirty gallons of 
 rum aboard for the men to drink, a serious defect in 
 those grog-serving days. Before sailing, Jones made 
 large advances from his private funds to the men, 
 the Government being already in his debt to the 
 amount of fifteen hundred pounds, for previous ad- 
 vances to the men of the Alfred and the Provi- 
 dence. None of these advances were repaid until 
 years after. These facts are evidence, by the way, 
 that he had finally realized considerable sums of 
 money from his brother's estate, for he had no 
 other financial resource save his West Indian 
 investments, which were worth nothing to him at 
 this time. 
 
 Wickes, Johnston, and Cunningham, in the Re- 
 prisal, Lexington, Surprise, and Revenge, insig- 
 nificant vessels of inferior force, had by their bril- 
 liant and successful cruising in the English Chan-
 
 8o COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 nel demonstrated the possibility of operations 
 against British commerce in that supposedly safe 
 quarter of the ocean. Paul Jones was now to under- 
 take, upon a larger scale, similar operations with 
 much more astounding results. 
 
 On the way over, two prizes, both brigantines, 
 laden with wine and fruit, were captured. Nearing 
 the other side, the Ranger fell in with ten sail of mer- 
 chantmen from the Mediterranean, under convoy of 
 the line of battle ship Invincible, 74. Jones made 
 strenuous efforts to cut out one of the convoy, but 
 they clung so closely to the line of battle ship that 
 he found it impossible to bring about his design, 
 though he remained in sight of the convoy during 
 one whole day. Had the Ranger been swifter or 
 handier, he might have effected something, but she 
 was very crank and slow as well. 
 
 On the 2d of December the sloop of war dropped 
 anchor in the harbor of Nantes. Jones sent his let- 
 ters and instructions to the commissioners, and had 
 the pleasure of confirming to them the news of the 
 surrender of Burgoyne and his army, which was 
 probably the most important factor in bringing 
 about the subsequent alliance between America and 
 France. While awaiting a reply to his letters he 
 busied himself in repairing the defects and weak- 
 nesses of his ship so far as his limited means per- 
 mitted. Her trim was altered, ballast restowed, and 
 a large quantity of lead taken on board ; the lower 
 masts were shortened several feet, and every other 
 change which his skill and experience dictated was 
 made on the ship. The results greatly conduced to 
 her efficiency. It may be stated here that Jones was
 
 THE FIRST CRUISE OF THE RANGER. 8 1 
 
 a thorough and accomplished seaman, and no man 
 was capable of getting more out of a ship than he. 
 From a slow, crank, unwieldy vessel he developed 
 the sloop of war into a handy, amenable ship, and 
 very much increased her speed. 
 
 In January, 1778, in obedience to instructions 
 from the commissioners, he visited them in Paris 
 and explained to them in detail his proposed plan 
 of action. Alone among the naval commanders of 
 his day does he appear to have appreciated that com- 
 merce destroying can be best carried on and the 
 enemy most injured by concentrated attacks by mo- 
 bile and efficient force upon large bodies of shipping 
 in harbors and home ports, rather than by sporadic 
 cruising in more or less frequented seas. He had 
 come across with the hope of taking command of 
 the fine frigate Indien, then building in Holland, and 
 then, with the Ranger and such other ships as might 
 be procured, carrying out his ideas by a series of 
 bold descents upon the English coasts. But while 
 the ministers of the King of France were hesitating, 
 or perhaps better perfecting their plans preparatory 
 to announcing an alliance offensive and defensive 
 with this country, it was deemed of the utmost im- 
 portance that no occasion should be given the Brit- 
 ish which would enable them unduly to hasten the 
 course of events. The suspicion of the British Gov- 
 ernment was aroused with respect to the Indien, 
 however, and it was thought best, under the cir- 
 cumstances, to pretend that she was being made for 
 the Government of France, with which England was 
 then nominally at peace. In any event, work upon 
 her had been so delayed that she was very far from 
 7
 
 82 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 completion, and would not have been available for 
 months. 
 
 Thus was Jones deprived of the enjoyment of 
 this command, to his great personal regret, to the 
 disarrangement of his plans, and to the detriment of 
 the cause he was so gallantly to support. There 
 was no other ship nor were any smaller vessels then 
 available for him, and he was therefore of necessity 
 continued in the command of the Ranger. 
 
 This in itself was annoying, and produced a se- 
 quence of events of a most unfortunate character. 
 Lieutenant Simpson had been promised the com- 
 mand of the Ranger when Jones took over the In- 
 dien, and the failure to keep this promise entailed by 
 the circumstances mentioned, embittered Simpson 
 to such a degree that his efficiency never of the 
 first order was greatly impaired, and so long as he 
 remained under the command of Jones he was a 
 smoldering brand of discontent and disobedience. 
 
 On the loth of January Jones, who had rejoined 
 his ship, wrote at great length to Silas Deane, one 
 of the commissioners, suggesting a plan whereby, 
 in case the proposed alliance between France and 
 the rebellious colonies were consummated, a mag- 
 nificent blow might be struck against England, and 
 the cause of the Revolution thereby greatly fur- 
 thered. He urged that Admiral D'Estaing should 
 be dispatched with a great fleet to pen up and cap- 
 ture Lord Howe, then operating in the Delaware 
 with an inferior fleet. There is no doubt that this 
 conception was essentially sound, and if he himself 
 could have been intrusted with the carrying out of 
 the plan the results would have been most happy ;
 
 A BOLD PLAN. 83 
 
 but, in order to effect anything, in peace or war, 
 prompt action is as necessary as careful planning 
 and wise decision. 
 
 When the French did finally adopt the plan they 
 found that their dilatory proceedings, their failure 
 to take immediate advantage of past preparation, 
 and their substitution of Toulon for Brest as a naval 
 point of departure, doomed the enterprise to failure. 
 Lord Howe, hearing of the attempt, and realizing 
 his precarious and indefensive position in the Dela- 
 ware, made haste to return to his old anchorage in 
 New York. When D'Estaing, urged by Washing- 
 ton, arrived off the harbor, he was deterred from 
 attacking Lord Howe's inferior force by the rep- 
 resentations of the pilots, who stated that there was 
 not enough water on the bar for the greater ships 
 of the line. While, therefore, Jones' suggestion 
 came to nothing, it is interesting and instructive to 
 contemplate this project ofhis fertile brain. An- 
 other enterprise proposed by him involved an ex- 
 pedition to take the island of St. Helena, and with 
 it as a base of attack attempt the capture of the 
 numerous Indiameri which either stopped at James- 
 town or passed near the island. This too was un- 
 heeded. 
 
 While these matters were under consideration, the 
 Ranger sailed from Nantes to Quiberon Bay early 
 in February, 1778, having under convoy several 
 American trading ships which were desirous of join- 
 ing a great fleet of merchant vessels assembling at 
 that point. These vessels were to be convoyed past 
 Cape Finisterre on their way across the Atlantic by 
 a heavy French squadron of five line of battle ships
 
 84 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 and several frigates and sloops under the command 
 of La Motte Piquet. 
 
 On the 1 3th of February the Ranger hove to 
 off the bay. The wind was blowing furiously, as it 
 frequently does on the rocky confines of that bold 
 shore, off which a few years before the great Lord 
 Hawke had signally defeated Conflans ; but, instead 
 of running to an anchorage immediately, Jones sent 
 a boat ashore, and through the American resident 
 agent communicated to the French commander his 
 intention of entering the bay the next day and salut- 
 ing him ; asking, as was customary, that the salute 
 be returned. The French admiral courteously re- 
 plied that he would return four guns less than the 
 number he received, his instructions being to that 
 effect, and in accordance with the custom of his 
 navy when an interchange of sea courtesies took 
 place between the fleets of France and those of a 
 republic. This was not satisfactory to the doughty 
 American, and he addressed the following letter to 
 the American agent for the French commander : 
 
 ' ' February 14, 1778. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : I am extremely sorry to give you 
 fresh trouble, but I think the admiral's answer of 
 yesterday requires an explanation. The haughty 
 English return gun for gun to foreign officers of 
 equal rank, and two less only to captains by flag 
 officers. It is true, my command at present is not 
 important, yet, as the senior American officer at 
 present in Europe, it is my duty to claim an equal 
 return of respect to the flag of the United States that 
 would be shown to any other flag whatever.
 
 SALUTE TO THE AMERICAN FLAG. 85 
 
 " I therefore take the liberty of inclosing an 
 appointment, perhaps as respectable as any which 
 the French admiral can produce ; besides which, I 
 have others in my possession. 
 
 " If, however, he persists in refusing to return 
 an equal salute, I will accept of two guns less, as I 
 have not the rank of admiral. 
 
 " It is my opinion that he would return four less 
 to a privateer or a merchant ship ; therefore, as I 
 have been honoured oftener than once with a chief 
 command of ships of war, I can not in honour ac- 
 cept of the same terms of respect. 
 
 " You will singularly oblige me by waiting upon 
 the admiral ; and I ardently hope you will succeed 
 in the application, else I shall be under a necessity 
 of departing without coming into the bay. 
 
 I have the honour to be, etc. 
 " To WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, ESQ. 
 
 " N. B. Though thirteen guns is your greatest 
 salute in America, yet if the French admiral should 
 prefer a greater number he has his choice on con- 
 ditions." 
 
 A great stickler for his rights and for all the 
 prerogatives of his station was John Paul Jones. In 
 this instance he was maintaining the dignity of the 
 United States by insisting upon a proper recogni- 
 tion of his command. 
 
 However, having learned afterward that the con- 
 tention of the French admiral was correct, Jones de- 
 termined to accept the indicated return, realizing 
 with his usual keenness that the gist of the matter 
 lay in receiving any salute rather than in the number
 
 86 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 of guns which it comprised ; so the Ranger got under 
 way late in the evening of the I4th, and beat in 
 toward the harbor. It was almost dark when she 
 drew abreast the great French flagship. Backing 
 his main-topsail, the 6-pounders on the main deck 
 of the Ranger barked out their salute of thirteen 
 guns, which was promptly returned by the French 
 commander with nine heavy guns from the battle 
 ship. 
 
 It was the first time the Stars and Stripes had 
 been saluted on the high seas. It was, in fact, the 
 first official recognition of the existence of this new 
 power by the authorized military representatives of 
 any civilized nation. A Dutch governor of St. Eu- 
 statius, a year before, had saluted an American 
 ensign not the Stars and Stripes, of course on one 
 of our cruisers, but the act had been disavowed and 
 the governor promptly recalled for his presumption. 
 
 As this little transaction between Paul Jones and 
 La Motte Piquet had occurred so late at night, the 
 American sent word to the Frenchman that he pro- 
 posed to sail through his line in broad daylight on 
 the morrow, with the brig Independence, a privateer 
 temporarily attached to his command, and salute 
 him in the open light of day. With great good 
 humor and complaisance, La Motte Piquet again 
 expressed his intention of responding. Accordingly, 
 the next morning, Jones repaired on board the In- 
 dependence, which had been lying to during the 
 night outside of signal distance, and, having made 
 everything as smart and as shipshape as possible 
 on the little vessel, with the newest and brightest of 
 American ensigns flying from every masthead, the
 
 SALUTE TO THE AMERICAN FLAG. 87 
 
 little brig sailed past the towering walls of the great 
 ships of the line, saluting and receiving their reply. 
 There were no doubts in any one's mind as to the 
 reality of the salute to the flag after that ! 
 
 It must have been a proud moment for the man 
 who had hoisted the pine-tree flag for the first time 
 on the Alfred ; for the man who had been the first 
 officer of the American navy to receive promotion ; 
 for the man who had first flung the Stars and Stripes 
 to the breeze from the masthead of a ship ; for the 
 man who, in his little vessel, trifling and inconsider- 
 able as she was, was yet about to maintain the 
 honor of that flag with unexampled heroism in the 
 home waters and in the presence of the proudest, 
 most splendid, and most efficient navy of the world. 
 That 1 5th of February, that bright, cold, clear winter 
 morning, is one of the memorable anniversaries in 
 the history of our nation. 
 
 Writing to the Marine Committee on the 22d of 
 February, 1778, he says: 
 
 " I am happy in having it in my power to con- 
 gratulate you on my having seen the American flag 
 for the first time recognized in the fullest and com- 
 pletest manner by the flag of France. I was off 
 their bay the I3th instant, and sent my boat in the 
 next day, to know if the admiral would return my 
 salute. He answered that he would return to me, 
 as the senior American Continental officer in Eu- 
 rope, the same salute which he was authorized by 
 his court to return to an admiral of Holland, or any 
 other republic, which was four guns less than he 
 galute given. I hesitated at this, for I demande4
 
 88 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 gun for gun. Therefore I anchored in the entrance 
 of the bay, at a distance from the French fleet ; but, 
 after a" very particular inquiry on the 14th, finding 
 that he had really told the truth, I was induced to 
 accept of his offer, the more so as it was, in fact, an 
 acknowledgment of American independence. The 
 wind being contrary and blowing hard, it was after 
 sunset before the Ranger got near enough to salute 
 La Motte Piquet with thirteen guns, which he re- 
 turned with nine. However, to put the matter be- 
 yond a doubt, I did not suffer the Independence to 
 salute till next morning, when I sent the admiral 
 word that I would sail through his fleet in the brig, 
 and would salute him in open day. He was exceed- 
 ingly pleased, and he returned the compliment also 
 with nine guns." 
 
 The much-talked-of treaty of alliance between 
 France and the United States had been secretly 
 signed six days before, but neither of the partici- 
 pants of this interchange of sea courtesies was then 
 aware of this fact. Having discharged his duties 
 by placing the merchant ships he had convoyed un- 
 der La Motte Piquet's command, Jones left Qui- 
 beron Bay and went to Brest, where there was as- 
 sembled a great French fleet under the famous 
 Comte D'Orvilliers. Jones had the pleasure of 
 again receiving, by the courtesy of that gallant 
 officer, a reply to the Ranger's salute from the great 
 guns of the flagship La Bretagne. 
 
 The Frenchman, whose acquaintance Jones 
 promptly made, was much attracted by his daring 
 and ingenuous personality, and, having been advised
 
 SALUTE TO THE AMERICAN FLAG. 89 
 
 of the disappointment caused by the loss of the In- 
 dien, he offered to procure him a commission as a 
 captain in the French navy and assign him to a 
 heavy frigate instead of the petty sloop of war at 
 present under his command an unprecedented 
 honor. Had Jones been the mere soldier of fortune 
 which his enemies have endeavored to maintain he 
 was, this brilliant offer would have met with a ready 
 acceptance. The French marine, through the 
 strenuous efforts of the king and his ministers, was 
 then in a most flourishing condition. The terrific 
 defeats at the close of the century and the beginning 
 of the next were still in the womb of events and 
 had not been brought forth, and the prospects of 
 its success were exceedingly brilliant. With the 
 backing of D'Orvilliers and his own capacity, speedy 
 promotion and advancement might easily be pre- 
 dicted for the American. He refused decisively to 
 accept the flattering offer, and remained with the 
 Ranger. 
 
 On the loth of April, having done what he could 
 to put the ship in efficient trim, he sailed from Brest 
 under the following orders : 
 
 " PARIS, January f6, 1778. 
 
 " SIR : As it is not in our power to procure you 
 such a ship ?s you expected, we advise you, after 
 equipping the Ranger in the best manner for the 
 cruise you propose, that you proceed with her in 
 the manner you shall judge best for distressing the 
 enemies of the United States, by sea or otherwise, 
 consistent with the laws of war and the terms of 
 your commission." (Directions here follow for
 
 QO COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 sending prizes taken on the coasts of France and 
 Spain into Bilboa or Corogne, unless the danger 
 was too great, in which case they were to be sent 
 to L'Orient or Bordeaux.) " If you make an at- 
 tempt on the coast of Great Britain we advise you 
 not to return immediately into the ports of France, 
 unless forced by stress of weather or the pursuit of 
 the enemy ; and in such case you can make the 
 proper representation to the officers of the port, and 
 acquaint us with your situation. We rely on your 
 ability, as well as your zeal, to serve the United 
 States, and therefore do not give you particular in- 
 structions as to your operations. We must caution 
 you against giving any cause of complaint to the 
 subjects of France or Spain, or of other neutral 
 powers, and recommend it to you to show them 
 every proper mark of respect and real civility which 
 may be in your power." 
 
 These orders had been dated and issued to him 
 some months before, but were not modified or re- 
 voked in the interim. He was given an opportunity 
 to carry out so much of his proposed plan for at- 
 tacking the English coast as was possible with his 
 single ship.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SECOND CRUISE OF THE RANGER THE DESCENT 
 ON WHITEHAVEN THE ATTEMPT ON LORD SEL- 
 KIRK THE CAPTURE OF THE DRAKE. 
 
 THE first few days of the cruise were uneventful. 
 On the I4th of April, 1778, between the Scilly Isles 
 and Cape Clear, the Ranger captured a brig bound 
 for Ireland loaded with flaxseed. As the prize and 
 her cargo were not worth sending in, the vessel was 
 burned at sea. On the i7th, off St. George's Chan- 
 nel, they overhauled a large ship, the Lord Chatham, 
 loaded with porter en route irom London to Dublin. 
 The ship and cargo being of great value one likes 
 to think how the porter must have appealed to the 
 seamen, who, it is quite likely, were permitted to 
 regale themselves to a limited extent from the cargo 
 she was manned and sent back to Brest as a prize. 
 After this capture Jones proceeded up the Irish 
 Channel, heading to the northeast, and on the i8th, 
 finding himself off the northern extremity of the 
 Isle of Man, and in line with Whitehaven, he at- 
 tempted to carry out a preconceived project of de- 
 stroying the shipping in the port ; being determined, 
 as he says, by one great burning of ships to put an 
 end to the burnings and ravagings and maraudings
 
 92 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 of the British upon the undefended coasts of North 
 America. 
 
 The wind was blowing from the east, and he 
 beat up against it toward the town, where he hoped 
 to find a large number of ships in the harbor. The 
 adverse wind delayed him, however, and it was not 
 until ten o'clock at night that the Ranger reached a 
 point from which it was practicable to dispatch the 
 boats. Preparations were hastily made, and the 
 boats were called away and manned by volunteers. 
 The boats were already in the water when the wind 
 suddenly shifted and blew hard on shore, so that 
 the Ranger was forced to beat out to sea promptly 
 to avoid taking ground on the shoals under her lee. 
 The expedition, therefore, for that time, was aban- 
 doned, the boats were swung up to the davits, and 
 the Ranger filled away again. 
 
 The next morning, off the Mull of Galloway, 
 they captured a schooner loaded with barley and 
 sunk her. Learning from some prisoners that ten 
 or twelve large ships, under the protection of a small 
 tender, were anchored in Lochvyau, Scotland, 
 Jones ran for that harbor, intending to destroy them, 
 but the variable weather, as before, interfered with 
 his plans, and a sudden squall drove the Ranger 
 into the open once s more and saved the ships. He 
 captured and sunk a small Irish fishing sloop, mak- 
 ing prisoners of the fishermen, that same afternoon. 
 The sloop was of no value to Jones, and he would 
 have let her go had it not been that he feared the 
 alarm would be given. He treated the fishermen 
 kindly, however, and, as we shall see, in the end they 
 suffered no loss from his action.
 
 THE SECOND CRUISE OF THE RANGER. 93 
 
 On the 2Oth he captured a sloop loaded with 
 grain, and on the 2ist, off Carrickfergus, he took an- 
 other small fishing boat. Learning from the fisher- 
 men that the British man-of-war Drake, twenty 
 guns and a hundred and fifty men, was lying at 
 anchor in Belfast Lough, he promptly determined 
 upon a bold scheme to effect her capture. Beating 
 to and fro off the mouth of the Lough until the 
 evening, as soon as it was dark he ran for the har- 
 bor, proposing tq lay his vessel athwart the hawse 
 of the Drake, lying unsuspiciously at anchor, drop 
 his own anchor over the cable of the English sloop 
 of war, and capture her by boarding. 
 
 Every preparation was made to carry out this 
 brilliant coup de main. The crew were mustered at 
 quarters, armed for boarding with pike or cutlass 
 and pistol, the best shots were told off to sweep the 
 decks of the Drake with small-arm fire, guns were 
 loaded and primed, and so on. It was blowing 
 heavily as the Ranger under reduced canvas dashed 
 gallantly into the harbor. With masterly seaman- 
 ship Jones brought her to in exactly the right posi- 
 tion, and gave the order to let go the anchor. His 
 orders were not obeyed, through the negligence of 
 a drunken boatswain, it was said, and the anchor was 
 not dropped until the Ranger had drifted down past 
 the lee quarter of the Drake, when she brought up. 
 The position of the American was now one of ex- 
 treme peril. The Ranger lay under the broadside of 
 the Drake, subjected to her fire and unable to make 
 reply. 
 
 The watch kept on the British ship, however, 
 must have been very careless. In the darkness of
 
 94 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the night, too, the guns of the Ranger being run in, 
 it is probable that if they observed her they took 
 her for a clumsy merchantman. Enjoining perfect 
 silence on the part of his crew, with the greatest 
 coolness Jones took the necessary steps to extricate 
 the vessel from her dangerous position. The cable 
 was cut, sail made, and under a heavy press of can- 
 vas the Ranger beat out of the harbor, barely clear- 
 ing the entrance, and only escaping wreck by the 
 consummate ability df her captain. 
 
 The plan was brilliantly conceived, and would 
 have been successful but for the mischance, or de- 
 lay, in dropping the anchor. The crew originally 
 was only a fair one, as has been stated, and, ow- 
 ing to the fact that their wages had not been paid, 
 they were in a more or less mutinous state by this 
 time. Jones was covetous of glory only. A less 
 mercenary man never lived. To fight and conquer 
 was his aim, but in this he radically differed from 
 the ideas of his officers and men. Where he wrote 
 honor and fame they saw plunder and prize money, 
 and it was sometimes difficult to get them to obey 
 orders and properly to work the ship. 
 
 After leaving Belfast the Ranger ratched over to 
 the southern coast of Scotland to ride out the sud- 
 den and furious gale under the lee of the land. The 
 wind had abated by the morning of the 22d, and 
 the sun rose bright and clear, discovering from the 
 tops of the Ranger a beautiful prospect of the three 
 kingdoms covered with snow as far as the eye could 
 see. The wind now set fair for Whitehaven, and 
 Jones squared away for that port to carry out his 
 previous project. The breeze fell during the day,
 
 THE DESCENT ON WHITEHAVEN. 
 
 95 
 
 however, and it was not until midnight that the 
 boats were called away. 
 
 The expedition comprised two boats, carrying 
 thirty-one officers and men, all volunteers, Jones 
 himself being in command of one boat, while Lieu- 
 tenant Wallingford, one of the best officers of the 
 ship, had the other. Simpson and the second lieu- 
 tenant both pleaded indisposition and fatigue as ex- 
 cuse for not going on the expedition. The tide was 
 ebbing, and it was not until nearly dawn, after a 
 long, hard pull, that the two boats reached the har- 
 bor, which was divided into two parts at that time by 
 a long stone pier. There were from seventy to one 
 hundred ships on the north side of the pier, and 
 about twice as many on the south side, ranging in 
 size from two hundred to four hundred tons. As the 
 tide was out, the ships were all aground, lying high 
 and dry upon the beach, and in close touch with 
 each other. Directing Wallingford to set fire to 
 the ships on the north side of the pier, Jones and his 
 party landed and advanced toward the fort which 
 protected the harbor. 
 
 The weather was raw and cold, the fort was old 
 and dilapidated, and manned by a few men. The 
 sentry, ignorant of the presence of any foe, never 
 dreaming of an enemy within a thousand miles of 
 him, had calmly retired to the sentry box. Probably 
 he was asleep. The little party approached the walls 
 without being detected. Climbing upon the shoul- 
 der of one of his men, Jones sprang over the ram- 
 part, where he was followed by the rest of the party. 
 The feeble garrison was captured without striking a 
 blow. The guns were hastily spiked. Ordering the
 
 96 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 prisoners to be marched down to the wharf, and 
 throwing out a few sentries, Jones, attended by a 
 single midshipman, then made his way to the other 
 fort or battery, a distance of about half a mile. Find- 
 ing it untenanted, he spiked the few guns mounted 
 there and returned to the landing place. 
 
 To his very great surprise and disappointment, no 
 evidence of a conflagration was apparent. When he 
 reached the wharf he was met by Wallingford, who 
 explained his failure to fire the shipping by claim- 
 ing that his lights had gone out. It was before the 
 days of lucifer matches, and the party had carried 
 candles in lanterns with which to kindle the fires. 
 Wallingford excused himself by a remark which 
 does more credit to his heart than to his head, to 
 the effect that he could not see that anything was to 
 be gained by burning poor people's property. In- 
 asmuch as he was sent on the expedition to obey 
 orders and not to philosophize, his statement gives 
 the key to the disposition among the officers and 
 crew. \Vhether his hesitation was dictated by char- 
 ity to others or lack of possible profit to the officers 
 and men it is not necessary to inquire particularly 
 now, for Wallingford redeemed himself nobly later 
 in the cruise. A hasty inspection revealed the fact 
 that the candles had also burned out, or had been 
 extinguished through carelessness, in Jones' own 
 boat. 
 
 It was now broad daylight, and considerations 
 of safety indicated an immediate return to the ship ; 
 but Jones was not willing to abandon his brilliantly 
 conceived, carefully prepared, and coolly undertaken 
 enterprise without some measure of success. Re-
 
 THE DESCENT ON WHITEHAVEN. 
 
 97 
 
 posting his sentries, therefore, he dispatched mes- 
 sengers who broke into a neighboring dwelling 
 house and procured a light in the shape of a torch 
 or glowing ember. With his own hand Jones kindled 
 a fire on one of the largest ships in the midst of the 
 huddle of vessels on the beach. In order to insure 
 a thorough conflagration, a hasty search through 
 the other vessels was made, and a barrel of tar was 
 found which was poured upon the flames now burn- 
 ing fiercely. 
 
 One of the boat party, named David Freeman, 
 happened to be an Englishman. In the confusipn 
 attendant upon these various maneuvers he made 
 off, and, escaping observation, sought shelter in the 
 town, which he quickly alarmed. The inhabitants 
 came swarming out of their houses in the gray of 
 the morning and hastened toward the wharf. See- 
 ing that the fire on the ship was at last blazing furi- 
 ously, and realizing that nothing more could be 
 effected, Jones ordered his men to their boats. 
 Then, in order that the fire already kindled might 
 have sufficient time to develop, the undaunted cap- 
 tain stood alone on the wharf, pistol in hand, con- 
 fronting the ever-increasing crowd. Impelled by 
 pressure from behind, those in front finally made 
 a movement toward him. He gave no ground what- 
 ever. Pointing his weapons at the front rank, he 
 sternly bade them retire, which they did with pre- 
 cipitation. I should think so. Having remained a 
 sufficient time, as he thought, he calmly entered the 
 boat and was rowed to the Ranger. 
 
 Some of the inhabitants promptly made a dash 
 for the burning ship, and succeeded by hard work
 
 ^8 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 in confining the fire to that one vessel. Others re- 
 leased the prisoners which Jones left bound on the 
 wharf, taking, as he said, only two or three for a 
 sample. The soldiers ran to the fort and man- 
 aged to draw the hastily applied spikes from two or 
 three of the guns, which they loaded and fired after 
 the retreating boats. Answering the harmless fusil- 
 lade with a few derisive musket shots, Jones re- 
 turned to the Ranger ; having had, he says, the 
 pleasure of neither inflicting nor receiving any loss 
 in killed or wounded. 
 
 The desertion and treachery of David Freeman 
 undoubtedly saved the shipping. The enterprise 
 was well conceived and carried out with the utmost 
 coolness. Had the orders of Captain Jones been 
 obeyed, the shipping would have been completely 
 destroyed. As it was, the descent created the great- 
 est consternation in England. No enemy had landed 
 on those shores for generations, and the expedition 
 by Jones was like slapping the face of the king on 
 his throne. A burning wave of indignation swept 
 over England, as the news was carried from town 
 to town, from hall to hall, and from hamlet to ham- 
 let. It was all very well to burn property in Amer- 
 ica, but the matter had a different aspect entirely 
 when the burning took place in England. A uni- 
 versal demand arose for the capture of this audacious 
 seaman, who was called many hard names by the 
 infuriated British. 
 
 From Whitehaven the Ranger ran over to St. 
 Mary's Isle, a beautifully wooded promontory at the 
 mouth of the River Dee, which was the seat of the 
 Earl of Selkirk. In furtherance of his usual desire
 
 THE ATTEMPT ON LORD SELKIRK. 
 
 99 
 
 to ameliorate the wretched condition of the Ameri- 
 cans in British prisons, Jones determined to seize 
 the earl. He cherished the hope that by securing the 
 person of a peer of the realm, who could be either 
 held as a hostage or exchanged for some prominent 
 American captive, he could thus effect a recognition 
 of the principle of exchange, which the British had 
 refused to consider. It was a wild hope, to be sure, 
 but not without a certain plausibility. 
 
 Two boat crews under the command of Lieu- 
 tenants Simpson and Hall, with himself in charge of 
 the expedition, landed on the shore. Before moving 
 toward the hall, Jones learned that the earl was not 
 at home. He proposed, therefore, to return to the 
 ship, but the mutinous men demurred fiercely to 
 this suggestion, and demanded that they be per- 
 mitted to enjoy the opportunity for plunder pre- 
 sented. The situation was a precarious one, and 
 Jones finally agreed, although very reluctantly, that 
 they should demand the family silver from the 
 Countess of Selkirk, who was at home. He did this 
 with the full intention of purchasing the silver on 
 his own account when the prizes were disposed of, 
 and returning it to the earl. A party of the men, 
 therefore, with Simpson and Hall, went up to the 
 house, leaving Jones pacing to and fro near the 
 shore under the oaks and chestnuts of the estate. 
 By Jones' orders the seamen did not enter the 
 house. Simpson and Hall were ushered into the 
 presence of the Lady Selkirk, made their demand 
 upon her ladyship, received the silver, which the 
 butler gathered up for them, and retired without 
 molesting or harming any of the inmates or en-
 
 100 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 deavoring to appropriate anything except what was 
 given them. The men drank her ladyship's health 
 in good Scots whisky, which was served them by 
 the countess' orders. The party then embarked on 
 the Ranger. 
 
 One of his biographers has said that the whole 
 transaction was an evidence of the singular ability 
 of Jones in creating difficulties which it afterward re- 
 quired greater labor to overcome ; but the criticism 
 is unfair. The only way in which he could satisfy 
 the demands of his men and maintain even that pre- 
 carious authority which the peculiar constitution of 
 the crew and the character of his officers enabled 
 him to have, was by permitting them to take some- 
 thing of value which could be turned into prize 
 money. He could buy it from the prize court, or 
 from the prize master, as well as any other man, and 
 after it became his own property he could return it 
 to its proper owners at his pleasure. 
 
 It was a perfectly legitimate transaction on his 
 part, and he could only obviate the necessity by tak- 
 ing the proposed value of the silver out of his own 
 pocket and handing it to his men, a proceeding 
 which would have been subversive of the last re- 
 mains of discipline, and therefore could not be con- 
 sidered for a moment. It would establish a prece- 
 dent which could not be carried out in the future 
 unless he were willing to abrogate his ri-ght of com- 
 mand ; if he began that way he would have to buy 
 their acquiescence to every command bribe them 
 to obey orders ; so he said nothing whatever to 
 them about his intentions with regard to the plate 
 at present.
 
 THE CAPTURE OF THE DRAKE. IQI 
 
 Standing away from St. Mary's Isle on the 
 morning of the 24th, the Ranger came in sight once 
 more of Carrickfergus. By this time her presence 
 on the Irish coast had become well known, and ex- 
 presses had been sent to the Drake with information 
 of the propinquity of the enemy. In the afternoon 
 the Ranger appeared in the offing easily visible from 
 the Drake. The commander of the Drake, Captain 
 George Burdon, with singular stupidity, sent a lieu- 
 tenant and a boat off toward the Ranger to investi- 
 gate and report what she was, meanwhile getting 
 his ship under way and clearing for action. The 
 boat foolishly came alongside the Ranger and was 
 captured. As Burdon weighed anchor he was joined 
 by Lieutenant William Dobbs, engaged on recruit- 
 ing duty in the vicinity, and a band of volunteers 
 ranging in number, according to different reports, 
 from ten to forty. 
 
 The regular complement of the Drake was one 
 hundred and fifty officers and men. This re-enforce- 
 ment raised her crew to between one hundred and 
 sixty and one hundred and ninety. It was devel- 
 oped at the court-martial, which was held upon the 
 survivors some months after for the loss of the ship, 
 that the Drake was poorly prepared for action ; that 
 she was short of commissioned and warrant officers 
 rnd skilled men ; that her powder charges were bad, 
 matches poor, cartridges unfilled, and that her guns 
 were badly mounted, so that they were easily "over- 
 set," and so on. In short, the whole catalogue of 
 usual excuses for failure is given. It is true that 
 although the Drake carried two more guns than the 
 Ranger, they were of smaller caliber, being 4-
 
 102 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 pounders. Still, the two ships were well matched, 
 and preparedness for action has always been con- 
 sidered a test of naval ability as much as capacity 
 in maneuvering and courage in the actual fight. 
 
 The wind was now blowing toward the shore, 
 and the Drake made but slow progress in ratching 
 toward the sea. While the Ranger awaited her, the 
 guns were run in and the English flag hoisted on 
 the approach of the Drake's boat, and the character 
 of the American disguised as much as possible. I 
 presume that, save for her armament, she looked 
 more like a merchant vessel than anything else, and, 
 as Jones skillfully kept the sloop end on to the cut- 
 ter, the British suspected, or at least discovered, 
 nothing. Indeed, so w r ell was the deception carried 
 out that the Drake's officer actually boarded the 
 Ranger and was made prisoner with his crew before 
 he discovered her quality. 
 
 Meanwhile things were almost in a state of mu- 
 tiny. Jones states in his journal that he was in peril 
 of his life from his recalcitrant crew, who, under 
 the leadership of Simpson, were apparently ap- 
 palled at the prospect of encountering a regular 
 man-of-war, and therefore manifested a great un- 
 willingness to fight. Plunder without danger was 
 the end of their ambition. However, after the cap- 
 ture of the Drake's boat, by putting a bold front on 
 the situation, Jones succeeded in restoring compara- 
 tive order and getting his men to their quarters. 
 His power of persuasive and inspiring speech never 
 stood him in better stead than on this occasion, and 
 he actually seems to have succeeded in infusing 
 some of his own spirit into the refractory men.
 
 THE CAPTURE OV THE DRAKE. 103 
 
 It was late in the evening before the Drake 
 neared the Ranger. Jones had stood out to sea 
 to draw his pursuer far away from the land to pre- 
 vent his escape in case of defeat, and now awaited 
 his advance. The Drake was accompanied by sev- 
 eral pleasure yachts filled with people who were 
 desirous of seeing the English victory, which was 
 almost universally attendant upon single ship ac- 
 tions in which the British navy participated ; but, not 
 liking the look of things in this instance, they one 
 by one dropped astern and returned to the land. 
 
 Between five and six o'clock, having come 
 within easy distance, an officer of the Drake sprang 
 on the rail and hailed, demanding to know the 
 name of the stranger. Jones, still keeping the stern 
 of his ship toward the bow of the enemy, seized the 
 trumpet and replied : 
 
 " This is the American Continental ship Ranger. 
 We are waiting for you. The sun is scarce an hour 
 high. It is time to begin. Come on ! " 
 
 While he was amusing the English captain with 
 this rather lengthy rejoinder for the purpose of 
 gaining time, the Stars and Stripes supplanted the 
 red ensign of England, the helm of the Ranger, 
 which was to windward of her antagonist, was sud- 
 denly put up, and by smart handling, in the twink- 
 ling of an eye she was rushed Across the bow of 
 the Drake, which was severely raked by a prompt 
 broadside at short range. As Jones shifted his helm 
 so as not to lose the weather gauge, the advantage 
 of the first hard blow was clearly with the Ameri- 
 cans. The English captain, after an attempt to cross 
 her stern, which was frustrated by Jones' prompt-
 
 I0 4 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ness, ran off by the side of the Ranger, and the com- 
 bat resolved itself into a fair and square yardarm to 
 yardarm fight, which was continued with the most 
 determined persistence on both sides. The two ships 
 under the gentle breeze sailed side by side, gradu- 
 ally nearing, and poured a furious fire upon each 
 other. The lack of preparedness on the English 
 ship was manifested in the slowness and inaccuracy 
 of her gun practice. That of the Ranger, however, 
 was very effective. An hour and five minutes, after 
 the first broadside the enemy called for quarter 
 and hauled down the flag. The Drake was a 
 wreck. Her fore and main topsail yards were 
 cut adrift and lying on the caps ; the fore top- 
 gallant yard and the spanker gaff were hanging up 
 and down their respective masts ; two ensigns had 
 been shot away, and another one was hanging over 
 the quarter galley and dragging in the water. The 
 jib was dragging under her forefoot ; her sails and 
 rigging were entirely cut to pieces, most of the yards 
 wounded, and her hull very much shattered. Many 
 of her guns were dismounted, and she had lost, ac- 
 cording to the statement of the Americans, forty- 
 two * men in killed and wounded (or about twenty 
 per cent of her force !), including her captain, who 
 had been struck in the head by a musket ball at the 
 close of the action, about a minute before the ship 
 surrendered ; the gallant first lieutenant, Dobbs, 
 who had bravely volunteered for service, was so 
 severely wounded that he survived the action only 
 two days. Captain Burdon was still living when 
 
 * English accounts state their casualties at twenty-five.
 
 THE CAPTURE OF THE DRAKE. 
 
 105 
 
 Jones boarded the prize, but died a few moments 
 after. The Americans lost two killed, among them 
 being poor Wallingford, whose death has somewhat 
 redeemed him from his failure to obey orders in 
 the raid on Whitehaven. There were six wounded 
 on the Ranger, including the gunner and a midship- 
 man who lost his arm ; one of the wounded subse- 
 quently died. 
 
 The action was a sharp and brilliant one. Jones 
 had maneuvered and fought his ship with his usual 
 skill and courage, and had given fair evidence of 
 what might be expected from him with a better ves- 
 sel and better men under his command. The Eng- 
 lish captain had been outmaneuvered when he per- 
 mitted the American to rake him, and he had been 
 outfought in the action. Unpreparedness was the 
 cause of the failure of the Drake to make a better 
 showing in the fight. This lack must be laid at 
 the captain's door. It is the business of a cap- 
 tain to see that things are ready. The deficiencies 
 in the Drake's equipment were counterbalanced by 
 equal deficiencies on the part of the Ranger. The 
 apparent preponderance of the latter's gun power 
 was, in fact, minimized by the shortening of her 
 guns, of which Jones had previously complained. 
 It is probable that the Drafce had a better cftw, 
 and such officers as she had were probably better 
 than those under Jones, with a few exceptions. It 
 is always the custom of the defeated party to make 
 excuses, and always will be ; but the ships were 
 as nearly matched in offensive qualities as two ves- 
 sels in different navies are ever likely to be, and 
 the difference between them, which determined the
 
 I0 6 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 issue of the conflict, was purely a question of the 
 personal equation. It was always hard to find any- 
 thing to counterbalance Jones for the other side of 
 the equality sign. Burdon was not the man. 
 
 The English captain was a brave but very stupid 
 or very confident man. Jones was more than a 
 match for him at best, and when the mistakes of 
 Burdon are considered the comparison is painful. 
 The English knew that the Ranger was on the 
 coast ; the Drake had picked up her anchor (it was, 
 of course, recaptured), and an alert mind would have 
 connected the recovered anchor with the attempt 
 of the night of the 2Oth. The suspicious actions of 
 the stranger and there must have been some indi- 
 cation in her maneuvers and appearance at least 
 to inspire caution .the failure of the boat crew either 
 to return or to make any signal, should have made 
 the English captain pause and consider the situa- 
 tion. But with the usual " uncircumspect gallantry " 
 of his kind he charged clown, bull-like, on his enemy, 
 was promptly raked, hammered to pieces, killed, and 
 his ship surrendered. He proved his courage in 
 battle which no one would question, bravery being 
 usual and to be expected and he died in the at- 
 tempt to atone for his rashness ; but professionally 
 he was a failure, and his demise was fortunate for 
 his reputation and future career. His death prob- 
 ably prevented some very inconvenient questions 
 being asked him. 
 
 Jones treated his prisoners with a kindness and 
 consideration the more remarkable from the fact 
 that the contrary was the custom with the British 
 toward American captives. During the night and
 
 GENEROSITY TO THE FISHERMEN. 
 
 ID/ 
 
 the whole of the next day, the weather being mod- 
 erate, the two ships were hove to while the Drake 
 was refitted as well as their resources permitted. 
 Late the next afternoon a large brigantine, actuated 
 by an unfortunate curiosity, ran down so near the 
 two ships that she was brought to by a shot from 
 the Drake and taken possession of. Having re- 
 paired damages and put the Drake in as good trim 
 as possible, Jones first determined to return to Brest 
 by the South Channel, the way he had come, but 
 the variable wind shifted and came strongly, and 
 he decided to run northward before it and pass 
 around the west coast of Ireland. In spite of his 
 previous insubordination Simpson was placed in 
 command of the Drake. 
 
 Before they left these waters, however, some- 
 thing still remained to be done. On the evening of 
 the 25th the two ships sailed once more for Belfast 
 Lough. There Jones hove the Ranger to, and, 
 having given the poor Irish fishermen, whom he 
 had captured on the 2ist and held, one of the 
 Drake's boats, and having charitably bestowed upon 
 them all the guineas which he had left in his private 
 purse (not many, I suppose) to remunerate them 
 for the loss they had sustained, he sent them ashore. 
 They took with them one of the Drake's sails, which 
 would attest the truth of their story of what had 
 happened. The grateful Irishmen w r ere delighted 
 and touched by such unusual treatment, and they 
 signalized their gratitude to their generous and kind- 
 hearted captor by giving Jones three cheers from 
 the boat as they passed the Ranger's quarter. The 
 Americans then bore awav to the northwestward.
 
 108 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 The voyage around the coast of Ireland was un- 
 eventful. Lieutenant Dobbs, of the Drake, died on 
 the cruise, and he and Captain Burdon were buried 
 at sea with all possible honors, Jones himself read- 
 ing the usual Church service. The cruise was con- 
 tinued without incident until the morning of the 
 5th of May, when the Ranger being off Ushant, 
 and having the Drake in tow, Jones cut the tow- 
 line and bore away in chase of a sail which had been 
 sighted. Simpson, instead of continuing toward 
 Brest, as he had been directed, hauled off to the 
 south, so that when Jones had overtaken the chase 
 and found her a neutral, the Drake was almost en- 
 tirely out of sight to the southward. 
 
 The Ranger chased her and made various sig- 
 nals, to which no attention was paid. Simpson 
 changed his course aimlessly several times. During 
 the whole of the day the same eccentric maneuvers 
 on the part of the Drake continued. To Jones' 
 great annoyance, the inexplicable actions of the 
 prize prevented him from chasing several large ves- 
 sels which he saw standing into the Channel, among 
 which he would probably have made many valuable 
 captures. He was forced to abandon any attempt 
 to take them and follow the Drake, which he only 
 overhauled late in Jhe evening. By Jones' orders 
 Lieutenant Elijah Hall immediately replaced Simp- 
 son in command of the Drake, and the latter was 
 placed under arrest. On the 8th of May both ves- 
 sels arrived safely at Brest, from which point Jones 
 promptly dispatched the following remarkable let- 
 ter to the Countess of Selkirk :
 
 A REMARKABLE LETTER. 
 
 109 
 
 " RANGER, BREST, May <?, 1778. 
 " The Right Hon. the Countess of Selkirk. 
 
 " MADAM : It can not be too much lamented that, 
 in the profession of arms, the officer of fine feelings 
 and real sensibility should be under the necessity 
 of winking at any action of persons under his com- 
 mand which his heart can not approve ; but the re- 
 flection is doubly severe when he finds himself 
 obliged, in appearance, to countenance such actions 
 by his authority. This hard case was mine, when, on 
 the 23d of April last, I landed on St. Mary's Isle. 
 Knowing Lord Selkirk's interest with his king, and 
 esteeming as I do his private character, I wished 
 to make him the happy instrument of alleviating the 
 horrors of hopeless captivity, when the brave are 
 overpowered and made prisoners of war. It was 
 perhaps fortunate for you, -madam, that he was from 
 home, for it was my intention to have taken him on 
 board the Ranger and detained him until, through 
 his means, a general and fair exchange of prisoners, 
 as well in Europe as in America, had been effected. 
 
 " When I was informed, by some men whom I 
 rnet at landing that his lordship was absent, I 
 walked back to my boat, determined to leave the 
 island. By the way, however, some officers who 
 were with me could not forbear expressing their 
 discontent, observing that in America no delicacy 
 was shown by the English, who took away all sorts 
 of movable property, setting fire not only to towns 
 and to the houses of the rich, without distinction, 
 but not even sparing the wretched hamlets and 
 milch cows of the poor and helpless, at the approach 
 of an inclement winter. That party had been with
 
 HO COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 me the same morning at Whitehaven; some com- 
 plaisance, therefore, was their due. I had but a 
 moment to think how I might gratify them, and 
 at the same time do your ladyship the least injury. 
 I charged the officers to permit none of the seamen 
 to enter the house, or to hurt anything about it ; to 
 treat you, madam, with the utmost respect; to ac- 
 cept of the plate which was offered, and to come 
 away without making a search or demanding any- 
 thing else. I am induced to believe that I was 
 punctually obeyed, since I am informed that the 
 plate which they brought away is far short of the 
 quantity expressed in the inventory which accom- 
 panied it. I have gratified my men, and when the 
 plate is sold I shall become the purchaser, and will 
 gratify my own feelings by restoring it to you by 
 such conveyance as you shall please to direct. 
 
 " Had the earl been on board the Ranger the fol- 
 lowing evening he would have seen the awful pomp 
 and dreadful carnage of a sea engagement, both 
 affording ample subject for the pencil, as well as 
 melancholy reflection for the contemplative mind. 
 Humanity starts back from such scenes of horror, 
 and can not sufficiently execrate the vile promoters 
 of this detestable war. 
 
 " ' For they, 't was they unsheathed the ruthless blade, 
 And Heaven shall ask the havoc it has made.' 
 
 " The British ship of war Drake, mounting 
 twenty guns, with more than her full complement 
 of officers and men, was our opponent. The ships 
 met, and the advantage was disputed with great 
 fortitude on each side for an hour and four minutes,
 
 A REMARKABLE LETTER. m 
 
 when the gallant commander of the Drake fell, and 
 victory declared in favor of the Ranger. The ami- 
 able lieutenant lay mortally wounded, besides near 
 forty of the inferior officers and crew killed and 
 wounded a melancholy demonstration of the un- 
 certainty of human prospects and of the sad re- 
 verses of fortune which an hour can produce. I 
 buried them in a spacious grave, with the honors 
 due to the memory of the brave. 
 
 " Though I have drawn my sword in the present 
 generous struggle for the rights of men, yet I am 
 not in arms as an American, nor am I in pursuit of 
 riches. My fortune is liberal enough, having no 
 wife and family, and having lived long enough to 
 know that riches can not secure happiness. I pro- 
 fess myself a citizen of the world, totally unfettered 
 by the little mean distinctions of climates or of coun- 
 try, which diminish the benevolence of the heart 
 and set bounds to philanthropy. Before this war 
 was begun, I had, at an early time in life, with- 
 drawn from sea service in favor of ' calm contem- 
 plation and poetic ease.' I have sacrificed not only 
 my favorite scheme of life, but the softer affections 
 of the heart, and my prospects of domestic happi- 
 ness, and I am ready to sacrifice my life also with 
 cheerfulness, if that forfeiture could restore peace 
 among mankind. 
 
 " As the feelings of your gentle bosom can not 
 but be congenial with mine, let me entreat you, 
 madam, to use your persuasive art with your hus- 
 band, to endeavour to stop this cruel and destruc- 
 tive war, in which Britain can never succeed. 
 Heaven can never countenance the barbarous and
 
 112 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 unmanly practice of the Britons in America, which 
 savages would blush at, and which, if not discon- 
 tinued, will soon be retaliated on Britain by a justly 
 enraged people. Should you fail in this, and I am 
 persuaded you will attempt it (and who can resist 
 the power of such an advocate?), your endeavour 
 to effect a general exchange of prisoners will be 
 an act of humanity, which will afford you golden 
 feelings on your deathbed. 
 
 " I hope this cruel contest will soon be closed ; 
 but, should it continue, I wage no war with the fair. 
 I acknowledge their force, and bend before it with 
 submission. Let not, therefore, the amiable 
 Countess of Selkirk regard me as an enemy; I am 
 ambitious of her esteem and friendship, and would 
 do anything, consistent with my duty, to merit it. 
 The honor of a line from your hand, in answer to 
 this, will lay me under a singular obligation, and 
 if I can render you any acceptable service in France 
 or elsewhere I hope you see into my character so 
 far as to command me, without the least grain of 
 reserve. I wish to know the exact behaviour of 
 my people, as I am determined to punish them if 
 they have exceeded their liberty. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, with much esteem and 
 with profound respect, madam, etc., 
 
 " JOHN PAUL JONES." 
 
 The shrewd Franklin says of this extraordinary 
 document : " It is a gallant letter, which must give 
 her ladyship a high and just opinion of your gen- 
 erosity and nobleness of mind." But I seem to read 
 a gentle laugh in the tactful words of the old phi-
 
 THE PLATE IS RESTORED. 113 
 
 losopher. I like this epistle less than any of Jones' 
 letters I have read, but it certainly does not merit 
 the severe censures which have been passed upon 
 it. No one would write such a letter to-day, cer- 
 tainly, but things were different then, and we need 
 not too closely criticise the form and style of the 
 document in view of its honest purpose and good 
 intent. 
 
 As might have been expected, the Countess of 
 Selkirk made no reply to this singular communica- 
 tion. To anticipate the course of events, and obviate 
 the necessity of further discussion of this incident, it 
 may be stated that more than a year after its cap- 
 ture Jones obtained possession of the plate through 
 the prize court by strenuous effort, and by paying 
 for it at an exorbitant valuation. The state of war- 
 fare then existing between France and England pre- 
 vented the delivery of the silver for several years, 
 though Jones made earnest efforts to get it into 
 the hands of the Selkirks whenever apparent op- 
 portunity presented. It was not, however, until 
 1784, after peace had been declared, that the plate 
 was restored to its original owners. It is stated that 
 it was received by them in exactly the same con- 
 dition as when it had been taken, even to the tea 
 leaves which were still in the teapot! The receipt 
 of the silver is thus acknowledged in a letter from 
 Lord Selkirk : 
 
 " LONDON, August 4, 17 8q. 
 " Monsieur le Chevalier Paul Jones, a Paris. 
 
 " SIR : I received the letter you wrote to me at 
 the time you sent off my plate, in order for restoring 
 it. Had I known where to direct a letter to you at 
 9
 
 114 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the time it arrived in Scotland I would then have 
 wrote to you ; but, not knowing it, nor finding that 
 any of my acquaintance at Edinburgh knew it, I 
 was obliged to delay writing till I came here, when, 
 by means of a gentleman connected with America, I 
 was told M. le Grand was your banker at Paris, and 
 would take proper care of a letter for you ; therefore, 
 I inclose this to him. 
 
 " Notwithstanding all the precautions you took 
 for the easy and uninterrupted conveyance of the 
 plate, yet it met with considerable delays : first at 
 Calais, next at Dover, then at London ; however, it 
 at last arrived at Dumfries, and I dare say quite 
 safe, though as yet I have not seen it, being then at 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 " I intended to have put an article in the news- 
 papers about your having returned it ; but before I 
 was informed of its being arrived, some of your 
 friends, I suppose, had put it in the Dumfries news- 
 paper, whence it was immediately copied into the 
 Edinburgh papers, and thence into the London 
 ones. Since that time I have mentioned it to many 
 people of fashion ; and, on all occasions, sir, both 
 now and formerly, I have done you the justice to 
 tell that you made an offer of returning the plate 
 very soon after your return to Brest ; and, although 
 you yourself was not at my house, but remained at 
 the shore with your boat, that yet you had your 
 officers and men in such extraordinary good disci- 
 pline that your having given them the strictest or- 
 ders to behave well, to do no injury of any kind, to 
 make no search, but only to bring off what plate 
 was given them ; that in reality they did exactly
 
 AN IGNORANT PEER. Htj 
 
 as ordered, and that not one man offered to stir 
 from his post on the outside of the house, nor en- 
 tered the doors, nor said an uncivil word ; that the 
 two officers stayed not a quarter of an hour in the 
 parlour and butler's pantry, while the butler got the 
 plate together, behaved politely, and asked for noth- 
 ing but the plate, and instantly marched their men 
 off in regular order ; and that both officers and men 
 behaved in all respects so well that it would have 
 done credit to the best disciplined troops whatever. 
 " Some of the English newspapers at that time 
 having put in confused accounts of your expedition 
 to Whitehaven and Scotland, I ordered a proper one 
 of what had happened in Scotland to be put in the 
 London newspapers, by a gentleman who was then 
 at my house, by which the good conduct and civil 
 behaviour of your officers and men was done justice 
 to, and attributed to your order, and the good disci- 
 pline you maintained over your people. 
 
 " I am, sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 " SELKIRK." 
 
 It is a handsome acknowledgment, but I note 
 with great pleasure the sailor writes better than the 
 peer!
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 STANDING AND WAITING. 
 
 THE Ranger and her prizes arrived at Brest at a 
 . propitious time, both for the fortunes of Jones and 
 for those of his adopted country as well. The secret 
 treaty of alliance between the confederated colonies 
 and France had been signed on February 6th. The 
 plenipotentiaries from the United States had been 
 publicly received at Versailles on March 23d. On 
 the same day the French ambassador left England, 
 and the English ambassador, Lord Stormont, left 
 France. The fleet of D'Estaing put to sea from 
 Toulon a fortnight later. In two weeks the English 
 fleet followed to American waters. The attempt was 
 made on the part of the French to execute the bril- 
 liant strategic plan which Jones had devised, al- 
 though, of course, the delay had rendered the effort 
 fruitless. 
 
 The successful cruise of the Ranger, the rich 
 captures she had made, the daring enterprises she 
 had undertaken, the boldness and audacity of her 
 commander in venturing with a little vessel of such 
 trifling force into the very midst of the three king- 
 doms, and the brilliancy of his capture of a war ves- 
 sel of nominally superior, and at least really equal, 
 force, in a fair and open yardarm to yardarm fight, 
 116
 
 STANDING AND WAITING. 
 
 117 
 
 a thing to which the French navy was not accus- 
 tomed, awakened the greatest admiration, and Paul 
 Jones found himself in that most congenial of posi- 
 tions to him and to almost any other man of be- 
 ing the observed of all. On this expedition, his first 
 real opportunity, he had demonstrated that he pos- 
 sessed an ability to plan, and a courage to carry 
 out his conceptions, which' put him in the front rank 
 of the sea officers of his day. With one single ves- 
 sel, laboring under every disadvantage conceivable, 
 he had done what no European power or combina- 
 tion of powers had been able to accomplish in cen- 
 turies, with all their resources at command. He 
 had terrorized the whole English seaboard, and filled 
 the United Kingdom with uneasiness and unrest. 
 
 The gallant men who had gone before him and 
 accomplished so much with the Reprisal, the Re- 
 venge, and the others, had a worthy successor and 
 superior in this little Scots-American, who, as a citi- 
 zen of the world, in love with humanity, drew his 
 sword for the cause of freedom. The French ad- 
 mired him, the English hated him. The American 
 prisoners immediately felt the effect of his captures 
 by the general amelioration of their unhappy condi- 
 tion, and Franklin at last realized that he had a man 
 at hand upon whom he could depend to further his 
 bold designs. When the news reached America, it 
 was received with great joy, and the Naval Com- 
 mittee and the Congress generally knew they had 
 made no mistake in sending Jones to Europe. The 
 young navy looked to him with hope. His exploits 
 were detailed and amplified in the cafes and on the 
 boulevards of Paris, and were related with approba-
 
 Ilg COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 tion even within the sacred confines of the court. 
 He was the hero of the hour. 
 
 But there is a homely maxim exemplified by fre- 
 quent experience that " Fine words butter no par- 
 snips." It was true in this instance undoubtedly, 
 and Jones learned that there was no necessary con- 
 nection between glory and bread and butter. He 
 was unable to procure actually necessary supplies 
 for his crew. All the vessels of the Continental 
 navy went to sea undermanned, ill-provided, and 
 inadequately provisioned, and the ship's purser, as 
 a rule, had no money. The seamen had not received 
 their wages no money at all, in fact, except that 
 which Jones himself had advanced out of his own 
 pocket. With the sanction of the Marine Com- 
 mittee he had made himself responsible for the regu- 
 lar payment of the wages of the men. His pocket 
 was now empty, the last guineas having been given 
 to the Irish fishermen aforementioned. His own 
 resources were always drawn upon freely for the 
 good of the service and his men ; now they were 
 entirely exhausted. His provisions had been con- 
 sumed, he did not know where to get any more. 
 In addition to his own people he had 'several prizes 
 and over two hundred prisoners who had to be cared 
 for, and who were a healthy and hungry lot. 
 
 When he arrived in France he had been author- 
 ized to draw upon the commissioners to the extent 
 of twelve thousand livres, with the caution not to 
 avail himself of the permission unless it were im- 
 peratively necessary. With great prudence, and by 
 the exercise of rigid economy, he had avoided any 
 inroad on the depleted and overtaxed fund of the
 
 IN DESPERATE CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 119 
 
 commissioners. Something, however, had to be 
 done in this instance, and without securing another 
 authority, for which, indeed, time was wanting, so 
 pressing were his needs, he made drafts upon the 
 commissioners in the sum of twenty-four thousand 
 livres, about five thousand dollars. 
 
 Meanwhile he subsisted his crew and prisoners 
 through the generosity of the French naval authori- 
 ties at Brest, which he secured by the pledge of 
 his own private personal credit. The draft was dis- 
 honored. Certainly the commissioners were embar- 
 rassed almost beyond endurance by the demands 
 upon them from every side, but this was a matter to 
 which they should have given attention if it were 
 humanly possible, for they were the only resource 
 that Jones had. His condition was simply desper- 
 ate. He knew not what to do nor where to turn. 
 The following extract of a letter to the commis- 
 sioners on the 27th of May exhibits his painful posi- 
 tion : 
 
 " Could I suppose that my letters of the gth and 
 1 6th current (the first advising you of my arrival 
 and giving reference to the events of my expedition ; 
 the last advising you of my draft in favour of Mon- 
 sieur Bersolle, for twenty-four thousand livres, and 
 assigning reasons for the demand) had not made 
 due appearance, I would hereafter, as I do now, 
 inclose copies. Three posts have already arrived 
 here from Paris since Comte d'Orvilliers showed 
 me the answer which he received from the minister, 
 to the letter which inclosed mine to you. Yet you 
 remain silent. M. Bersolle has this moment in-
 
 120 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 formed me of the fate of my bills ; the more extraor- 
 dinary as I have not yet made use of your letter of 
 credit of the loth of January last, whereby I then 
 seemed entitled to call for half the amount of my 
 last draft, and I did not expect to be thought ex- 
 travagant when, on the i6th current, I doubled that 
 demand. Could this indignity be kept secret I 
 should disregard it ; and, though it is already pub- 
 lic in Brest and in the fleet, as it affects only my 
 private credit I will not complain. I can not, how- 
 ever, be silent when I find the public credit involved 
 in the same disgrace. I conceive this might have 
 been prevented. To make me completely wretched, 
 Monsieur Bersolle has now told me that he now 
 stops his hand, not only of the necessary articles to 
 refit the ship, but also of the daily provisions. I 
 know not where to find to-morrow's dinner for the 
 great number of mouths that depend on me for food. 
 Are then the Continental ships of war to depend on 
 the sale of their prizes for a daily dinner for their 
 men ? ' Publish it not in Gath.' 
 
 " My officers, as well as men, want clothes, and 
 the prizes are precluded from being sold before 
 farther orders arrive from the minister. I will 
 ask you, gentlemen, if I have deserved all this. 
 Whoever calls himself an American ought to be 
 protected here. I am unwilling to think that 
 you have intentionally involved me in this dilem- 
 ma, at a time when I ought to expect some enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 " Therefore I have, as formerly, the honour to 
 be, with due esteem and respect, gentlemen, yours, 
 etc."
 
 HOLDING HIS PRISONERS. 12 1 
 
 How he managed under such circumstances he 
 relates in a journal which he prepared in later years 
 for submission to the King of France. 
 
 " Yet during that time, by his [Jones'] personal 
 credit with Comte D'Orvilliers, the Due de Chartres, 
 and the Intendant of Brest, he fed his people and 
 prisoners, cured his wounded, and refitted both the 
 Ranger and the Drake for sea." 
 
 He could, of course, have relieved himself of 
 some of his burden by turning over his prisoners 
 to France, but, as that country was still nominally 
 neutral, the people he had captured would have been 
 set free at the demand of England. As long as he 
 held possession of them it was possible that the cir- 
 cumstance would force an exchange for Americans 
 a thing the commissioners had been bent upon 
 s : nce their arrival in Europe. The English Govern- 
 ment had long since sanctioned and carried out the 
 exchange of soldiers, but for arbitrary and inade- 
 quate reasons seamen stood upon a different footing 
 apparently. When Franklin previously wrote Lord 
 Stormont, the British ambassador, offering to ex- 
 change one hundred men captured by the Reprisal 
 for an equal number of American seamen held in 
 English prisons, no answer was made to his letter ; 
 a second letter brought forth the following curt 
 reply : 
 
 " The king's ambassador receives no applica- 
 tions from rebels, unless they come to implore his 
 Majesty's mercy." 
 
 To this insulting and inexplicable message the 
 following apt and dignified reply was made :
 
 122 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 " In answer to a letter. which concerns some of 
 the material interests of humanity, and of the two 
 nations, Great Britain and the United States of 
 America, now at war, we received the inclosed in- 
 decent paper, as coming from your lordship, which 
 we return for your lordship's more mature consid- 
 eration." 
 
 Of course, the ostensible reason for refusing this 
 exchange was that the captured seamen were 
 traitors, and as such had no belligerent rights, yet 
 how they differed from soldiers it is impossible to 
 see. Indeed, the English authorities went so far 
 as to call them pirates, and they could not have 
 treated them worse short of hanging them if 
 they had actually merited the opprobrious title. 
 The real reason, however, lay in the hope that the 
 Americans, having no place in France in which to 
 confine their prisoners, would be compelled to set 
 them free. This hope was frequently justified, and 
 it was not until March, 1779, that the persistent de- 
 termination of Franklin brought about a complete 
 general recognition of the principle of exchange for 
 which he had so valiantly contended, although he 
 had been partially successful on particular occasions 
 before that time. Jones knew the situation per- 
 fectly, and so with his usual grim determination he 
 held on to his precious prisoners. 
 
 The prize agents were dilatory and incompetent. 
 The seamen, lacking food, clothes, salary, and prize 
 money, were naturally mutinous and discontented. 
 But Jones repressed the crews, hurried up the sales, 
 and managed at last to weather all his troubles.
 
 KINDNESS TO SIMPSON. 
 
 I2 3 
 
 The malcontent Simpson was a constant incen- 
 tive to discord and mutiny, and he was finally re- 
 moved to a French guardship, called the Admiral, 
 where he was well treated and allowed the freedom 
 of the deck. While there, he behaved in such a 
 contumacious manner that D'Orvilliers, the French 
 commander, sent him to the prison of the port. All 
 his expenses during this interval were paid by Jones 
 himself; indeed, when he did not pay personally, 
 nobody did. There was nothing sordid or avari- 
 cious in Jones' character. He was greedy for 
 glory and fame and reputation, but he cared noth- 
 ing whatever for money. To dismiss a tiresome 
 subject, Jones, with extraordinary complaisance, 
 finally accepted Simpson's apologies and released 
 him on his parole not to serve in the navy until he 
 had been regularly tried by a court-martial. He 
 even went further than this. He offered to relin- 
 quish the command of the Ranger to him in order 
 that he might take her back to the United States 
 and there take his trial. 
 
 While these efforts were pending, the commis- 
 sioners, misunderstanding their tentative character, 
 restored Simpson to the command of the Ranger, 
 unconditionally, much to Jones' disgust. He was 
 quite willing to relinquish the command of his little 
 ship, because the King of France had requested 
 the commissioners to allow France to avail herself of 
 the services of Jones in a naval expedition which 
 was projected. But that such contumacy and lack 
 of subordination as had been exhibited by Simpson 
 should go unpunished, and that he should receive 
 the absolute command of the ship as a reward for
 
 124 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 his action, and should be allowed to return home 
 without even an investigation, was not only harm- 
 ful to the service, but an appare'nt reflection upon 
 himself though, of course, nothing was further 
 from the commissioners' thoughts, as they specifi- 
 cally declared. In the end Jones acquiesced in the 
 situation, and the matter was dropped. Simpson 
 was never employed in^the service after he returned 
 home. 
 
 The famous action between the Arethusa and 
 the Belle Poule, on June i/th, having made it clear 
 to every observer that war between France and 
 England was inevitable, though the formal declara- 
 tion was not issued until the following September, 
 the first enterprise which it was desired Jones should 
 undertake under the auspices of France was pro- 
 posed to him by Franklin as follows : 
 
 " The Jersey privateers," he says, " do us a great 
 deal of mischief by intercepting our supplies. It has 
 been mentioned to me.that your small vessel, com- 
 manded by so brave an officer, might render great 
 service by following them where greater ships dare 
 not venture their bottoms ; or, being accompanied 
 and supported by some frigates from Brest, at a 
 proper distance, might draw them out and then take 
 them. I wish you to consider of this, as it comes 
 from high authority." 
 
 It was not a particularly brilliant prospect ; all 
 the hard work and dangerous labor was to be per- 
 formed by Jones, and the glory was to be reaped 
 by the French frigates ; but, with a noble disinterest- 
 edness in his desire to serve his country, he at once
 
 VARIOUS PROPOSITIONS. 125 
 
 expressed his perfect willingness to co-operate. Be- 
 fore anything came of it, however, Franklin offered 
 him the command of the Indien, in the following 
 letter : 
 
 (Private.) 
 
 " DEAR SIR : I have the pleasure of informing 
 you that it is proposed to give you the command 
 of the great ship we have built at Amsterdam. By 
 what you wrote to us formerly, I have ventured 
 to say in your behalf, that this proposition would be 
 agreeable to you. You will immediately let me 
 know your resolution ; which, that you may be 
 more clear in taking, I must inform you of some 
 circumstances. She is at present the property of 
 the king ; but, as there is no war yet declared, you 
 will have the commission and flag of the States, and 
 act under their orders and laws. The Prince de 
 Nassau will make the cruise with you. She is to 
 be brought here under cover as a French merchant- 
 man, to be equipped and manned in France. We 
 hope to exchange your prisoners for as many 
 American sailors ; but, if that fails, you have your 
 present crew to be made up here with other nations 
 and French. The other commissioners are not 
 acquainted with this proposition as yet, and you see 
 by the nature of it that it is necessary to be kept 
 a secret till we have got the vessel here, for fear 
 of difficulties in Holland, and interception ; you will 
 therefore direct your answer to me alone. It being 
 desired that the affair rest between you and me, per- 
 haps it may be best for you to take a trip up here to 
 concert matters, if in general you approve the idea.
 
 126 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 " I was much pleased with reading your journal, 
 which we received yesterday." 
 
 This is the first mention of the Prince of Nas- 
 sau-Siegen, who will appear prominently hereafter, 
 and be described in his proper place. Jones was 
 naturally delighted with the flattering prospects, 
 and at once wrote to the prince, acquainting him of 
 the pleasure he anticipated in having him associ- 
 ated with him. A few days later Franklin wrote 
 Jones again as follows : 
 
 " PASSY,yH^ 10, IJfS. 
 
 "DEAR SIR: I received yours of ist instant, 
 with the papers inclosed, which I have shown to 
 the other commissioners, but have not yet had their 
 opinion of them ; only I know that they had be- 
 fore (in consideration of the disposition and uneasi- 
 ness of your people) expressed an inclination to 
 order your ship directly back to America. You 
 will judge from what follows whether it will not be 
 advisable for you to propose their sending her back 
 with her people, and under some other command. 
 In consequence of the high opinion the Minister 
 of the Marine' has of your conduct and bravery, it 
 is now settled (observe, that it is to be a secret be- 
 tween us, I being expressly enjoined not to com- 
 municate it to any other person), that you are to 
 have the frigate from Holland, which actually be- 
 longs to Government, and will be furnished with 
 as many good French seamen as you shall require. 
 But you are to act under Congress commission. As 
 you may be likely to have a number of Americans, 
 and your own are homesick, it is proposed to give
 
 FRANKLIN'S INTENTIONS. 127 
 
 you as many as you can engage out of two hun- 
 dred prisoners, which the ministry of Britain have 
 at length agreed to give us in exchange for those 
 you have in your hands. They propose to make the 
 exchange at Calais, where they are to bring the 
 Americans. Nothing is wanting to this but a list 
 of yours, containing their names and rank ; imme- 
 diately on the receipt of which an equal number are 
 to be prepared, and sent in a ship to that port, 
 where yours are to meet them. 
 
 " If by this means you can get a good new crew, 
 I think it would be best that you are quite free 
 of the old, for a mixture might introduce the infec- 
 tion of that sickness you complain of. But this may 
 be left to your own discretion. Perhaps we shall 
 join you with the Providence, Captain Whipple, a 
 new Continental ship of thirty guns, which, in com- 
 ing out of the river of Providence, gave the two 
 frigates that were posted to intercept her each of 
 them so heavy a dose of her 18- and 12-pounders 
 that they had not the courage or were not able to 
 pursue her. It seems to be desired that you will 
 step up to Versailles (where one will meet you), 
 in order to such a settlement of matters and plans 
 with those who have the direction as can not well 
 be done by letter. I wish it may be convenient to 
 you to do it immediately. 
 
 " The project of giving you the command of this 
 ship pleases me the more as it is a probable opening 
 to the higher preferment you so justly merit." 
 
 In obedience to this request Jones went pri- 
 vately to Versailles, where he spent some time in
 
 128 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 consultation with the commissioners and the French 
 ministry discussing the exchange of prisoners, and 
 proposed several plans of attack by which his serv- 
 ices could be utilized. These plans well indicate 
 the fertility of imagination, the resourceful genius, 
 and the daring hardihood of the man. One of them 
 was for making another descent upon Whitehaven, 
 another was to attack the Bank of Ayr and destroy 
 or ransom that town ; another was to burn the ship- 
 ping on the Clyde. Expeditions on the coast of Ire- 
 land were suggested. London might be distressed, 
 he thought, by cutting off the supplies of coal from 
 Newcastle ; but the most feasible projects were the 
 capture or destruction of the West Indian or Baltic 
 fleets of merchantmen or the Hudson Bay ships. 
 
 The Minister of Marine, M. de Sartine, lent an 
 attentive ear to all of the plans which were pro- 
 posed, and Jones returned to Brest with high hopes 
 that he should be soon employed in an expedition to 
 carry out one or the other of these plans with ade- 
 quate means to do it well. It is quite likely that 
 the minister was as earnest and honest in his in- 
 tentions as the king in his desire to make use of 
 Jones, but the formal declaration of war rendered 
 it possible to prosecute the enterprises which had 
 been suggested by Jones, if it were thought expedi- 
 ent to attempt them, under the French flag and 
 with French officers. As France had only intended 
 to use him under the cover of the American fbg to 
 harass England before war was declared, and as 
 that could now be done openly under her own flag, 
 they did not see the same necessity for his services 
 as before.
 
 DISAPPOINTMENTS. 
 
 129 
 
 The matter of finding employment for him was 
 further complicated by the fact that since a state 
 of actual war existed the ministry was besieged with 
 applications from numbers of French officers for 
 command, and the ships which had been proposed 
 for Jones were naturally appropriated to the French 
 themselves. Even if a command could have been 
 found for the American, there would have been a 
 natural disinclination, so great as to be nearly pro- 
 hibitive of success, on the part of the French offi- 
 cers to serving under a foreigner. Time brought 
 him nothing but disappointment, and the high 
 hopes he had cherished gradually waned. 
 
 Always a persistent and voluminous letter 
 writer, in his desperation he overwhelmed every- 
 body with correspondence. Inaction was killing to 
 him. Not to be employed was like death itself to 
 a man of his intensely energetic temperament. His 
 pride would not permit him to return to the United 
 States and seek a command when he had specifically 
 announced, in a letter to Congress by the returning 
 Ranger, that the King of France asked that he 
 might make use of his services, and therefore no 
 command in America need be reserved for him ; and 
 yet he now found himself a hanger on the outskirts 
 of a court and a ministry which had no further use 
 for him. 
 
 The delicate situation of the commissioners, 
 who had been themselves scarcely more than on 
 sufferance, did not permit them, in the interests of 
 expediency and diplomacy, to insist as strongly as 
 they would have liked to do, that the king and the 
 
 ministry should keep their engagement with Jones, 
 10
 
 !3o COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 which was, erf course, an engagement with them and 
 with the United States. Diplomacy and persuasion 
 were the only weapons at their command. They 
 certainly made good use of them. Franklin, pend- 
 ing something else, procured the minister's order 
 that Jones should be received on the great French 
 fleet of D'Orvilliers, which was about to put to sea 
 to engage the English fleet under Keppel. He 
 was very desirous of availing himself of this in- 
 vitation, which he himself sought, for it would 
 give him an opportunity he could not otherwise 
 hope to enjoy, of perfecting himself in naval tactics 
 and the fine art of maneuvering and governing a 
 great fleet. He never allowed anything to interfere 
 so far as he was able to prevent it with his ad- 
 vancement in professional study. The permission, 
 however, to D'Orvilliers' great regret, arrived too 
 late, for the fleet sailed without him. The French 
 admiral seems to have appreciated the American 
 captain, and to have highly esteemed him. It is 
 stated that the delay in transmitting the permission 
 was intentional, and was due to the jealousy of the 
 French naval service. 
 
 Jones was exasperated by all these happenings 
 almost to the breaking point. In one letter he says : 
 " I think of going to L'Orient, being heartily sick 
 of Brest." I should think he would be! As days 
 passed without bringing him any nearer to the frui- 
 tion of his hope, he became more modest in his 
 demands and propositions. One significant phrase 
 culled from one of his letters well indicates the 
 bold, dashing character of the man : " I do not wish 
 to have command of any ship that does not sail fast,
 
 AN EMPHATIC PROTEST. 131 
 
 for I intend to go in harm's way." * In the sentence 
 which follows this statement, we get another touch 
 of that entire consciousness of his own ability and 
 high quality which, though warranted, it were bet- 
 ter, perhaps, for his reputation if it were not so 
 evident in his writing : " I know, I believe, that this 
 is no other person's intention. Therefore, buy a 
 frigate that sails fast and is sufficiently large to carry 
 twenty-six or twenty-eight guns on one deck." 
 
 His state of mind may well be understood from 
 this citation : " I have, to show my gratitude to 
 France, lost so much time, and with it such oppor- 
 tunities as I can not regain. I have almost killed 
 myself with grief." 
 
 Chafing, fretting, writing letters, the time 
 dragged on. At last he addressed to" the Minister 
 of Marine, M. de Sartine, this emphatic protest and 
 statement which he calls, and justly, an explicit let- 
 ter. It is certainly sufficiently definite and clear, 
 and shows that rank and position did not deter him 
 from a free and somewhat sarcastic expression of 
 his grievances and wrongs : 
 
 " BREST, September /j>, //7<?. 
 
 " HONOURED SIR : When his excellency Doctor 
 Franklin informed me that you had condescended 
 to think me worthy of your notice, I took such pleas- 
 ure in reflecting on the happy alliance between 
 France and America that I was really flattered, and 
 entertained the most grateful sense of the honour 
 which you proposed for me, as well as the favour 
 which the king proposed for America, by putting 
 
 * Italics mine.
 
 1 32 COMMODORE PAUL JONES, 
 
 so fine a ship as the Indien under my command, 
 and under its flag, with unlimited orders. 
 
 " In obedience to your desire, I came to Ver- 
 sailles, and was taught to believe that my intended 
 ship was in deep water, and ready for sea ; but when 
 the Prince [de Nassau] returned I received from 
 him a different account ; I was told that the Indien 
 could not be got afloat within a shorter period than 
 three months at the approaching equinox. 
 
 " To employ this interval usefully, I first offered 
 to go from Brest with Count D'Orvilliers as a vol- 
 unteer, which you thought fit to reject. I had then 
 the satisfaction to find that you approved in general 
 of a variety of hints for. private enterprises which 
 I had drawn up for your consideration, and I was 
 flattered with -assurances from Messieurs de Chau- 
 mont and Baudouin that three of the finest frigates 
 in France, with two tenders and a number of 
 troops, would be immediately put under my com- 
 mand ; and that I should have unlimited orders, and 
 be at free liberty to pursue such of my own projects 
 as I thought proper. But this plan fell to nothing 
 in the moment when I was taught to think that 
 nothing was wanting but the king's signature. 
 
 " Another much inferior armament from 
 L'Orient was proposed to be put under my com- 
 mand, which was by no means equal to the services 
 that were expected from it; for speed and force, 
 though both requisite, were both wanting. Hap- 
 pily for me, this also failed, and I was thereby saved 
 from a dreadful prospect of ruin and dishonour. 
 
 " I had so entire a reliance that you would de- 
 sire nothing of me inconsistent with my honour and
 
 AN EMPHATIC PROTEST. 
 
 133 
 
 rank, that the moment you required me to come 
 down here, in order to proceed round to St. Malo, 
 though I had received no written orders, and 
 neither knew your intention respecting my destina- 
 tion or command, 1 obeyed with such haste, that 
 although my curiosity led me to look at the arma- 
 ment at L'Orient, yet I was but three days from 
 Passy till I reached Brest. Here, too, I drew a 
 blank ; but when I saw the Lively it was no dis- 
 appointment, as that ship, both in sailing and equip- 
 ment, is far inferior to the Ranger. 
 
 " My only disappointment here was my being 
 precluded from embarking in pursuit of marine 
 knowledge with Count D'Orvilliers, who did not 
 sail till seven days after my return. He is my friend, 
 and expressed his wishes for my company; I ac- 
 companied him out of the road when the fleet sailed, 
 and he always lamented that neither himself nor 
 any person in authority in Brest had received from 
 you any order that mentioned my name. I am 
 astonished therefore to be informed that you attrib- 
 ute my not being in the fleet to my stay at L'Orient. 
 
 " I am not a mere adventurer of fortune. Stimu- 
 lated by principles of reason and philanthropy, I laid 
 aside my enjoyments in private life, and embarked 
 under the flag of America when it was first dis- 
 played. In that line my desire of fame is infinite, 
 and I must not now so far forget my own honour, 
 and what I owe to my friends and America, as to 
 remain inactive. 
 
 " My rank knows no superior in the American 
 marine. I have long since been appointed to com- 
 mand an expedition with five of its ships, and I can
 
 134 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 receive orders from no junior or inferior officer 
 whatever. 
 
 " I have been here in the most tormenting sus- 
 pense for more than a month since my return ; and, 
 agreeable to your desire, as mentioned to me by 
 Monsieur Chaumont, a lieutenant has been ap- 
 pointed, and is with me, who speaks the French as 
 well as the English. Circular letters have been 
 written, and sent the 8th of last month from the 
 English admiralty, because they expected me to 
 pay another visit with four ships. Therefore I trust 
 that, if the Indien is not to be got out, you will 
 not, at the approaching season, substitute a force 
 that is not at least equal both in strength and sailing 
 to any of the enemy's cruising ships. 
 
 " I do not wish to interfere with the harmony of 
 the French marine ; but, if I am still thought worthy 
 of your attention, I shall hope for a separate com- 
 mand, with liberal orders. If, on the contrary, you 
 should now have no further occasion for my ser- 
 vices, the only favour I can ask is that you will 
 bestow on me the Alert, with a few seamen, and 
 permit me to return, and carry with me your good 
 opinion in that small vessel, before the winter, to 
 America." 
 
 Hjs intense, burning desire for action, however, 
 did not permit him to degrade, as he thought, his 
 Government and station by accepting the command 
 of a privateer which was tendered to him. In the 
 command of a speedy, smart privateer there is no 
 limit to the plundering he might have done and 
 the treasure he might have gained, if that had been
 
 REFUSES A PRIVATEER. 
 
 135 
 
 what he wished. Many naval officers before and 
 since his time have done this and thought it not 
 derogatory to their dignity. It is therefore to 
 Jones' credit that he was very jealous in this and 
 many other instances on the point of honor of serv- 
 ing in no ship, under no flag, and with no commis- 
 sion save that of the United States. We shall see 
 this spirit again and again. The citizen of the world 
 was beginning to feel that the world as his country 
 was hardly adequate to his needs ; in theory it was a 
 very pretty proposition, but in practice it was neces- 
 sary to form and maintain a more definite and par- 
 ticular relationship. As a final effort to better his 
 condition and secure that opportunity for which he 
 thirsted, he prepared the following letter to the 
 king: 
 
 " BREST, October 19, 1778. 
 
 " SIRE: After my return to Brest in the Ameri- 
 can ship of war the Ranger, from the Irish Chan- 
 nel, his excellency Doctor Franklin informed me 
 by letter, dated June the ist, that M. de Sartine, 
 having a high opinion of my conduct and bravery, 
 had determined, with your Majesty's consent and 
 approbation, to give me the command of the ship of 
 war the Indien, which was built at Amsterdam for 
 America, but afterward, for political reasons, made 
 the property of France. 
 
 " I was to act with unlimited orders under the 
 commission and flag of America ; and the Prince de 
 Nassau proposed to accompany me on the ocean. 
 
 " I was deeply penetrated with the sense of the 
 honour done me by this generous proposition, as 
 well as of the favour your Majesty intended thereby
 
 136 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 to confer on America. And I accepted the offer 
 with the greater pleasure as the Congress had sent 
 me to Europe in the Ranger to command the In- 
 dien before the ownership of that vessel was 
 changed. 
 
 " The minister desired to see me at Versailles to 
 settle future plans of operation, and I attended him 
 for that purpose. I was told that the Indien was at 
 the Texel completely armed and fitted for sea; but 
 the Prince de Nassau was sent express to Holland, 
 and returned with a very different account. The 
 ship was at Amsterdam, and could not be got 
 afloat or armed before the September equinox. The 
 American plenipotentiaries proposed that I should 
 return to America; and, as I have repeatedly been 
 appointed to the chief command of an American 
 squadron to execute secret enterprises, it was not 
 doubted but that Congress would again show me 
 a preference. M. de Sartine, however, thought 
 proper to prevent my departure, by writing to the 
 plenipotentiaries (without my knowledge), request- 
 ing that I might be permitted to remain in Europe, 
 and that the Ranger might be sent back to America 
 under another commander, he having special ser- 
 vices which he wished me to execute. This request 
 they readily granted, and I was flattered by the 
 prospect of being enabled to testify, by my services, 
 my gratitude to your Majesty, as the first prince 
 who has so generously acknowledged our independ- 
 ence. 
 
 '* There was an interval of more than three 
 months before the Indien could be gotten afloat. 
 To employ that period usefully, when your Majes-
 
 LETTER TO THE KING. 
 
 137 
 
 ty's fleet was ordered to sail from Brest, I proposed 
 to the minister to embark in it as a volunteer, in 
 pursuit of marine knowledge. He objected to this, 
 at the same time approved of a variety of hints for 
 private enterprises, which I had drawn up for his 
 consideration. Two gentlemen were appointed to 
 settle with me the plans that were to be adopted, 
 who gave me the assurance that three of the best 
 frigates in France, with two tenders, and a num- 
 ber of troops, should be immediately put under my 
 command, to pursue such of my own projects as I 
 thought proper ; but this fell to nothing, when I 
 believed that your Majesty's signature only was 
 wanting. 
 
 " Another armament, composed of cutters and 
 small vessels, at L'Orient, was proposed to be put 
 under my command, to alarm the coasts of England 
 and check the Jersey privateers ; but happily for 
 me this also failed, and I was saved from ruin and 
 dishonour, as I now find that all the vessels sailed 
 slow, and their united force is very insignificant. 
 The minister then thought fit that I should return 
 to Brest to command the Lively, and join some 
 frigates on an expedition from St. Malo to the North 
 Sea. I returned in haste for that purpose, and 
 found that the Lively had been bestowed at Brest 
 before the minister had mentioned that ship to me 
 at Versailles. This was, however, another fortu- 
 nate disappointment, as the Lively proves, both in 
 sailing and equipment, much inferior to the Ranger ; 
 but, more especially, if it be true, as I have since 
 understood, that the minister intended to give the 
 chief command of an expedition to a lieutenant,
 
 138 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 which would have occasioned a very disagreeable 
 misunderstanding; for, as an officer of the first 
 rank in the American marine, who has ever been 
 honoured with the favour and friendship of Con- 
 gress, I can receive orders from no inferior officer 
 whatever. My plan was the destruction of the Eng- 
 lish Baltic fleet, of great consequence to the enemy's 
 marine, and then only protected by a single frigate. 
 I would have held myself responsible for its success 
 had I commanded the expedition. 
 
 " M. de Sartine afterward sent orders to Count 
 D'Orvilliers to receive me on board the fleet agree- 
 ably to my former proposal ; but the order did not 
 arrive until after the departure of the fleet the last 
 time from Brest, nor was I made acquainted with 
 the circumstance before the fleet returned here. 
 
 " Thus have I been chained down to shameful 
 inactivity for nearly five months. I have lost the 
 best season of the year, and such opportunities of 
 serving my country and acquiring honour as I can 
 not again expect this war ; and, to my infinite mor- 
 tification, having no command, I am considered 
 everywhere an officer cast off and in disgrace for 
 secret reasons. 
 
 " I have written respectful letters to the minister, 
 none of which he has condescended to answer; I 
 have written to the Prince de Nassau with as little 
 effect ; and I do not understand that any apology 
 has been made to the great and. venerable Dr. 
 Franklin, whom the minister has made the instru- 
 ment of bringing me into such unmerited trouble. 
 
 " Having written to Congress to reserve no 
 command for me in America, my sensibility is the
 
 LETTER TO THE KING. 
 
 139 
 
 more affected by this unworthy situation in the sight 
 of your Majesty's fleet. I, however, make no re- 
 mark on the treatment I have received. 
 
 " Although I wish not to become my own pane- 
 gyrist, I must beg your Majesty's permission to ob- 
 serve that I am not an adventurer in search of for- 
 tune, of which, thank God, I have a sufficiency. 
 
 " When the American banner was first displayed 
 I drew my sword in support of the violated dignity 
 and rights of human nature ; and both honour and 
 duty prompt me steadfastly to continue the right- 
 eous pursuit, and to sacrifice to it not only my own 
 private enjoyments, but even life, if necessary. I 
 must acknowledge that the generous praise which 
 I have received from Congress and others exceeds 
 the merit of my past services, therefore I the more 
 ardently wish for future opportunities of testifying 
 my gratitude by my activity. 
 
 " As your Majesty, by espousing the cause of 
 America, hath become the protector of the rights of 
 human nature, I am persuaded that you will not dis- 
 regard my situation, nor suffer me to remain any 
 longer in this unsupportable disgrace. 
 
 " I am, with perfect gratitude and profound re- 
 spect, Sire, your Majesty's very obliged, very obedi- 
 ent, and very humble servant, 
 
 " J. PAUL JONES." 
 
 This letter,-at once dignified, forceful, respectful, 
 and modest, was inclosed to Dr. Franklin with the 
 request that it should be delivered to the king. The 
 deference paid to Franklin's opinion, the eager de- 
 sire to please him, the respect in which he held him,
 
 I 4 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 is not the least pleasing feature of Jones' character, 
 by the way. The letter in question was withheld by 
 Franklin with Jones' knowledge and acquiescence, 
 and the king, it is probable, never saw it. There 
 was, in fact, no necessity for its delivery, for the 
 appeals, prayers, and importunities had at last 
 evoked a response. The minister, worn out by the 
 persistence of Jones, determined, since none of the 
 French naval vessels were available, to buy him a 
 ship and assemble a squadron and send him forth. 
 
 The inquiry naturally arises why the French 
 Government should care to go to the trouble and 
 expense of doing this. Before the war was declared 
 their action was understandable, but afterward the 
 then operating cause disappeared. Yet there was 
 another reason aside from the fact that M. de Sar- 
 . tine was willing to keep his promise if he could, and 
 that was this : 
 
 It was not the custom to harry, plunder, and 
 ravage the seacoasts in the wars between France 
 and England. Military or naval forces were the 
 sole objects of attack, and by a specific though un- 
 written law of custom, the efforts of the rival com- 
 batants were confined to ships of war, fortifications, 
 and armies, and, of course, to merchant vessels be- 
 longing to the enemy. The peaceful seashore 
 towns were generally let alone unless the inhabit- 
 ants in exposed localities provoked retaliation by 
 aggression a thing they usually took good care 
 not to do. To introduce the practice would be un- 
 fortunate and nothing would be gained, by France 
 especially. The King of France, however, was more 
 than willing to have the coasts of his neighbor rav-
 
 REASONS FOR FRENCH ACTION. 
 
 141 
 
 aged, if no retaliation on his own unprotected shores 
 were provoked thereby. No convention of any sort, 
 expressed or understood, existed between Great 
 Britain and the United States which would prevent 
 such action on the part of the Americans. Great 
 liritain was making a bloody ravaging warfare on 
 the coasts of North America, and, never dreaming 
 of reprisal, paid no attention whatever to this law of 
 war, save when it suited her to do so, on our sea- 
 board. Franklin and the commissioners wisely real- 
 ized that the only way to stop this merciless and 
 brutal burning and plundering was to let the enemy 
 experience the thing himself. They were therefore 
 in entire accord with the desire of the French king. 
 To produce the result he would furnish the squad- 
 ron, they the flag. It was a charming arrangement 
 from the king's point of view. Consequently the 
 reason for the encouragement given Jones is ap- 
 parent, and the determination of the minister is 
 therefore explained and understood. 
 
 Jones received word early in November through 
 the commissioners, with a solemn assurance from 
 De Sartine, that a suitable ship would be purchased 
 for him at the expense of France and a squadron 
 assembled under his supreme command. Let those 
 who would reproach Jones for his part in this plan 
 remember that (as in his previous cruise) he only 
 carried out the orders of Franklin. There was no 
 sentimental nonsense about the old Quaker. He 
 knew what was the best remedy for the deplorable 
 conditions in America, and he grimly prepared to 
 apply it. He had no illusions in the premises at all ; 
 it was a pure matter of business, and with sound
 
 142 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 policy he so treated it. Jones' appeals, be it under- 
 stood, were only for a ship or ships and an oppor- 
 tunity to get into action with the enemy. His orders 
 were outside of his control. All he had to do as a 
 naval officer was to carry them out to the best of 
 his ability when he received them. Therefore a cen- 
 sure of Jones is a censure of Franklin. 
 
 It was first designed to employ Jones and his 
 proposed squadron for a descent upon Liverpool, 
 for which purpose five hundred men from Fitz- 
 maurice's Irish regiment were to be taken on the 
 ships. Pending the assembling of the squadron, 
 and while Jones was busily engaged in seeking for 
 a proper vessel for himself in various French ports, 
 Lafayette arrived from America, and sought the 
 command of the land forces of the proposed expedi- 
 tion. His desire was a notable tribute to the sailor, 
 by the way. The change was most agreeable to 
 Jones, to whom, of course, the reputation and abili- 
 ties of Lafayette were well known, and who would 
 naturally prefer association with such a distin- 
 guished man in the undertaking, but, as usual, there 
 were delays on the part of the minister. 
 
 Jones traveled about from port to port, look- 
 ing at different ships which it was proposed to pur- 
 chase for him. The minister offered him the Due 
 de Broglie, a large new ship lying at Nantes, capable 
 of mounting sixty-four guns. He inspected her, 
 and would have taken her gladly, but he felt utterly 
 unable properly to man such a large ship, and he was 
 reluctantly compelled to dismiss her from considera- 
 tion. There was also at Nantes a smaller ship, the 
 Ariel, of twenty guns, which had been captured
 
 STANDING AND WAITING STILL. 143 
 
 from the English, which he was willing to accept if 
 nothing better turned up. Another vessel that he 
 looked at was a great old-fashioned merchant ship, 
 lying dismantled at L/Orient, which had been some 
 fourteen years in the India trade, and was very 
 much out of repair. She was called the Due de 
 Duras. Jones thought she might do in default of 
 anything else, and he so informed the minister. 
 
 However, in spite of the promises that had been 
 made and reiterated to him, and the determination 
 which had been arrived at, nothing was done. His 
 visits of inspection were fruitless, his propositions 
 were disregarded as before. Furthermore, the plan 
 to send Lafayette with him fell through because 
 France was at that time projecting a grand descent 
 in force upon England, and Lafayette was desig- 
 nated to command a regiment in the proposed un- 
 dertaking. Like other similar projects, the plan 
 was never put in operation. Though France did 
 enter the Channel with sixty-six French and Spanish 
 ships of the line, she did not accomplish as much 
 with this great armada as Paul Jones did with the 
 little squadron he finally was enabled to assemble. 
 
 Meanwhile he was at his wits' end. The year 
 had nearly passed and nothing had been done. He 
 had been put off with promises until he was desper- 
 ate. Chance, it is stated, threw in his way one day, 
 as he sat idle at Nantes, gloomily ruminating on 
 -the prospect, or lack of it, and almost making up 
 his mind to go back to the United States in the 
 first vessel that offered and seek such opportunity 
 for service as might arise there, a copy of Franklin's 
 famous book of maxims, called Poor Richard's Al-
 
 I 4 4 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 manac. As the harassed little captain sat listlessly 
 turning its pages, his eyes fell upon this signifi- 
 cant aphorism : 
 
 " If a man wishes to have any business faith- 
 fully and expeditiously performed, let him go on 
 it himself; otherwise he may send." 
 
 The truth of the saying inspired him to one final 
 ejfort before he abandoned European waters. He 
 went to Versailles in November, 1778, for one last 
 visit, and there settled the matter. His determina- 
 tion and persistence at last, as it had many times 
 before, brought him success. De Sartine directed 
 the purchase of the Duras, which Jones, from his 
 love for Franklin and the circumstance just related, 
 with the consent of the minister, renamed the Bon 
 Homme Richard, that being the French equivalent 
 for Poor Richard, or Good Man Richard, which 
 was the caption of the almanac. 
 
 De Sartine appointed as the agent and commis- 
 sary of the king for the purchase and refitting of 
 the Duras and the other vessels of the squadron, and 
 for the disposal of any prizes which might be taken, 
 in short, as his representative with entire liberty 
 of action, Monsieur le Ray de Chaumont. This 
 gentleman, belonging, of course, to the nobility of 
 the country, was a man of considerable influence at 
 the court, where he had held the responsible dual 
 position of Grand Master of the Forests and Waters 
 of the King. Since the arrival of the American com- 
 missioners he had shown his devotion to the cause 
 of liberty and to them personally by many and con- 
 spicuous acts of kindness. 
 .. It was his private residence at Passy that Frank-
 
 LE RAY DE CHAUMONT. 145 
 
 lin made his headquarters during his long tenure 
 of office. De Chaumont had offered him the use 
 of this house, and with generous and splendid 
 hospitality had refused to accept of any remunera- 
 tion by way of rental. Realizing the pressing neces- 
 sity of the struggling colonists for every dollar they 
 could scrape together, he positively declined to im- 
 pair their limited resources by any charge whatso- 
 ever. Franklin endeavored to change his decision, 
 and when John Adams replaced Deane he made the 
 same effort, but the generous Frenchman refused 
 to recede from his determination. He also placed 
 his private purse at the disposal of Franklin, and 
 in every way showed himself a worthy and disinter- 
 ested friend of America. 
 
 He was one of those romantic Frenchmen who 
 espoused the cause of the rights of man under the 
 influence of the new philosophy of Rousseau and 
 Voltaire ; somewhat, it would seem, from motives 
 similar to those proclaimed by Jones himself. He 
 had nothing to gain by his action and much to lose 
 should the effort of the colonists result in failure. 
 He was a man of affairs and possessed an ample 
 fortune. To anticipate events, it may be stated that 
 he spent it all in the cause to which he had devoted 
 himself, and eventually became bankrupt. He was 
 not a military man ; still less was he aware of the exi- 
 gencies and demands of the naval service. For the 
 present, however, he did his work efficiently and 
 well. 
 
 The Duras was purchased immediately, as were 
 two other merchant vessels, the Pallas and the Ven- 
 geance, all at the cost of the royal treasury. To 
 ii
 
 146 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 these were added the Cerf, a king's cutter, a well- 
 appointed and efficient vessel, and the United States 
 ship Alliance, a new and very handsome frigate built 
 at Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1778, which had 
 arrived in Europe with Lafayette as a passenger. 
 Jones had specifically asked that the American 
 frigate should be assigned to his squadron a most 
 unfortunate request, as it afterward turned out. 
 
 The Duras was an East Indiaman of obsolete 
 type ; a large, old-fashioned ship with . a very high 
 poop and topgallant forecastle. She had made, dur- 
 ing many years of service, a number of round voy- 
 ages to the East Indies. While stoutly built for a 
 merchant ship, as compared to a man-of-war of her 
 size she was of light and unsubstantial frame. In 
 the absence of particular information I suppose her 
 to have been of something under eight hundred 
 tons burden. Neglect had allowed her to fall into 
 such a .bad condition that her efficiency as a pro- 
 posed war vessel was further impaired by her in- 
 ability to stand the necessary repairs. 
 
 Jones, however, surveyed her and determined 
 to make her do. Indeed, there was no choice ; it 
 was that or nothing. He hoped to effect something 
 with her which would warrant him in demanding 
 a better ship ; so, with a sigh of regret for the Indien, 
 he set to work upon her, doing his best to make 
 her efficient. By his orders she was pierced for 
 twenty-eight guns on her main deck and six on 
 the poop and forecastle. In order to further in- 
 crease her force, Jones, after much deliberation, re- 
 sorted to the hazardous experiment of cutting "six 
 ports in the gun room, on the deck below the gun
 
 THE BON HOMME RICHARD. 147 
 
 deck, close to the water line ; so close, in fact, that, 
 with anything like a sea on, to open the ports would 
 be to invite destruction by foundering.* Only un- 
 der exceptionally favorable circumstances, therefore, 
 could these guns be used. At best the gun-room 
 battery could only be fought in the calmest weather 
 and smoothest water. In this dangerous place 
 he mounted six old and condemned i8-pounders, 
 which were all that he could obtain from the French 
 arsenals. On the main deck fourteen 12-pounders 
 and fourteen Q-pounders were mounted, f Two 
 9-pounders were placed aft on the quarter-deck, two 
 in each gangway, and two on the forecastle. All the 
 guns were old and worn out ; many of them had 
 been condemned by the French Government as un- 
 fit for use. The six guns on the lower deck were 
 mounted three on a side, but a sufficient number of 
 ports had been cut to admit of shifting the guns and 
 working the whole battery on either side. New 
 guns had been ordered cast for the Richard at the 
 French gun foundries ; but the usual delays com- 
 pelled Jones to take what he could, and finally sail 
 with these old makeshifts. The guns intended for 
 
 * The ship of the line Thesee(74), commanded by the cele- 
 b-ated de Kersaint, was lost in the night battle between 
 Hawke and Conflans at Quiberon Bay, because in the midst 
 of a terrific gale, with a very heavy sea on, the Frenchman 
 unfortunately opened his lower deck ports to make use of 
 his heavy battery in the action. 
 
 f There is a discrepancy in the various accounts of the 
 armament of the Richard, some authorities asserting that 
 all the guns on the main deck were 12-pounders and that 
 the small guns on the poop and forecastle were 6-pounders. 
 The probabilities are as I have stated.
 
 148 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the Bon Homme Richard arrived after she had 
 gone. 
 
 The Alliance was a frigate-built ship of thirty- 
 two guns, 9- and 6-pounders, manned by two hun- 
 dred and fifty men, and commanded by Pierre Lan- 
 dais. Landais was an ex-officer of the French navy, 
 who had been dismissed- for insubordination and in- 
 capacity. Ignorant of these facts, knowing only 
 that he had been a navy officer, and wishing to 
 please their royal ally, and perhaps pay a delicate 
 compliment also to Lafayette, who was a passenger 
 upon the ship on her first cruise, the marine commis- 
 sioners had appointed him to the command of this 
 fine and handsome little frigate. The Alliance was 
 one of the fastest ships of her day ; indeed, she may 
 be regarded as the precursor of that long line of 
 splendid frigates and sloops of war which have been 
 the pride of American shipbuilders and the admira- 
 tion of foreign navies. Properly re-armed and re- 
 fitted, under the command of stout old John Barry 
 she did splendid service on several occasions later 
 in the war. Her swiftness and mobility, it was be- 
 lieved, would add greatly to the usefulness of Jones' 
 squadron. 
 
 The Pallas was a fairly efficient merchant ship, 
 frigate built, carrying thirty 6-pounders, com- 
 manded by Captain de Cottineau de Kloguene. The 
 Vengeance was a twelve-gun brig of little force, 
 and the Cerf a sixteen-gun cutter, under the com- 
 mand of Captains Ricot and de Varage respectively. 
 
 After many difficulties and disheartening delays, 
 chiefly overcome by Jones' invincible determina- 
 tion and persistence, the squadron was at last made
 
 IN THE BAY OF BISCAY. 
 
 149 
 
 ready for use. The first duty assigned to the dar- 
 ing commodore was a cruise for the driving of the 
 enemy's ships out of the Bay of Biscay, and con- 
 voying merchant ships bound from port to port 
 along the coast. It was not a particularly congenial 
 duty, but he entered upon it zealously and without 
 complaint. 
 
 The squadron sailed on the I9th of June, 1779. 
 During the night of the 2Oth the Alliance ran foul 
 of the Richard, and as a result of the collision the 
 mizzenmast of the Alliance was carried away, while 
 the Richard lost her head, cutwater, jib boom, etc. 
 The blame for the accident mainly rested on Lan- 
 dais, who, it was afterward developed, had behaved 
 disgracefully on this occasion, showing such a lack 
 of presence of mind and seamanly aptitude, coupled 
 with such timidity and shrinking from duty, that, 
 when the accident occurred, he not only gave no 
 orders, but basely ran below to load his pistols, leav- 
 ing the ship to be extricated from her critical situa- 
 tion by the junior officers. Perhaps he was afraid 
 that the infuriated Jones would attack him for the 
 mishandling of his ship. Jones, who had been be- 
 low when the accident occurred, immediately as- 
 sumed charge of the Richard, and by prompt action 
 averted a more serious disaster. To do Landais jus- 
 tice, however, the officer of the watch on the Rich- 
 ard also must have been culpable, for he was subse- 
 quently court-martialed and broken for his lack of 
 conduct on this occasion. 
 
 Refusing to return to port, and patching up the 
 two ships as well as possible from their present re- 
 sources, Jones performed the duties assigned to him,
 
 150 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 driving the enemy's ships out of those waters and 
 safely delivering his convoy. On the return voy- 
 age, Captain de Yarage, of the Cerf, had a spirited 
 encounter with a heavily armed privateer of greater 
 force than his own, which lasted for an hour and 
 ten minutes and resulted in the privateer striking 
 her flag. Before he could take possession, however, 
 other ships of the enemy appeared, and he was 
 forced to abandon his prize. The Richard chased 
 several sail, two of which were thought to be 
 frigates, and the officers and men manifested every 
 disposition to get into action ; but the ships sighted 
 were all able to run away from the cumbrous and 
 slow-sailing American ship. 
 
 On the last day of June the squadron put into 
 L'Orient again to repair damages. During the 
 cruise it is interesting to note that Jones dispatched 
 thirty pounds, in the shape of a draft, through a 
 friend in Dublin, to Scotland for the use of his 
 family. He frequently made them remittances from 
 his scanty supplies of money, and, in fact, he never 
 forgot them, however busy with great undertakings 
 he may have been. 
 
 Instructions were received at L'Orient from 
 Franklin intended to govern the future movements 
 of the squadron. They had, of course, been pre- 
 pared after consultation with De Sartine. Jones 
 was directed to cruise off the west coast of Ireland 
 to intercept the West Indian ships and then to pro- 
 ceed to the northward, passing the Orkneys, and 
 range down the coast of Scotland and endeavor to 
 capture the Baltic fleet which, by the way, had 
 been one of his ojiginal^ projects. After carrying
 
 .MUTINY ON THE RICHARD. 151 
 
 out these orders he was instructed to proceed to the 
 Texel about August 15th, where he would find 
 further directions awaiting him. Prizes were to be 
 sent to Dunkirk or Ostend in France, or Bergen in 
 Norway, consigned to such agents as De Chaumont 
 should designate. 
 
 Jones was very much disappointed, naturally, 
 with the Richard, and in acknowledging the receipt 
 of these instructions he made a last effort to get the 
 Inclien. It was intimated that such might be the 
 result of his cruise when he arrived at the Texel, if 
 it were successful, but that no change could be made 
 in his orders at present. Franklin refused to at- 
 tempt to have them modified by consulting with the 
 ministry, and, in a way gentle but sufficiently de- 
 cided, he directed Jones to finish repairing the ships 
 with all speed and proceed to carry out the orders 
 he had received. The commodore, swallowing his 
 disappointment and dissatisfaction with a rather ill 
 grace, it must be confessed, hastened to get his ships 
 in shape for the proposed expedition. 
 
 During the cruise in the Bay of Biscay a muti- 
 nous spirit had broken out among the English sea- 
 men, with whom in part Jones had been forced to 
 man his ship in default of other men, which had 
 become sufficiently developed to result in an organ- 
 ized conspiracy to take the Richard. The plot was 
 discovered and the ringleaders were put in irons. 
 When the Richard arrived at L'Orient, these men, 
 two quartermasters, were court-martialed ; but, in- 
 stead of being sentenced to death, as they deserved, 
 they were severely flogged with the cat-o'-nine-tails. 
 Jones, who, if he erred, leaped to the side of mercy,
 
 !J2 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 seems to have been greatly relieved at this termina- 
 tion of the affair. At this time the lieutenant of the 
 Richard, who had been in charge of the watch dur- 
 ing the collision, was also court-martialed and dis- 
 missed the service. 
 
 These several unfortunate happenings had given 
 De Sartine a very low idea of the efficiency and 
 value of the Bon Homme Richard and the squad- 
 ron, which galled Jones extremely. Indeed, 1 im- 
 agine De Sartine looked upon Jones in the light of 
 a nuisance niore than anything else. The repairs 
 progressed very slowly, and it was not until August 
 that the ships were ready to proceed. Meanwhile 
 an event of the greatest importance had occurred 
 in the arrival of a cartel at Nantes with one hun- 
 dred and nineteen exchanged American prisoners. 
 Many of them entered on the Richard, and Jones 
 was thus enabled to weed out a large proportion of 
 the mutinous and disorderly element in his crew. 
 The fine qualities of some of these new recruits en- 
 abled him to replace many of his petty officers 
 invaluable adjuncts to an efficient crew with ex- 
 perienced seamen who could be depended upon, not 
 merely as sailors, but as men who, fresh from the 
 horrors and brutalities of English prisons, were 
 more than ready to fight against the red flag wher- 
 ever it was planted. They leavened the whole mass. 
 
 The re-enforcement was of the greatest value ; 
 but Jones' good fortune did not end here, for before 
 he sailed again he was joined by a young American 
 naval officer of the highest capacity and courage, 
 named Richard Dale, who had been captured in the 
 Lexington and held a prisoner in England. He had
 
 RICHARD DALE. 153 
 
 effected a most daring and romantic escape from the 
 Mill Prison by the assistance of an unknown woman, 
 whose name and the circumstances of their ac- 
 quaintance remained a mystery ; Dale absolutely re- 
 fused to divulge them to the day of his death. 
 
 Jones found in him a congenial spirit and an 
 able subordinate. He promptly appointed him first 
 lieutenant of the Richard, and between the two men 
 there speedily developed a friendship as lasting as it 
 was unaffected and disinterested. Next to Jones 
 himself, in the early records, stands the name of this 
 young man, then scarcely twenty-three years of age. 
 Aside from the great commodore, it was he who 
 contributed more to the subsequent success of the 
 Richard than any other man. At the request of De 
 Sartine, Jones also received on the Richard a bat- 
 talion of royal marines, who w r ere all French of 
 course, and who had been augmented until they 
 numbered one hundred and thirty-seven officers and 
 men, under Lieutenant-Colonel de Chamillard de 
 Warville. It was supposed by the minister that they 
 could at least keep order on the ship! The time 
 limited to the expiration of the cruise was extended 
 to the end of the month of September. 
 
 The total complement of the Richard, therefore, 
 according to Jones' statement, was about three 
 hundred and eighty officers, men, and boys, includ- 
 ing the one hundred and thirty-seven marines. A 
 roll of officers and men is given by Sherburne in his 
 Life of Jones. 
 
 On this list, which purports to contain the names 
 of those who were on board on the date of the bat- 
 tle with the Serapis, are enumerated the names of
 
 154 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 but two hundred and twenty-seven officers and 
 men. It omits the name of de Chamillard and an- 
 other colonel of infantry, de Weibert, who were 
 actually on board, and gives no names of the French 
 marines. Adding the two hundred and twenty- 
 seven to the one hundred and thirty-seven, we get 
 three hundred and sixty-four, which is as near as 
 we can come to Jones' figures. There may have 
 been others whose names were added later on, but 
 at any rate it is safe to take Jones' statement as 
 practically correct. 
 
 Assuming that the known factors fairly repre- 
 sented the whole crew, we find that among the offi- 
 cers twenty-four were Americans, two were French- 
 men, and six British, including Jones and two sur- 
 geon's mates. Among the seamen fifty-five were 
 American born, sixteen Irish, sixty-one British, 
 twenty-eight Portuguese, twenty who are not de- 
 scribed, of whom seven were probably Portuguese, 
 and fifteen of other nationalities, including, accord- 
 ing to Cooper, some Malays possibly Filipinos 
 learning thus early to fight for freedom under, not 
 against, the Stars and Stripes ! Thus, scarcely more 
 than one fifth of the complement were native Ameri- 
 cans. The marines, of course, were efficiently or- 
 ganized and commanded, and were of the usual 
 character of the men in the French service. The 
 rest of the crew, with the exception of the Ameri- 
 cans, who were filling the posts of petty officers, 
 were a hard-bitten, reckless crowd of adventurers, 
 mercenaries, bravos, and what not, whom only a 
 man like Jones could control and successfully direct. 
 Under his iron hand they developed into as ready
 
 A HARD-BITTEN CREW. 155 
 
 a crew as ever fought a ship, and in our estimation 
 of his subsequent success the fact must not be lost 
 sight of that he made out of such a motley assem- 
 blage so efficient an organization. The officers were 
 fairly capable, though none of them reached the 
 standard of Dale, and at least one of them left the 
 cruise with a serious cloud upon his reputation. 
 
 Perhaps two thirds of the crew of the Alliance 
 were English seamen who had been recruited from 
 the men of the line of battle ship Somerset, which 
 had been wrecked in America, and a large number 
 of her crew captured. They enlisted on the Alli- 
 ance in the hope of capturing her and making their 
 escape, thus avoiding a sojourn in American prisons. 
 Qn the way to France, owing to the presence of 
 these men on the ship, a conspiracy had developed, 
 the successful termination of which was only pre- 
 vented by the resolution and courage of Lafayette 
 and the passengers with the regular officers of the 
 ship. There were but a small number of Americans 
 on the Alliance, owing to the fact that she was com- 
 manded by a Frenchman, under whom Americans 
 generally refused to sail. The officers, with few ex- 
 ceptions, were poor in quality. Her crew had been 
 somewhat improved before the squadron sailed, by 
 the enlistment of some of the prisoners from the 
 cartel, but it was still far from being an efficient body 
 of men, and under such a captain as Landais there 
 was no hope of it ever becoming so. 
 
 The officers and crew of the Pallas, Vengeance, 
 and Cerf were French in toto, the officers all hold- 
 ing French commissions. The squadron was en- 
 tirely at the charges of the French Government, al-
 
 156 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 though each of the officers sailed with a supple- 
 mentary American commission issued by Franklin 
 and his confreres, and all the vessels were under 
 the American flag. 
 
 De Chaumont had been indefatigable in fitting 
 out the ships as best he could, and personally he 
 had done everything in his power to further the 
 success of the enterprise. If his labors had ceased 
 there, the results would have been better ; but, prob- 
 ably under the direction of the minister, and influ- 
 enced by the natural reluctance of the French offi- 
 cers and men to serve under the command of an 
 officer of another country, de Chaumont prepared 
 a concordat, which he suppressed until just before 
 the time of sailing, when it was exhibited to Jones 
 and the other captains and their signatures de- 
 manded. By the terms of this singular document 
 the officers and men and the several vessels of the 
 squadron, instead of being under the absolute 
 charge of Jones himself, as is the case with every 
 properly organized expedition, were formed into a 
 species of alliance offensive and defensive ; and 
 while, of course, the headship was necessarily under 
 Jones while he lived, he was so hampered and re- 
 stricted by the various articles of the agreement as to 
 feel himself scarcely more than first among his 
 equals. He was left with full responsibility for suc- 
 cess, but so shorn of power and ability to compel 
 obedience to his orders as to render it necessary for 
 him to resort to persuasion to effect his end. Any 
 ordinary commander would have withdrawn at the 
 last moment, but Jones was determined upon effect- 
 ing something; so, with great reluctance and un-
 
 THE UNFORTUNATE CONCORDAT. 
 
 157 
 
 availing protests, he signed the concordat, and the 
 ill-assorted squadron proceeded on its way.* 
 
 Surely never before was such an expedition for 
 warlike purposes put forth upon the narrow seas ! 
 It is difficult to see what result any sane man could 
 have legitimately expected from it. That it ac- 
 complished anything was due to Jones himself 
 commodore by virtue of a paper agreement, just as 
 binding and effective as any of the several signers 
 wished it to be ! The world had long known him as 
 a man remarkable for audacity in conception, bold- 
 ness in planning, hardihood in carrying out, and 
 downright courage in the supreme moment. As a 
 seaman and a fighter he had few equals and no 
 masters. But the cruise developed that he pos- 
 sessed other qualities of leadership which are some- 
 times lost sight of in this brilliant galaxy, qualities 
 which his previous experience had not led us to 
 expect him to exhibit. He was shown to be con- 
 siderate, tactful, forbearing, persuasive, holding 
 himself under strong restraint. Naturally of a pas- 
 sionate, impetuous, uncontrollable nature, that he 
 exhibited these qualities speaks well for the man. 
 He had learned to control his feelings in the bitter 
 school of procrastination, evasion, and disappoint- 
 ment of the past year. 
 
 * See Appendix No. II.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CRUISE OF THE SQUADRON. 
 
 ALL things being as ready as it was possible to 
 make them, on the I4th of August, 1779, amid the 
 booming of cannon and the waving of flags, the 
 expedition set sail. Very pretty it must have looked, 
 dropping down the roads, as sail after sail was set 
 on the broad yardarms extending above the little 
 commander on the poop deck of the Indiaman, 
 resolutely putting his difficulties and trials behind 
 him, and glad to be at last at sea and headed for 
 the enemy. And yet he might well have borne a 
 heavy heart ! Only a man of Jones' caliber could 
 have faced the possibilities with a particle of equa- 
 nimity. By any rule of chance or on any ground of 
 probability the expedition was doomed to failure, 
 capture, or destruction. But the personality of 
 Jones, his serene and soon-to-be-justified confidence 
 in himself, discounted chance and overthrew proba- 
 bility. I have noticed it is ever the man with the 
 fewest resources and poorest backing who accom- 
 plishes most in the world's battles. The man who 
 has things made easy for him usually " takes it 
 easy," and accomplishes the easy thing or nothing. 
 
 The squadron was accompanied by two heavily 
 armed privateers, the Monsieur and the Granvelle, 
 158
 
 THE FIRST PRIZE. 
 
 159 
 
 raising the number of vessels to seven. The mas- 
 ters of the privateers did not sign the concordat, but 
 they entered into voluntary association with the 
 others and agreed to abide by the orders of Jones 
 an agreement they broke without hesitation in the 
 face of the first prize, which was captured on the 
 1 8th of August. The prize was a full-rigged ship, 
 called the Verwagting, mounting fourteen guns and 
 loaded with brandy. The vessel, a Dutch ship, had 
 been captured by the English, and was therefore a 
 lawful prize to the squadron. The captain of 
 the Monsieur, which was the boarding vessel, 
 plundered the prize of several valuable articles 
 for his own benefit, manned her, and attempted to 
 dispatch her to Ostend. Jones, however, over- 
 hauled her, replac'ed the prize crew by some of 
 his own men, and sent her in under his own 
 orders. The Monsieur and her offended captain 
 thereupon promptly deserted the squadron in the 
 night. 
 
 On the 2ist, off the southwest coast of Ireland, 
 they captured a brig, the Mayflower, loaded with 
 butter, which was also manned and sent in. On the 
 23d they rounded Cape Clear, the extreme south- 
 western point of Ireland. The day being calm, 
 Jones manned his boats and sent them inshore to 
 capture a brigantine. The ship, not having steerage 
 way, began to drift in toward the dangerous shore 
 after the departure of the boats, and it became neces- 
 sary to haul her head offshore, for which purpose the 
 captain's barge was sent ahead with a towline. As 
 the shades of evening descended, the crew of the 
 barge, who were apparently English, took advan-
 
 l6o COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 tage of the absence of the other boats and the 
 opportunity presented, to cut the towline and desert. 
 As they made for the shore, Mr. Cutting Lunt, third 
 lieutenant, with four marines, jumped into a small 
 boat remaining, and chased the fugitives without 
 orders ; but, pursuing them too far from the ship, a 
 fog came down which caused him to lose his bear- 
 ings, and prevented him from joining the Richard 
 that night. 
 
 The crew of a commodore's barge, like the crew 
 of a captain's gig, is usually made up of picked men, 
 and the character of the Richard's crew is well indi- 
 cated by this desertion. The other boats luckily 
 managed to rejoin the Richard, after succeed- 
 ing in cutting out the brigantine. The ships beat 
 to and fro off the coast until the next day, when the 
 captains assembled on the Richard. Landais be- 
 haved outrageously on this occasion. He re- 
 proached Jones in the most abusive manner, as if 
 the desertion of the barge and the loss of the two 
 boats was due to negligence on his part. One can 
 imagine with what grim silence the irate little 
 American listened to the absurd tirade, and in what 
 strong control he held himself to keep from arrest- 
 ing Landais where he stood. It gives us -a vivid 
 picture of the situation of the fleet to find that 
 Jones was actually compelled to consult with his 
 captains and obtain the consent of de Varage 
 before he could order the Cerf to reconnoiter 
 the coast, if possible to find the two boats and their 
 crews. 
 
 Thus, as Commodore Mackenzie, himself a naval 
 officer, grimly remarks :
 
 THE LOSS OF JHE BOATS. 161 
 
 " Before giving orders of indispensable neces- 
 sity, as a superior officer, we find him taking the 
 advice of one captain and obtaining the consent and 
 approbation of another." 
 
 But we may be sure that it was only dire neces- 
 sity that required such a course of action. Evi- 
 dently the situation was not to the liking of the 
 commodore, but it was one that he could not 
 remedy. 
 
 As the Cerf approached the shore to reconnoiter, 
 she hoisted the English colors to disguise her na- 
 tionality, and was seen by Mr. Lunt, who had evi- 
 dently overtaken the deserters. Mistaking her 
 character, he pulled in toward the shore to escape 
 the fancied danger, and was easily captured by the 
 English with the two boats and their crews. By 
 this unfortunate mishap the Richard lost two of her 
 boats, containing an officer and twenty-two men. 
 The Cerf, losing sight of the squadron in the even- 
 ing, turned tail and went back to France, instead 
 of proceeding to the first of the various rendezvous 
 which had been agreed upon. The Granvelle, hav- 
 ing made a prize on her own account, took advan- 
 tage of her entirely independent position and the 
 fact* that she was far away from -the Richard to 
 disregard signals and make off with her capture. 
 This reduced the squadron to the Richard, Alliance, 
 Pallas, and Vengeance. It was Jones' desire to 
 cruise to and fro off the harbor of Limerick to inter- 
 cept the West Indian ships, which, to the number of 
 eight or ten, were daily expected. These vessels, 
 richly laden, were of great value, and their capture 
 12
 
 162 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 could have easily been effected, but Landais pro- 
 tested vehemently against remaining in any one 
 spot. Among other things, the Frenchman was un- 
 doubtedly a coward, and, of course, by remaining 
 steadily in one place opportunities for being over- 
 hauled were greatly increased. Jones finally suc- 
 cumbed to Landais' entreaties and protestations, 
 which were backed up by those of Captains Cotti- 
 neau and Ricot. 
 
 Of course, it is impossible to say how far his 
 authority would have lasted had he peremptorily 
 refused to accede to their demands, as paper con- 
 cordats are not very binding ties ; but he might per- 
 haps have made a more determined effort to induce 
 them to carry out his plans and remain with him. 
 To leave the position he had chosen, which pre- 
 sented such opportunities, was undoubtedly an 
 error in judgment, and Jones tacitly admits it in the 
 following words, written long afterward : 
 
 " Nothing prevented me from pursuing my de- 
 sign but the reproach that would have been cast 
 upon my character as a man of prudence.* It 
 would have been said : ' Was he not forewarned by 
 Captain Cottineau and others ? ' ' 
 
 The excuse is as bad as, if not worse than* the 
 decision. But this is almost the only evidence of 
 weakness and irresolution which appears in Jones' 
 conduct in all the emergencies in which he was 
 thrown. It is impossible to justify this action, but, 
 in view of the circumstances, which we can only 
 
 * In case of disaster, that is.
 
 THE HIGHEST COURAGE. 163 
 
 imagine and hardly adequately comprehend, we 
 need not censure him too greatly for his indecision. 
 In fact, the decision itself was a mistake which the 
 ablest of men might naturally make. The weak- 
 ness lay in the excuse which he himself offers, and 
 which it pains one to read. In this connection the 
 noble comment of Captain Mahan is interesting: 
 
 " The subordination of public enterprises to con- 
 siderations of personal consequences, even to repu- 
 tation, is a declension from the noblest in a pub- 
 lic man. Not life only, but personal credit, is 
 to be fairly risked for the attainment of public 
 ends." 
 
 It can not be said that Jones was altogether dis- 
 interested in his actions. The mere common, vul- 
 gar, mercenary motives were absent from his under- 
 takings, but it must be admitted that he never lost 
 sight of the results, not only to his country and its 
 success, but to his own reputation as well. If Jones 
 had proceeded in his intention, and Landais had 
 finally deserted him, the results would have been 
 very much better for the cruise always provided 
 that the Pallas at least remained with the Richard. 
 We shall see later on that all the ships deserted him 
 on one occasion. 
 
 On the 26th of August a heavy gale blew up 
 from the southwest, and Jones scudded before it to 
 the northward along the Irish coast. Landais de- 
 liberately changed the course of the Alliance in the 
 darkness, and, the tiller of the Pallas having been 
 carried away during the night, Jones found himself 
 alone with the Vengeance the next morning. The
 
 164 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 gale having abated, these two remaining vessels 
 continued their course in a leisurely manner along 
 the Irish coast. On the 3ist the Alliance hove in 
 sight, followed by a valuable West Indiaman called 
 the Betsy, mounting twenty-two guns, which she 
 had captured a sample of what might have resulted 
 if the squadron had stayed off Limerick. 
 
 The Pallas having also joined company again, 
 on the ist of September the Richard brought to the 
 Union, a government armed ship of twenty-two 
 guns, bound for Halifax with valuable naval stores. 
 Before boats were called away and the prize taken 
 possession of, with unparalleled insolence Landais 
 sent a messenger to Jones asking whether the Alli- 
 ance should man the prize, in which case he should 
 allow no man from the Richard to board her ! With 
 incredible complaisance the long-suffering Jones 
 allowed Landais to man this capture also, while he 
 himself received the prisoners on the Richard. 
 These two vessels, in violation of Jones' explicit 
 orders, were sent in to Bergen, Norway, where they 
 were promptly released by the Danish Government 
 and returned to England on the demand of the Brit- 
 ish minister. Their value was estimated at forty 
 thousand pounds sterling. The unwarranted return 
 of the vessels was the foundation of a claim for in- 
 demnity against Denmark, of which we shall hear 
 later. On the day of the capture Landais disre- 
 garded another specific signal from the flagship to 
 chase ; instead of doing which, he wore ship and 
 headed directly opposite the direction in which he 
 should have gone. The next morning he again dis- 
 regarded a signal to come within hail of the Richard,
 
 LAN DAIS DESERTS THE SQUADRON. 165 
 
 on which occasion he did not even set an answering 
 pennant. 
 
 On September 3d and 4th the squadron captured 
 a brig and two sloops off the Shetland Islands. On 
 the evening of this day Jones summoned the cap- 
 tains to the flagship. Lanclais refused to go, and 
 when de Cottineau tried to persuade him to do so 
 he became violently abusive,, and declared that the 
 matters at issue between the commodore and him- 
 self were so grave that they could only be settled by 
 a personal meeting on shore, at which one or the 
 other should forfeit his life. Fortunately for the 
 peace of mind of the commodore, whose patience 
 had reached the breaking point, the Alliance imme- 
 diately after parted company, and did not rejoin the 
 command until the 23d of September. If Landais 
 had stayed away altogether, or succeeded in getting 
 himself lost or captured, it would have been a great 
 advantage to the country. 
 
 Another gale blew up on the 5th, and heavy 
 weather continued for several days. The little 
 squadron of three vessels labored along through the 
 heavy seas to the northward, passed the dangerous 
 Orkneys, doubled the wild Hebrides, rounded the 
 northern extremity of Scotland, and on the evening 
 of the 1 3th approached the east coast near the 
 Cheviot Hills. On the I4th they arrived off the 
 Firth of Forth, where they were lucky enough to 
 capture one ship and one brigantine loaded with 
 coal. From them they learned that the naval force 
 in the harbor of Leith was inconsiderable, consist- 
 ing of one twenty-gun sloop of war and three or 
 four cutters. Jones immediately conceived the idea
 
 1 66 
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 of destroying this force, holding the town under his 
 batteries, landing a force of marines, and exacting a 
 heavy ransom under threat of destruction. 
 
 Map showing the cruises of the Ranger and the Bon Homme 
 Richard, and the dash of the Alliance from the Texel.
 
 THE ATTEMPT ON LEITH. \fy 
 
 Although weakened in force by the desertion of 
 the ships, by the number of prizes he had manned, 
 and the large number of prisoners on board the 
 Richard, he still hoped, as he says, to teach English 
 cruisers the value of humanity on the other side 
 of the water, and by this bold attack to demonstrate 
 the vulnerability of their own coasts. He also 
 counted upon this diversion in the north to call at- 
 tention from the expected grand invasion in the 
 south of England by the French and Spanish fleets. 
 The wind was favorable for his design, but unfor- 
 tunately the Pallas and the Vengeance, which had 
 lagged as usual, were some distance in the offing. 
 Jones therefore ran back to meet them in order to 
 advise them of his plan and concert measures for 
 the attack. He found that the French had but little 
 stomach for the enterprise; they positively refused 
 to join him in the undertaking, a decision which, by 
 the terms of the concordat, they had a right to make. 
 After a night spent in fruitless argument between the 
 three captains think of it, arguments in the place 
 of orders ! Jones appealed to their cupidity, proba- 
 bly the last thing that would have moved him. By 
 painting the possibilities of plunder he wrung a re- 
 luctant consent from these two gentlemen, and pro- 
 ceeded rapidly to develop the plan. 
 
 As usual, not being able to embrace the oppor- 
 tunity when it was presented, a change in the wind 
 rendered it impossible for the present. The design 
 and opportunity were too good, however, to be lost, 
 and the squadron beat to and fro off the harbor, 
 waiting for a shift of wind to make practicable the 
 effort. On the I5th they captured another collier,
 
 1 68 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 a schooner, the master of which, named Andrew 
 Robertson, was bribed by the promised return of 
 his vessel to pilot them into the harbor of Leith. 
 Robertson, a dastardly traitor, promised to do so, 
 and saved his collier thereby. On the morning of 
 the i6th an amusing little incident occurred off the 
 coast of Fife. The ships were, of course, sailing 
 under English colors, and one of the seaboard gen- 
 try, taking them for English ships in pursuit of Paul 
 Jones, who was believed to be on the coast, sent a 
 shore boat off to the Richard asking the gift of some 
 powder and shot with which to defend himself in 
 case he received a visit from the dreaded pirate. 
 Jones, who was much amused by the situation, 
 made a courteous reply to the petition, and sent a 
 barrel of powder, expressing his regret that he had 
 no suitable shot. He detained one of the boatmen, 
 however, as a pilot for one of the other ships. Dur- 
 ing the interim the following proclamation was pre- 
 pared for issuance when the town had been cap- 
 tured. The document is somewhat diffuse in its 
 wording, but the purport of it is unmistakable : 
 
 " The Honorable J. Paul Jones, Commander-in- 
 chief of the American Squadron, now in Europe, to 
 the Worshipful Provost of Leith, or, in his absence, 
 to the Chief Magistrate, who is now actually present, 
 and in authority there. 
 
 " SIR : The British marine force that has been 
 stationed here for the protection of your city and 
 commerce, being no\v taken by the American arms 
 under my command, I have the honour td send you 
 this summons by my officer, Lieutenant-Colonel de
 
 THE ATTEMPT ON LEITH. 169 
 
 Chamillard, who commands the vanguard of my 
 troops. I do not wish to distress the poor inhabit- 
 ants ; my intention is only to demand your contribu- 
 tion toward the reimbursement which Britain owes 
 to the much-injured citizens of the United States ; 
 for savages would blush at the unmanly violation 
 and rapacity that have marked the tracks of British 
 tyranny in America, from which neither virgin in- 
 nocence nor helpless age has been a plea of protec- 
 tion or pity. 
 
 " Leith and its port now lie at our mercy ; and, 
 did not our humanity stay the hand of just retalia- 
 tion, I should, without advertisement, lay it in ashes. 
 Before I proceed to that stern duty as an officer, my 
 duty as a man induces me to propose to you, by 
 means of a reasonable ransom, to prevent such a 
 scene of horror and distress. .For this reason I 
 have authorized Lieutenant-Colonel de Chamillard 
 to conclude and agree with you on the terms of ran- 
 som, allowing you exactly half an hour's reflection 
 before you finally accept- or reject the terms which 
 he shall propose. If you accept the terms offered 
 within the time limited, you may rest assured that 
 no further debarkation of troops will be made, but 
 the re-embarkation of the vanguard will immedi- 
 ately follow, and the property of the citizens shall re- 
 main unmolested." 
 
 On the afternoon of the i6th, the squadron was 
 sighted from Edinburgh Castle, slowly running in 
 toward the Firth. The country had now been fully 
 alarmed. It is related that the audacity and bold- 
 ness of this cruise and his previous successes had
 
 170 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 caused Jones to be regarded with a terror far be- 
 yond that which his force justified, and which well- 
 nigh paralyzed resistance. Arms were hastily dis- 
 tributed, however, to the various guilds, and bat- 
 teries were improvised at Leith. On the I7th, the 
 Richard, putting about, ran down to within a mile 
 of the town of Kirkaldy. As it appeared to the in- 
 habitants that she was about to descend upon their 
 coast, they were rilled with consternation. There is 
 a story told that the minister of the place, a quaint 
 oddity named Shirra, who was remarkable for his 
 eccentricities, joined his people congregated on the 
 beach, surveying the approaching ship in terrified 
 apprehension, and there made the following prayer : 
 
 " Now, deer Lord, dinna ye think it a shame for 
 ye to send this vile piret to rob our folk o' Kirkaldy? 
 for ye ken they're puir enow already, and hae nae- 
 thing to spaire. The wa the ween blaws, he'll be here 
 in a jiffie, and wha kens what he may do? He's nae 
 too guid for onything. Meickle's the mischief he 
 has dune already. He'll burn thir hooses, tak their 
 very claes and tirl them to the sark ; and wae's me ! 
 wha kens but the bluidy villain might take their 
 lives! The puir weemen are maist frightened out 
 o' their wits, and the bairns skirling after them. I 
 canna thol't it ! I canna thol't it ! I hae been lang 
 a faithfu' servant to ye, Laird ; but gin ye dinna turn 
 the ween about, and blaw the scoundrel out of our 
 gate, I'll na staur a fit, but will just sit here till the 
 tide comes. Sae tak yere will o't." 
 
 This extraordinary petition has probably lost 
 nothing by being handed down. At any rate, just
 
 THE KIRKALDY PRAYER. 17! 
 
 as that moment, a squall which had been brewing 
 broke violently over the ship, and Jones was com- 
 pelled to bear up and run before it. The honest 
 people of Kirkaldy always attributed their relief to 
 the direct interposition of Providence as the result 
 of the prayer of their minister. He accepted the 
 honors for his Lord and himself by remarking, 
 whenever the subject was mentioned to him, that 
 he had prayed but the Lord had sent the wind ! 
 
 It is an interesting tale, but its effect is some- 
 what marred when we consider that Jones had no 
 intention of ever landing at Kirkaldy or of doing the 
 town any harm. He was after bigger game, and in 
 his official account he states that he finally succeeded 
 in getting nearly within gunshot distance of Leith, 
 and had made every preparation to land there, 
 when a gale which had been threatening blew so 
 strongly offshore that, after making a desperate at- 
 tempt to reach an anchorage and wait until it blew 
 itself out, he was obliged to run before it and get 
 to sea. When the gale abated in the evening he 
 was far from the port, which had now become thor- 
 oughly alarmed. Heavy batteries were thrown up 
 and troops concentrated for its protection, so that he 
 concluded to abandon the attempt. His conception 
 had been bold and brilliant, and his success would 
 have been commensurate if, when the opportunity 
 had presented itself, he had been seconded by men 
 on the other ships with but a tithe of his own reso- 
 lution. 
 
 The squadron continued its cruise to the south- 
 ward and captured several coasting brigs, schooners, 
 and sloops, mostly laden with coal and lumber. Baf-
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 fled in the Forth, Jones next determined 'upon a 
 similar project in the Tyne or the Humber, and on 
 the iQth of the month endeavored to enlist the sup- 
 port of his captains for a -descent on Xewcastle- 
 upon-Tyne, as it was one of his favorite ideas to cut 
 off the London coal supply by destroying the ship- 
 ping there ; but Cottineau, of the Pallas, refused tc 
 consent. The ships had been on the coast now foi 
 nearly a week, and there was no telling when a pur- 
 suing English squadron would make its appearance 
 Cottineau told de Chamillard that unless Jones left 
 the coast the next day the Richard would be aban- 
 doned by the two remaining ships. Jones, there- 
 fore, swallowing his disappointment as best be 
 might, made sail for the Humber and the important 
 shipping town of Hull. 
 
 It was growing late in September, and the time 
 set for the return to the Texel was approaching. 
 As a matter of fact, however, though Jones remained 
 on the coast cruising up and down and capturing 
 everything he came in sight of, in spite of his anx- 
 iety Cottineau did not actually desert his commo- 
 dore. Cottineau was the best of the French officers. 
 Without the contagion of the others he might have 
 shown himself a faithful subordinate at all times. 
 Having learned the English private signals from a 
 captured vessel, Jones, leaving the Pallas, boldly 
 sailed into the mouth of the Humber, just as a heavy 
 convoy under the protection of a frigate and a small 
 sloop of war was getting under way to come out of 
 it. Though he set the English flag and the private 
 signals in the hope of decoying the whole force out 
 to sea and under his guns, to his great disappoint-
 
 OFF FLAMBOROUGH HEAD. 173 
 
 ment the ships, including the war vessels, put back 
 into the harbor. The Richard thereupon turned to 
 the northward and slowly sailed along the coast, fol- 
 lowed by the Vengeance. 
 
 Early in the morning of September 23d, while it 
 was yet dark, the Richard chased two ships, which 
 the daylight revealed to be the Pallas and the long- 
 missing Alliance, which at last rejoined. The wind 
 was blowing fresh from the southwest, and the two 
 ships under easy canvas slowly rolled along to- 
 ward Flamborough Head. Late in the morning 
 the Richard discovered a large brigantine inshore 
 and to windward. Jones immediately gave chase 
 to her, when the brigantine changed her course 
 and headed for Bridlington Bay, where she came to 
 anchor. 
 
 Bridlington Bay lies just south of Flamborough 
 Head, which is a bold promontory bearing a light- 
 house and jutting far out into the North Sea. Ves- 
 sels from the north bound for Hull or London gen- 
 erally pass close to the shore- at that point,, in order 
 to make as little of a detour as possible. For this 
 reason Jones had selected it as a particularly good 
 cruising ground. Sheltered from observation from 
 one side or the other, he waited for opportunities, 
 naturally abundant, to pounce upon unsuspecting 
 merchant ships. The Baltic fleet had not yet ap- 
 peared off the coast, though it was about due. Un- 
 less warned of his presence, it would inevitably pass 
 the bold headland and afford brilliant opportu- 
 nity for attack. If his unruly consorts would only 
 remain with him a little longer something might 
 yet be effected. To go back now would be to con-
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 fess to a partial failure, and Jones was determined 
 to continue the cruise even alone, until he had dem- 
 onstrated his fitness for higher things. Fate had his 
 opportunity ready for him, and he made good use 
 of it.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE SERAPIS. 
 
 ABOUT noon on the 23d of September, 1779, the 
 lookouts on the Richard became aware of the sails 
 of a large ship which suddenly shot into view around 
 the headland. Before any action could be taken the 
 first vessel was followed by a second, a third, and 
 others to the number of six, all close hauled on the 
 starboard tack, evidently intent upon weathering the 
 point. The English flags fluttering from their gaff 
 ends proclaimed a nationality, of which, indeed, 
 there could be no doubt. The course of the Richard 
 was instantly changed. Dispatching a boat under 
 the command of Lieutenant Henry Lunt to capture 
 the brigantine, Jones, in high anticipation, headed 
 the Richard for the strangers, at the same time sig- 
 naling the Alliance, the Pallas, and the Vengeance 
 to form line ahead on his ship that is, get into the 
 wake of the Richard and follow in single file. The 
 Alliance seems to have been ahead and to windward 
 of the Richard, the Pallas to windward and abreast, 
 and the Vengeance in the rear of the flagship. 
 
 It had not yet been developed whether the six 
 ships, which, even as they gazed upon them, were 
 followed by others until forty sail were counted, were 
 vessels of war or a merchant fleet under convoy ; but 
 
 i75
 
 176 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 with characteristic audacity Jones determined to ap- 
 proach them sufficiently near to settle the question. 
 He had expressed his intention of going in harm's 
 way, and for that purpose had asked a swift ship. 
 He could hardly have had a slower, more un- 
 wieldy, unmanageable vessel under him than the 
 Richard, but the fact had not altered his intention in 
 the slightest degree, so the course of the Richard 
 was laid for the ships sighted. 
 
 Captain Landais, however, was not actuated by 
 the same motives as his commander. He paid no 
 attention, as usual, to the signal, but instead ran off 
 to the Pallas, to whose commander he communi- 
 cated in a measure some of his own indecision. In 
 the hearing of the crews of both vessels Landais 
 called out to his fellow captain that if the fleet in 
 view were convoyed by a vessel of more than fifty 
 guns they would have nothing to do but run away, 
 well knowing that in such a case the Pallas, being 
 the slowest sailer of the lot slower even than the 
 Richard would inevitably be taken. Therefore, 
 with his two other large vessels beating to and fro 
 in a state of frightened uncertainty, Jones with the 
 Richard bore down alone upon the enemy. The 
 Vengeance remained far enough in the rear of the 
 Richard to be safe out of harm's way, and may be 
 dismissed from our further consideration, as she 
 took no part whatever in the subsequent events. 
 
 Closer scrutiny had satisfied the American that 
 the vessels in sight were the longed-for Baltic mer- 
 chant fleet which was convoyed by two vessels of 
 war, one of which appeared to be a small ship of the 
 line or a heavy frigate. In spite, therefore, of the sus-
 
 THE BALTIC FLEET. 177 
 
 picious maneuvers of his consorts, Jones flung out a 
 signal for a general chase, crossed his light yards 
 and swept toward the enemy. Meanwhile all was 
 consternation in the English fleet off the headland. 
 A shore boat which had been noticed pulling hard 
 toward the English convoying frigate now dashed 
 alongside, and a man ascended to her deck. Imme- 
 diately thereafter signals were broken out at the 
 masthead of the frigate, attention being called to 
 them by a gun fired to windward. All the ships but 
 one responded by tacking or wearing in different di- 
 rections in great apparent confusion, but all finally 
 headed for the harbor of Scarborough, where, under 
 the guns of the castle, they hoped to find a secure 
 refuge. As they put about they let fly their top- 
 gallant sheets and fired guns to spread the alarm. 
 
 Meanwhile the English ship, which proved to be 
 the frigate Serapis, also tacked and headed west- 
 ward, taking a position between her convoy and 
 the approaching ships. Some distance to leeward 
 of the frigate, and farther out to sea, to the eastward, 
 a smaller war vessel, in obedience to orders, alsx> 
 assumed a similar position, and both waited for the 
 advancing foe. Early that morning Richard Pear- 
 son, the captain of the Serapis, had been informed 
 that Paul Jones was off the coast, and he had been 
 instructed to look out for him. The information 
 had been at once communicated to the convoy, to 
 which cautionary orders had been given, which had 
 been in the main disregarded, as \vas the invariable 
 custom with convoys. The shore boat which the 
 men on the Richard had just observed speaking the 
 Serapis contained the bailiff of Scarborough Castle, 
 13
 
 !78 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 who confirmed the previous rumors and undoubt- 
 edly pointed out the approaching ships as Jones' 
 squadron. 
 
 Pearson, as we have seen, had signaled his con- 
 voy, and the latter, now apprised of their danger be- 
 yond all reasonable doubt by the sight of the ap- 
 proaching ships, had at last obeyed his orders. 
 Then he had cleverly placed his two ships between 
 the oncoming American squadron to cover the re- 
 treat of his charges and to prevent the enemy from 
 swooping down upon them. His position was not 
 only proper and seamanlike, but it was in effect a 
 bold challenge to his approaching antagonist a 
 challenge he had no wish to disregard, which he 
 eagerly welcomed, in fact. In obedience to Jones' 
 signal for a general chase, the Richard and the Pallas 
 were headed for their two enemies. As they drew 
 nearer the Pallas changed her course in accordance 
 with Jones' directions, and headed for the smaller 
 English ship, the Countess of Scarborough, a twen- 
 ty-four gun, 6-pounder sloop of war, by no means 
 an equal match for the Pallas. The Vengeance fol- 
 lowed at a safe distance in the rear of the commo- 
 dore, while Landais disregarded all signals and pur- 
 sued an erratic course of his own devising. Some- 
 times it appeared that he was about to follow the 
 Richard, sometimes the Pallas, sometimes the flying 
 merchantmen attracted his attention. It was evident 
 that the one thing he would not do would be to 
 fight. 
 
 In utter disgust, Jones withdrew' his attention 
 from him and concentrated his mind upon the task 
 before him. He was about to engage with his worn-
 
 A COMPARISON OF FORCE. 
 
 179 
 
 out old hulk, filled with condemned guns, a splen- 
 did English frigate of the first class. A com- 
 parison of force is interesting. Counting the main 
 battery of the Richard as composed of twelves and 
 the spar-deck guns as nines, and including the six 
 i8-pounders in the gun room as being all fought 
 on one side, we get a total Of forty guns throwing 
 three hundred and three pounds of shot to the 
 broadside ; this is the extreme estimate. Counting 
 one half of the main battery as Q-pounders, we get 
 two hundred and eighty-two pounds to the broad- 
 side, and, considering the i8-pounders as being 
 fought only three on a side, we reduce the weight of 
 the broadside to two hundred and twenty-eight 
 pounds. As it happened, as we shall see, the 
 i8-pounders were abandoned after the first fire, so 
 that the effective weight of broadside during the 
 action amounted to either one hundred and ninety- 
 five or one hundred and seventy-four pounds, de- 
 pending on the composition of the main battery. 
 Even the maximum amount is small enough by 
 comparison. 
 
 The crew of the Richard had been reduced to 
 about three hundred officers and men, as near as 
 can be ascertained. The desertion of the barge, the 
 loss of the boat under Cutting Lunt off the Irish 
 coast, the various details by which the several prizes 
 had been manned, and the absence of the boat sent 
 that morning under the charge of Henry Lunt, 
 which had not, and did not come back until after 
 the action, had reduced the original number to these 
 figures. A most serious feature of the situation 
 was the lack of capable sea officers. There were
 
 !g COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 so few of the latter on board the Richard originally 
 that the absence of the two mentioned seriously 
 hampered her work. Dale himself was a host. 
 Those that remained, who, with the exception of the 
 purser, sailing master, and the officers of the French 
 contingent, were young and inexperienced, mostly 
 midshipmen boys, in fact made up for their de- 
 ficiencies by their zeal and courage. The officers of 
 the French contingent proved themselves to be men 
 of a high class, who could be depended upon in 
 desperate emergencies. 
 
 The Serapis was a brand-new, double-banked 
 frigate, of about eight hundred tons burden that 
 is, she carried guns on two covered and one uncov- 
 ered decks. This was an unusual arrangement, not 
 subsequently considered advantageous or desir- 
 able, but it certainly enabled her to present a for- 
 midable battery within a rather short length ; her 
 shortness, it was believed, would greatly enhance 
 her handiness and mobility, qualities highly desir- 
 able in a war vessel, especially in the narrow seas. 
 On the lower or main deck twenty i8-pounders 
 were mounted ; on the gun deck proper, twenty 9- 
 pounders ; and on the spar deck, ten 6-pounders, 
 making a total of fifty guns, twenty-five in broad- 
 side, throwing three hundred pounds' weight of shot 
 at each discharge as against the Richard's one hun- 
 dred and seventy-four. She was manned by about 
 three hundred trained and disciplined English sea- 
 men, forming a homogeneous, efficient crew, and 
 well they proved their quality. Richard Pearson, 
 her captain, was a brave, competent, and successful 
 officer, who had enjoyed a distinguished career, win-
 
 THE FRIGATE SERAPIS. jgl 
 
 ning his rank by gallant and daring enterprises ; 
 no ordinary man, indeed, but one from whom much 
 was to be expected. 
 
 In making this comparison between the two 
 ships it must not be forgotten that while the differ- 
 ence in the number of guns ten was not great, 
 yet in their caliber and the consequent weight of 
 broadside the Richard was completely outclassed. 
 Then, too, the penetrative power of an 1 8-pound 
 gun is vastly greater than that of a 1 2-pound gun, a 
 thing well understood by naval men, though scarcely 
 appearing of much moment on paper. Indeed, it 
 was a maxim that a 1 2-pound frigate could not suc- 
 cessfully engage an i8-pounder, or an 1 8-pound 
 frigate cope with a 24-pound ship.* 
 
 In addition to this vast preponderance in actual 
 fighting force, there was another great advantage to 
 the Serapis in the original composition of her crew 
 as compared with the heterogeneous crowd which 
 Jones had been compelled to hammer into shape. 
 Worthily, indeed, did both bodies of men demon- 
 strate their courage and show the effect of their 
 training. There was a further superiority in the 
 English ship in that she was built for warlike pur- 
 poses, and was not a converted and hastily adapted 
 merchant vessel. She was of much heavier con- 
 struction, with more massive frames, stouter sides, 
 rnd heavier scantling. The last advantage Pear- 
 son's ship possessed was in her superior mobility 
 
 * The English learned this in 1812, when with the long 
 eighteens of the Guerriere and the Java they tackled the 
 long twenty-fours of the Constitution's broadside.
 
 !g2 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 and speed. She should have been able to choose and 
 maintain her distance, so that with her longer and 
 heavier guns she could batter the Richard to pieces 
 at pleasure, herself being immune from the latter's 
 feebler attack. 
 
 In but one consideration was the Richard supe- 
 rior to the Serapis, and that was in the personality 
 of the man behind the men behind the guns ! Pear- 
 son was a very gallant officer. There was no blem- 
 ish upon his record, no question as to his capacity. 
 In personal bravery he was not inferior to any one. 
 As a seaman he worthily upheld the high reputation 
 of the great navy to which he belonged ; but as a 
 man, as a personality, he was not to be mentioned 
 in the same breath with Jones. 
 
 This is no discredit to that particular English- 
 man, for the same disadvantageous comparison to 
 Jones would have to be made in the case of almost 
 any other man that sailed the sea. There was about 
 the little American such Homeric audacity, such 
 cool-headed heroism, such unbreakable determina- 
 tion, such unshakable resolution, that so long as he 
 lived it was impossible to conquer him. They might 
 knock mast after mast out of the Richard ; they 
 might silence gun after gun in her batteries ; man 
 after man might be killed upon her decks; they 
 might smash the ship to pieces and sink her beneath 
 his feet, but there was no power on earth which 
 could compel him to strike her flag. 
 
 Jones was the very incarnation of the indomi- 
 table Ego: a soul that laughed at odds, that despised 
 opposition, that knew but one thing after the battle 
 was joined to strike and strike hard, until opposi-
 
 THE INDOMITABLE EGO. 183 
 
 tion was battered down or the soul of the striker 
 had fled. In action he would be master or dead. 
 But his fighting was no baresark fury ; no blind, wild 
 rage of struggle ; no ungovernable lust for battle ; 
 it was the apotheosis of cool-blooded calculation. 
 He fought with his head as well as with his heart, 
 and he knew perfectly well what he was about all 
 the time. Pearson was highly trained matter of 
 first-rate composition ; Jones was mind, and his 
 superiority over matter was inevitable. The hot- 
 tempered spirit of the man which involved him in so 
 many difficulties, which made him quarrelsome, con- 
 trary, and captious, gave place to a coolness and 
 calmness as great as his courage in the presence 
 of danger, in the moment of action. By his skill, his 
 ability, his address, his persistence, his staying 
 power, his hardihood, Jones deserved that victory 
 which his determination absolutely wrested from 
 overwhelming odds, disaster, and defeat. The chief 
 players in the grim game, therefore, were but ill 
 matched, and not all the superiority in the pawns 
 upon the chessboard could overcome the fearful 
 odds under which the unconscious Pearson labored. 
 We pity Pearson ; in Jones' hands he was as help- 
 less as Pontius Pilate. 
 
 The crew of the Richard, having had supper and 
 grog, had long since gone to their stations to the 
 music of the same grim call of the beat to quarters 
 which had rolled upon the decks of every war ship 
 of every nation which had joined battle for perhaps 
 two hundred years. Jones was a great believer in 
 drill and gun practice. His experience on his first 
 cruise in the Alfred, if nothing else, had taught him
 
 jg4 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 that, and upon this ill-found ship with its motley 
 crew probably a more thorough regimen of control 
 and discipline existed than could be found in any 
 other ship afloat. Frequent target practice was had, 
 too, and the result proved the value of the exercise. 
 Had this not been the case the approaching battle 
 might have had a different termination. 
 
 The great guns had been cast loose and pro- 
 vided ; having been run in and loaded, they were run 
 out and a turn taken with the training tackles to 
 hold them steady. The magazines had been opened, 
 and the gunner and his mates stationed inside the 
 wetted woolen screen, which minimized the danger 
 of fire, to hand out charges of powder to the lads 
 called powder boys, or powder " monkeys," who, 
 with their canvas carrying boxes, were clustered 
 about the hatches. The gun captains saw that the 
 guns were properly primed, and they looked care- 
 fully after the slow matches used to discharge the 
 pieces, keeping them lighted and freely burning. 
 In the iron racks provided were laid rows of round 
 shot, with here and there a stand of grape. Arm 
 chests were opened and cutlasses and pistols dis- 
 tributed, and the racks filled with boarding pikes. 
 Many of the officers discarded their hats and put 
 on round steel boarding caps with dropped cheek 
 pieces. Swords were buckled on and the priming 
 of pistols carefully looked to. The men in many 
 cases stripped off their shirts and jackets, laid aside 
 caps and shoes, and slipped into their stations half 
 naked, with only a pair of trousers and their arms 
 upon them. Division tubs filled with water were 
 placed conveniently at hand, and the decks were
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR ACTION. ^5 
 
 well sanded to prevent them from becoming slip- 
 pery with blood when the action began. The pumps 
 were overhauled and put in good condition, and 
 hose led along the decks in case of fire. The car- 
 penter and his mates, well provided with shot plugs 
 to stop up possible holes, were stationed in the more 
 vulnerable parts of the ship. The boats were 
 wrapped with canvas to prevent splintering under 
 heavy shot, and heavy nettings triced up fore and 
 aft as a protection against boarders. Preventer 
 braces were rove from the more important yardarms, 
 the heavier yards were slung with chains, and the 
 principal rigging, including the backstays, stop- 
 pered to minimize the danger in case they should be 
 carried away by shot. Grapnels, strong iron hooks 
 securely fastened to the ends of stout ropes or slen- 
 der iron chains, were swung from every yardarm, 
 and laid along the bulwarks in case it became pos- 
 sible or desirable to lash the ships together. Every- 
 thing which would impede the working of the guns 
 or hinder the fighting of the men was either stowed 
 below or thrown overboard. Around the masts and 
 at the braces the sail trimmers were clustered, some 
 of them armed with boarding axes or hatchets, 
 handy for cutting away wreckage. Aft on the quar- 
 ter-deck and forward on the forecastle large bodies 
 of French marines were drawn up, musket in hand. 
 The broad, old-fashioned tops of the Richard 
 were filled with seamen and marines, armed with 
 muskets and having buckets full of small grenades 
 close at hand. Among these seamen were many of 
 the more agile and daring among the topmen who 
 from their stations in making and taking in sail were
 
 i86 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 designated as " light yardmen " while the marines 
 stationed in the tops were selected for their skill as 
 marksmen. The main body of the crew was dis- 
 tributed at the battery of great guns on the main 
 deck, which were in charge of Richard Dale and a 
 French lieutenant colonel of infantry, named de 
 Weibert. In the gloomy recesses of the gun room, 
 close to the water line, a little group of men was 
 told off to fight the heavy i8-pounders. Around the 
 hatches leading to the hold was stationed another 
 body of seamen and marines with the master at 
 arms, all armed to the teeth, to guard the English 
 prisoners, whose number is variously stated from 
 two to three hundred. The relieving tackles to use 
 in steering the ship in case the wheel was carried 
 away occupied the attention of another group. 
 
 Far below the water line in the dark depths of 
 the ship a bloody place familiarly known as the 
 cockpit the surgeon and his mates unconcernedly 
 spread out the foreboding array of ghastly instru- 
 ments and appliances of the rude surgery of the rude 
 period, in anticipation of the demands certain to be 
 made upon them. At the break of the poop a vet- 
 eran quarter-master and several assistants stood 
 grasping the great wheel of the ship with sturdy 
 fingers. Little groups of men were congregated on 
 the quarter-deck and forecastle and in the gangways 
 to man the Q-pounders, which were to play so im- 
 portant a part in the action. Jones himself, a quiet, 
 composed little figure of slender proportions, paced 
 steadily to and fro athwart the ship, now eagerly 
 peering ahead as the shades of night descended, now 
 casting a solemn glance aloft at the swelling canvas
 
 THE ADVANCE OF THE RICHARD. ] g/ 
 
 softly rounded out into huge curves in the gentle 
 breeze. Ever and anon he threw a keen glance back 
 toward the Alliance. When his gaze fell upon her, 
 the compression of his lips and the fierceness of his 
 look boded ill for Landais when he had time to deal 
 with him. 
 
 What must have been his thoughts in this mo- 
 mentous hour ! One likes to dwell upon him there 
 and then ; so alone and so undaunted on that old 
 deck in that gray twilight, resolutely proceeding to 
 battle with a ship which, now that it was in plain 
 view, his practised eye easily determined surpassed 
 his own in every particular. At such a moment, when 
 every faculty of his mind naturally would be needed 
 to fight his own vessel, suggestions of treachery and 
 disobedience and an utter inability to tell what his 
 cowardly and soon-to-be-proved traitorous subordi- 
 nate would do, made his situation indeed unbear- 
 able. But he dismissed all these things from his 
 mind. Confident in the justice of his cause in the 
 approval of Heaven for that cause and full of trust 
 in his own ability and personality, he put these 
 things out of his head and swept on. He was a 
 figure to inspire confidence on the deck of any ship. 
 The men, who had perhaps as vivid an appreciation 
 of their situation and all its dangers as he had him- 
 self, looked to their captain and took confidence in 
 the quiet poise of the lithe figure at the break of the 
 poop, balancing itself so easily to the lumbering roll 
 of the great ship. The young midshipmen, his per- 
 sonal aides, slightly withdrawn from close contact 
 with him, respected his silence as he paced to 
 and fro.
 
 jgg COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 Presently another graceful active figure, belong- 
 ing to the first lieutenant of the ship, came running 
 from below, walked rapidly along the deck, sprang 
 up the ladder, and stopped before the little captain, 
 whom he overtowered to a degree. He saluted 
 gravely, and announced that the Richard was clear, 
 the men at quarters, and the ship was ready for 
 action. After a few moments of conversation Jones 
 and Dale descended to the lower deck and walked 
 through the ship. A hearty word of appreciation 
 and encouragement here and there, as occasion sug- 
 gested, heartened and stimulated the reckless crew, 
 until they had almost risen to the captain's level. 
 Presently he returned to the deck alone. A few final 
 directions, one last glance of approval at the Pallas 
 closing in on the Scarborough, one last regret, one 
 last flush of indignation as he looked toward the 
 Alliance r a moment, and the battle would be 
 joined. 
 
 It was about seven o'clock in the evening. The 
 harvest moon had long since risen in the eastern sky, 
 and was flooding the pallid sea with its glorious 
 radiance. On the western horizon the broad, bright 
 beacon of Flamborough Head was sending out its 
 bright ray of yellow light over the trembling water. 
 With a night glass, clusters of people could be seen 
 upon the shore and upon the ships anchored under 
 the guns of Scarborough Castle, towering grim and 
 black against the horizon. Ahead was the white 
 Serapis, calmly confident, lying broadside on, port 
 shutters triced up, lights streaming from every 
 opening. She lay with her topsails to the mast, gal- 
 lantly waiting. Upon her, too, like preparations for
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE SERAPIS. 
 
 189 
 
 combat had been made. Along her decks the same 
 beating call to battle had rolled. Men who spake 
 the same language, who read the same Bible, who 
 but a few years since had loved the same flag, who 
 had vied with each other in loyalty to a common 
 king, now made ready to hurl death and destruction 
 at each other. Presently sharp words of command 
 rang out ; there was a sudden bustle on the deck of 
 the English ship. The braces were manned, the 
 yards swung, and the Serapis slowly gathered way 
 and gently forged ahead. Then all was still once 
 more on the serene English ship. 
 
 As the Richard drew nearer to the Serapis a deep 
 silence settled over the American ship. Even over 
 the roughest and rudest among her crew crept a 
 feeling of awe at the terrible possibilities of the next 
 few moments. The magnitude of their task as they 
 came nearer became more apparent. Forced laugh- 
 ter died away ; coarse words remained unspoken ; 
 lips foreign to prayer formed words of belated and 
 broken petition. Thoughts went back to home : to 
 sunny fields and vine-clad cottages in France ; to 
 frontier huts in verdant clearings in America ; to 
 rude houses in seaboard towns where the surf of the 
 western ocean broke in wild thunder upon the rocky 
 shore. Pictures of wives, of children, of mothers, 
 of sweethearts, rose before the misted vision. Here 
 and there a younger man choked down a sob. The 
 rude jests with which men sometimes strive to dis- 
 guise emotion fell unnoticed, or were sternly repre- 
 hended by the older and more thoughtful. The 
 fitful conversation died away, and the silence was 
 broken only by the soft sigh of the wind through
 
 igO COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the top hamper, the gentle flap of the lighter sails 
 as the pitch of the ship threw the canvas back and 
 forth, the soft splash of the bluff bows through the 
 water, the straining of the timbers, the creak of the 
 cordage through the blocks. Candle-filled battle 
 lanterns in long rows throughout the ship shed a 
 dim radiance over the bodies of the stalwart, half- 
 naked, barefooted men. Here and there a brighter 
 flash told of moonlight reflected from some gleam- 
 ing sword. 
 
 And the ships drew nearer nearer. In a mo- 
 ment the dogs of war would be loose. Presently a 
 sound broke the silence, a hail from the English 
 ship. A man leaped up on her rail and a cry came 
 faintly up through a hollowed hand against the 
 gentle breeze : 
 
 "What ship is that?" 
 
 The Richard had been kept skillfully end on to 
 the Serapis, and the commander of the latter ship 
 had still some lingering doubts as to her nationality. 
 Measuring the distance between the two ships, 
 Jones quickly motioned to the watchful quarter- 
 master beneath him. With eager hands the men 
 began, spoke by spoke, to shift the helm to star- 
 board. As the American ship began to swing to 
 port it would be but a moment before her broadside 
 would be revealed and concealment at an end. That 
 precious moment, however, Jones would have. He 
 sprang on the taffrail to starboard, and, catching 
 hold of the backstay, leaned far out and called 
 loudly : 
 
 " I do not understand you." 
 
 The Richard was swinging still more now. The
 
 THE BATTLE IS ON. 191 
 
 English caught a glimpse of a lighted port forward. 
 From it a huge gun thrust its muzzle out into the 
 night. Quick and sharp came the hail once more : 
 
 " W r hat ship is that ? Answer at once or I fire ! " 
 
 With what breathless silence the two ships lis- 
 tened for the reply ! 
 
 The helm was hard over now, the quartermas- 
 ters holding it down with grim determination, sweat 
 pouring from their foreheads, the ship swinging 
 broadside in to, and a little forward of, the Eng- 
 lishman. Bending over toward the quarter-deck, in 
 a clear voice heard throughout his ship, Jones called 
 out a sharp word of command. Even as he spoke 
 a line of fire lanced out into the night, followed by 
 the roar of one of the i2-pounders. It was an an- 
 swer not to be mistaken. Immediately the whole 
 broadside of the Richard was let go. Simultane- 
 ously the iron throats on the Serapis belched forth 
 their rain of hell arid destruction, and the great 
 battle was on ! It was perhaps a quarter after seven. 
 Side by side the two ships, covered with blinding 
 smoke, sailed in the still night, broadside answer- 
 ing broadside, the roar of the great guns sounding 
 in one horrible continuous note vibrating over the 
 ocean. The thunderous diapason was punctuated 
 by the sharp staccato rattle of the small arms. 
 
 The Richard, having more way on her, forged 
 slightly ahead of the Serapis, which had so lately 
 filled away that she had scarcely yet begun to move. 
 Jones, watchful of his opportunity, swung the head 
 of his ship in toward the English frigate, hoping 
 to cross her bows and rake her ; but the careful 
 Pearson, presently feeling the wind, gathered way
 
 IQ2 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 and with his superior speed easily regained his dis- 
 tance. The game was being played as he would have 
 it, and the bolts from his long eighteens were mak- 
 ing havoc of the Richard. Jones now determined to 
 back his topsails, check the speed of his own ship, 
 allow the Serapis to forge ahead, and then fill away 
 again, and rush the Richard alongside the English 
 frigate so that he could board and make use of his 
 preponderant force of soldiery. Accordingly, the 
 way of his frigate was checked and the Serapis drew 
 slightly ahead, receiving the fire of the Richard's 
 battery as she passed, and maintaining her own fire 
 in the smoke and darkness for some moments, until 
 Pearson discovered that he had passed ahead of the 
 Richard. The way of his ship was immediately 
 checked. The conflict had been maintained with 
 incredible fierceness for more than three quarters 
 of an hour. 
 
 As soon as Jones had gained sufficient distance, 
 he smartly filled away again and headed the clumsy 
 Richard at the Serapis; but the slow old vessel was 
 not equal to the demands of her commander. The 
 Richard only succeeded in striking the Serapis on 
 the port quarter very far aft. To have attempted 
 boarding from such a position would have been 
 madness. There are only two positions from which 
 a ship can be boarded advantageously. In one case, 
 when two ships are laid side by side, by massing 
 the crew at some point of the long line of defense 
 necessitated by the relative position of the vessels, 
 it may be possible to break through and effect a 
 lodgment on the enemy's deck. The other case is 
 when the ship desirous of boarding succeeds in
 
 "HAVE YOU STRUCK?" 
 
 193 
 
 crossing the bows of her enemy so that the latter 
 vessel is subjected to a raking fire from the battery 
 of the attacking ship, which beats down opposition 
 and sweeps everything before it, thus affording a 
 chance for favorable attack. Neither of these op- 
 portunities was presented at this time. 
 
 Jones, nevertheless, mustered his boarders on 
 the forecastle at this moment, heading them himself, 
 but the English appeared in such force at the point 
 of contact that the attempt was of necessity aban- 
 doned. The two ships hung together a moment, 
 then separated, and, the Serapis going ahead, the 
 Richard backing off, they formed a line ahead, 
 the bow of the Richard following the stern of 
 the Serapis. There was not a single great gun 
 which bore on either ship. The roar of the battle 
 died away, and even the crackle of the small arms 
 ceased for a space. At this moment Pearson 
 hailed the Richard. Having been subjected to the 
 battering of his superior force for so long a time, 
 Pearson concluded that it was time for the Richard 
 to surrender. He was right in theory in practice it 
 was different. His own ship had suffered severely 
 in the yardarm to yardarm fight, and he realized 
 that the loss upon the Richard must have been pro- 
 portionately greater. . Even the most unskilled sea- 
 man had learned by this time the difference in the 
 power of the two vessels. Therefore, taking advan- 
 tage of the momentary cessation of the battle, he 
 sprang up on the rail of the Serapis in the moon- 
 light and called out : 
 
 " Have you struck ? " 
 
 And to this interrogation Paul Jones returned
 
 1 94 COMMODORE PAUL JONKS. 
 
 that heroic answer, which since his day has been the 
 watchword of the American sailor : 
 
 " / have not yet begun to fight! " he cried with 
 gay audacity. 
 
 The ringing tones of his voice carried his an- 
 swer not only to the ears of the English captain, but 
 threw it far up into the high tops where the eager 
 seamen had so busily plied their small arms. The 
 men on the gun deck heard it with joy. It even 
 penetrated to the gloomy recesses of the gun room, 
 which had been the scene of such misfortune and 
 disaster as would have determined the career of any 
 other ship. The wounded caught the splendid in- 
 spiration which was back of the glorious declaration, 
 and under the influence of it stifled their groans, 
 forgot their wounds, and strove to fight on. It told 
 the dying that their lives were not to be given in 
 vain. Nay, those mighty words had a carrying 
 power which lifted them above the noise of the con- 
 flict, which sent them ringing over the narrow seas, 
 until they reverberated in the Houses of Parliament 
 on the one side and the Court of Versailles on the 
 other. They had a force which threw them across 
 the thousand leagues of ocean until they were heard 
 in every patriot camp, and repeated from the deck of 
 every American ship, until they became a part of 
 the common heritage of the nation as eternal as are 
 its Stripes and Stars ! The dauntless phrase of that 
 dauntless man : 
 
 " / hare not yet begun to fight! " 
 
 It was no new message. The British had heard 
 it as they tramped again and again up the bullet- 
 swept slopes of Bunker Hill ; Washington rang it
 
 "I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT!" 195 
 
 in the ears of the Hessians on the snowy Christmas 
 morning at Trenton ; the hoof beats of Arnold's 
 horse kept time to it in the wild charge at Saratoga ; 
 it cracked with the whip of the old wagoner Morgan 
 at the Cowpens ; the Maryland troops drove it home 
 in the hearts of their enemies with Greene at Guil- 
 ford Courthouse, and the drums of France and Eng- 
 land beat it into Cornwallis' ears when the end 
 came at Yorktown. There, that night in that dark- 
 ness, in that still moment of battle, Paul Jones de- 
 clared the determination of a great people. His was 
 the expression of an inspiration on the part of a new 
 nation. From this man came a statement of an un- 
 shakable determination at whatever cost to be free ! 
 A new Declaration of Independence, this famous 
 word of warning to the British king. Give up the 
 contest now, O monarch ! A greater majesty than 
 thine is there ! 
 
 I imagine a roar of wild exultation quivering 
 from truck to keelson, a gigantic Homeric laugh 
 rising from the dry throats of the rough men as yet 
 unharmed on the Richard as they caught the sig- 
 nificance of their captain's reply. " It was a joke, 
 the character of which those blood-stained ruffians 
 could well appreciate ; but the captain was in no 
 mood for joking. He was serious, and in the sim- 
 plicity of the answer lay its greatness. Strike ! Not 
 now, nor never! Beaten! The fighting is but just 
 begun ! The preposterous possibility of surrender 
 can not even be considered. What manner of man 
 this, with whom you battle in the moonlight, brave 
 Pearson ! An unfamiliar kind to you and to most ; 
 such as hath not been before, nor shall be again.
 
 I9 6 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 Yet all the world shall see and understand at this 
 time. 
 
 "' ' / have not yet begun to fight! ' 
 
 " Surprising answer ! On a ship shattered be- 
 yond repair, her best guns exploded and useless, her 
 crew decimated, ringed about with dead and dying, 
 the captain had not yet begun to fight ! But there 
 was no delay after the answer, no philosophizing, no 
 heroics. The man of action was there. He meant 
 business. Every moment when the guns were silent 
 wasted one." * 
 
 The Richard was in a dreadful condition, espe- 
 cially below. At the first fire two of the i8-pounders 
 in the gun room had exploded, killing most of the 
 officers and men of their crews, blowing out the side 
 of the ship, shattering the stanchions, blowing up 
 the deck above' them, and inflicting injuries of so 
 serious, a character that they virtually settled the 
 fate of the ship. The other guns there were imme- 
 diately abandoned, and the men left alive in the divi- 
 sion, who were not required to guard the prisoners, 
 were sent to the gun deck to report to Dale and 
 de Weibert. The battery which had been the main 
 dependence of Jones had proved worse than useless. 
 Indeed, it had done more harm than had the guns 
 of the Serapis. I know of no action between two 
 ships in which a similar, or even a less frightful, 
 happening did not cause the ship suffering it to 
 surrender at once. 
 
 The two ships hung in line for a moment, then 
 Jones put his helm hard astarboard again and 
 
 * From the author's novel, The Grip of Honor.
 
 "DON'T SWEAR, MR. STACY." 197 
 
 swung off to port, perhaps hoping to rake the Sera- 
 pis ; but the English captain, anticipating his ma- 
 neuver, backed his own topsails, and the two ships 
 passed by each other once more, the batteries re- 
 opening their fire at close range. The combat at 
 once recommenced with the most heroic determina- 
 tion. Fortunately, however, the captain of the 
 Serapis miscalculated either the speed at which his 
 own ship backed or the speed with which the 
 Richard drew ahead, for, before Pearson filled away 
 again, Jones had drawn so far ahead that by con- 
 summate seamanship and quick, desperate work he 
 managed to swing the Richard across the path of the 
 Serapis, an astonishing feat for the slower and more 
 unwieldy American frigate. It was his one oppor- 
 tunity and he embraced it one was enough for 
 Jones. Pearson had just succeeded in checking the 
 stern board of his own ship, and was going ahead 
 slowly, when the bow of his frigate ran aboard the 
 starboard quarter of the American, thrusting her 
 jib boom through the mizzen rigging far across 
 the quarter-deck of the Richard. Pouring a raking 
 fire upon the English frigate from his starboard bat- 
 tery, Jones, with his own hand, sprang to lash the 
 two ships together. The sailing master, Mr. Stacy, 
 leaped to assist him. As the officer strove to over- 
 haul the gear lying in a tangled mass upon the deck, 
 he broke into the natural oath of a sailor at the delay. 
 " Don't swear, Mr. Stacy," Jones is reported to 
 have said quietly, although he was working with 
 feverish energy to the same end " in another mo- 
 ment we may all be in the presence of our Maker 
 but let us do our duty."
 
 igg COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 The lashing was soon passed, and passed well. 
 The American boarders were called away again, 
 but they could do nothing in the face of the sharp 
 fire of the English repelling force. Meanwhile, the 
 pressure of the wind upon the after-sails of the 
 Serapis had broken off her bowsprit and forced her 
 stern around until she lay broadside to the American 
 ship. A spare anchor on the Serapis caught in the 
 mizzen chains of the Richard, and with it and the 
 grapnels which were hastily flung the two ships 
 were firmly bound together, the bow of one ship 
 by the stern of the other, heading in different ways, 
 their starboard sides touching. Pearson at once 
 dropped his port anchor, hoping that, his ship be- 
 ing anchored and the Richard under way, the Amer- 
 ican would drag clear, when his superiority in gun 
 power would enable him to continue the process of 
 knocking her to pieces at long range ; but, for- 
 tunately for the Richard, the wind had gradually 
 decreased until it was now nearly killed, or so light 
 that it did not prevent the ships from swinging to 
 the Serapis' anchor with the tidal current then set- 
 ting strongly to the northward. 
 
 It was some time after eight o'clock now, and the 
 battle at once recommenced with the utmost fury. 
 As the Serapis had not hitherto been engaged on 
 the starboard side,* it was necessary for her men to 
 blow off the port lids of their own ship at the first 
 discharge of her battery. They were so close to- 
 gether that the conflict resolved itself into a hand-to- 
 hand encounter with great guns. As Dale said, the 
 
 * See remarks on page 226.
 
 IN DEATH GRAPPLE JOINED. 
 
 199 
 
 sponges and rammers had to be extended through 
 the ports of the enemy in order to serve the guns. 
 Though the American batteries were fought with 
 the utmost resolution, they were, of course, no match 
 
 PLAN : Showing maneuvers of Bon Homme Richard and Serapis, 
 September 23, 177^ ; showing also course and conduct of Alliance.* 
 
 4f( Serapis. 
 
 tfo Bon Homme Richard 
 A, Alliance. C, Countess of Scarborough. P, Pallas. 
 
 c 
 
 whatever for those of the English ship, which had 
 two tiers of heavier guns to oppose to one of the 
 American. Below decks, therefore, the Americans 
 were at a fearful disadvantage. Above, however, 
 the number of soldiers and marines, constantly re- 
 enforced by a stream of men sent from below as 
 their guns were put out of action, gave them a com- 
 pensating factor, and by degrees the concentrated 
 fire of the Americans cleared the deck of the Serapis. 
 The two ships lying side by side, slowly grinding 
 
 * After a drawing by Captain A. T. Mahan, U. S. N., by 
 permission of Charles Scribner's Sons.
 
 200 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 together in the gentle sea, the yardarms were inter- 
 laced and the American topmen, again outnumber- 
 ing their English antagonists, ran along the yards, 
 and a dizzy fight in midair ensued, as the result of 
 which, after suffering severe loss, the Americans 
 gained possession of the British maintop. Turning 
 their fire forward and aft, aided by attacking parties 
 from the fore and crossjack yards, they finally cleared 
 the English entirely out of the upper works of their 
 ship. From this lofty point of vantage they poured 
 such a rain of fire upon the Serapis that Pearson 
 was left practically alone on the quarter-deck. To 
 a chivalrous admiration for his courage he is said 
 to owe his immunity. He, too, should have his meed 
 of praise for the undaunted heroism with which he 
 stood alone on the bullet-swept, blood-stained 
 planks, maintained his position, and fought his 
 ship. 
 
 Now, to go back a little. Shortly after the two 
 ships were lashed together, the Alliance, apparently 
 having recovered from her hesitation, came sweep- 
 ing toward the combatants, and deliberately poured 
 a broadside into the Richard, which did not a little 
 damage and killed several men. In spite of all sig- 
 nals, Landais repeated his treacherous performance, 
 but before the Richard's men could fairly realize the 
 astonishing situation he sailed away from them and 
 ran over before the wind toward the Pallas, which 
 had been for some time hotly engaged with the 
 Countess of Scarborough, where he is said to have 
 done the same thing.* This strange action of the 
 
 * Doubtful.
 
 THE RELEASE OF THE PRISONERS. 2OI 
 
 Alliance had but little effect upon the battle at this 
 time, which was continued with unremitting fury. 
 
 One by one the small guns on the main deck of 
 the Richard were silenced. The crews were swept 
 away, guns were dismounted, carriages broken and 
 shattered, and finally the whole side of the Richard 
 from the mainmast aft was beaten in ; so much so, 
 that during the latter part of the action the shot of 
 the Serapis passed completely through the Richard, 
 and, meeting no opposition, fell harmlessly into the 
 sea far on the other side. In the excitement the 
 English never thought of depressing their guns and 
 tearing .the bottom out of the Richard. As it was, 
 transoms were. beaten out, stern frames were cut to 
 pieces, and a few stanchions alone supported the 
 decks above. Why they did not collapse and fall 
 into the hull beneath it, with the guns and men on 
 them, is a mystery. In addition to all this, the ship 
 was on fire repeatedly, and men were continually 
 called away from their stations to fight the flames. 
 
 Dale and de Weibert had just fired their last 
 shots from the remaining guns of the main battery 
 which were serviceable when a new complication 
 was added to the scene. The men guarding the pris- 
 oners had been gradually picked off by the shot of 
 the enemy. The Richard was leaking rapidly, and 
 when the carpenter sounded the well a little after 
 nine o'clock, late in the action, he discovered sev- 
 eral feet of water in it. In great alarm he shrieked 
 out that they were sinking. The few remaining men 
 in the gun room ran for the hatchways. The mas- 
 ter at arms, thinking that all was over, unlocked the 
 hatches and released the prisoners, crying out at
 
 202 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the same time, " On deck, everybody ; the ship is 
 sinking ! " The Englishmen in panic terror scram- 
 bled up through the narrow hatchways, and fought 
 desperately with each other in their wild hurry to 
 reach the deck, where the carpenter had preceded 
 them, still shouting that the ship was sinking, and 
 now crying loudly, " Quarter ! Quarter ! " 
 
 As the carpenter ran aft, shouting his message of 
 fear and alarm, he was followed by some of the for- 
 ward officers, who, catching the contagion of his ter- 
 ror, repeated his words. Reaching the poop deck, 
 the carpenter fumbled in the darkness for the hal- 
 liards to haul down the flag, calling out to Jones that 
 all was lost, the ship sinking, and that he must sur- 
 render. Other officers and men joined in the cry. 
 It was another critical moment. Pearson, hearing 
 the commotion, again hailed, asking if the Richard 
 had struck. Jones, unable to stop the outcry of the 
 terrified carpenter, smashed his skull with the butt of 
 his pistol, and answered the second request of Pear- 
 son with, as he says, a most determined negative. 
 We can imagine it. By his presence of mind in si- 
 lencing the carpenter, and a supreme exertion of his 
 indomitable will power, Jones soon succeeded in 
 checking the incipient panic on the spar deck. At 
 this period of the fight some accounts say that Pear- 
 son called his boarders from below and attempted to 
 board. The advance was met by Jones at the head 
 of a few men, pike in hand, with such firmness that 
 it was not pressed home, and the men returned to 
 their stations at the guns and resumed the fight. 
 
 Meanwhile, Richard Dale, seconded by his mid- 
 shipmen, with rare and never-to-be-undervalued
 
 DALE'S DECISIVE ACTION. 
 
 203 
 
 presence of mind, had stopped the oncoming rush 
 of frightened English prisoners, who now greatly 
 outnumbered the broken crew of the Richard. He 
 sprang among them, beating them down, driving 
 them back, menacing them with the point of the 
 sword, at the same time telling them that the Eng- 
 lish ship was sinking, and that they were in the same 
 condition, and unless they went to the pumps imme- 
 diately all hands would be inevitably lost. The au- 
 dacity of this statement was worthy of Jones himself. 
 It was a rare action on the part of a boy of twenty- 
 three years of age. Such a young man under pres- 
 ent conditions in the United States Navy probably 
 would be filling the responsible station of a naval 
 cadet afloat ! * Instantly divining this new peril, the 
 commodore himself sprang to the hatchway and 
 seconded Dale's effort. Incredible as it seems, the 
 two men actually forced the panic-stricken, bewil- 
 dered, and terrified English prisoners to man the 
 pumps, thus relieving a number of the crew of the 
 Richard ; and the singular spectacle was presented of 
 an American ship kept afloat by the efforts of Eng- 
 lishmen, and thus enabled to continue an almost 
 hopeless combat. Dale, with imperturbable au- 
 dacity, remained below in command of them. 
 
 The Richard was a wreck. She had been fought 
 to a standstill. Her battery was silenced, her decks 
 were filled with released prisoners, she was making 
 water fast, she was on fire in two or three places ; 
 numbers of her crew had been killed and wounded, 
 the water had overflowed the cockpit, and the 
 
 * Possibly he might be an ensign.
 
 204 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 frightened surgeon had been driven to the deck, 
 where, in conjunction with some of the French offi- 
 cers, he counseled surrender. 
 
 " What ! " cried Paul Jones, smiling at the sur- 
 geon, " What, doctor ! Would you have me strike 
 to a drop of water? Help me to get this gun 
 over ! " 
 
 But the doctor, liking the looks of things on 
 deck even less than below, ran down the hatchway, 
 and, his station untenable, wandered to and fro and 
 ministered to the wounded on every side as best he 
 could. Meanwhile Jones had taken the place of the 
 purser, Mr. Mease, commanding the upper battery, 
 who had been severely wounded and forced to leave 
 his station. The commodore was personally direct- 
 ing the fire of the upper deck guns left serviceable 
 on the Richard, the two 9-pounders on the quar- 
 ter-deck. W T ith great exertion another gun was 
 dragged over from the port side, Jones lending a 
 hand with the rest, and the fire of the three was 
 concentrated upon the mainmast of the Serapis. 
 
 About this time, between half after nine and ten 
 o'clock, a huge black shadow came darting between 
 the moonlight and the two frigates grinding against 
 each other. It was the Alliance once more enter- 
 ing the fray. After running away from the Richard 
 toward the Scarborough and the Pallas, she hov- 
 ered about until she found that the former had 
 capitulated after a gallant defense against the over- 
 whelming superiority of the French ship. Then 
 Landais headed once more for the Richard and the 
 Serapis. To reach them, he was forced to make two 
 tacks. As he approached, a burning anxiety filled
 
 LANDAIS' TREACHERY. 205 
 
 the minds of Jones and the officers who were left 
 on deck with him, as to what Landais would do. 
 They were soon enlightened. 
 
 Sailing across the bow of the Serapis, the Alli- 
 ance drew past the stern of the Richard, and when 
 she had reached a position slightly on the quarter 
 of the latter ship, she poured in a broadside. There 
 could be no misapprehension on the part of Landais 
 as to which ship he was firing into. The Richard 
 was a black ship with a high poop, and the Serapis 
 was painted a creamy white with much lower stern. 
 The moon was filling the sky with brilliant light. 
 Things were as plain as if it were daytime. In addi- 
 tion to all this, -Jones had caused the private night 
 signals to be hung upon the port side of the Richard. 
 Shouts and cries warned the Alliance that she was 
 firing upon her own people. These were disre- 
 garded. It was the opinion of the Americans that 
 the English had taken the ship and were endeavor- 
 ing to compass the destruction of the Richard. 
 They could not otherwise explain the astonishing 
 action. Sailing slowly along the starboard side of 
 the Richard, the Alliance poured in another broad- 
 side. Then she circled the bows of the American 
 ship, and from some distance away raked her with 
 a discharge of grape which killed and wounded 
 many, including Midshipman Caswell, in charge of 
 the forecastle. It was just before ten o'clock when 
 this happened. Some of the shot from these several 
 broadsides may have reached the Serapis and pos- 
 sibly have done some damage, but the brunt of the 
 severe attack fell upon the Richard. Her men, in 
 the face of this awful stab in the back from a friend,
 
 2o6 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 naturally flinched from their guns and ran from 
 their stations. 
 
 All seemed hopeless ; but Jones was still left, and 
 while he was alive he would fight. He and his offi- 
 cers drove the men back to their guns, and as the 
 Alliance sailed away, for the time being, they forgot 
 her. The fight went on ! 
 
 It is greatly to the credit of the men that under 
 such circumstances they could be induced to con- 
 tinue the contest. But the men had actually grown 
 reckless of consequences : filled with the lust of 
 battle, the brute in them was uppermost. They 
 fought where they stood, with what they had. 
 When the American guns were silenced, the seamen 
 struck at their British foes over their silent muzzles 
 with ramrods and sponges. Some endeavored to 
 subdue the flames which broke out on every side. 
 Others joined the English prisoners at the pumps. 
 Many ran to the upper deck to replace the deci- 
 mated crews of the Q-pounders. Some seized the 
 muskets of the dead French soldiers and poured in 
 a small-arm fire. They had grown careless of the 
 fire, indifferent to the progress of the battle, igno- 
 rant of the results of the action. There was but 
 one spirit among them, one idea possessed them 
 to fight and to fight on. Both crews had done their 
 best ; both had fought as men rarely had fought be- 
 fore; the battle was still undecided. The issue lay 
 between Jones and Pearson. What was it to be? 
 
 Things on the Richard were hopeless, but things 
 on the Serapis had not gone much better. She, too, 
 was on fire in no less than twelve places at once. 
 The fearful musketry fire from the quarter-deck and
 
 THE ACCIDENT ON THE SERAPIS. 
 
 207 
 
 forecastle of the Richard, and from the tops, had 
 practically cleared her decks of all but Pearson. By 
 Jones' orders the men in the American tops had 
 made a free use of their hand grenades. A daring 
 sailor, sent by Midshipman Fanning from the main- 
 top, ran out upon the main yardarm, which hung 
 over the after hatch of the Serapis, and began to 
 throw grenades down the hatchway. On the lower 
 deck of that ship a large pile of powder cart- 
 ridges had been allowed to accumulate, for which, 
 on account of the silencing of a large number of 
 guns, there had been no demand. With reckless 
 improvidence, in their haste, the powder boys con- 
 tinued to pile up these unused charges on the deck 
 of the ship between the batteries. Nobody cau- 
 tioned them, perhaps nobody noticed them in the 
 heat of the action. At last a hand grenade struck 
 the hatch combing, bounded aft, and fell into the 
 midst of the pile of cartridges. There was a det- 
 onating crash, a terrific explosion, which absolutely 
 silenced the roar of the battle for a moment. The 
 two ships rolled and rocked from the shock of it. 
 When the smoke cleared away, the decks were filled 
 with dead and dying. Some twenty-eight men were 
 killed or desperately wounded by the discharge ; 
 many others on the decks were stunned, blinded, 
 and thrown in every direction by the concussion. 
 Clothes were ripped from them, and many of them 
 were severely burned. Lieutenant Stanhope, in 
 charge of that gun division, his clothing on fire, 
 actually leaped into the sea to get relief from his 
 agony. Afterward, though frightfully burned, he 
 regained his station and fought on.
 
 2o8 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 It was this last shock that determined Pearson to 
 surrender. He had beaten his antagonist a half 
 dozen times, but his antagonist did not seem to 
 realize it. In the face of such implacable determina- 
 tion his own nerve gave way. He was surrounded 
 by dead and dying, no human soul apparently fit 
 for duty on his decks but himself, the roar of his 
 own guns silenced by this terrific explosion. He 
 had fought through many desperate battles never 
 one like this. The other American frigate might 
 come back. His consort had been captured. His 
 nerve was broken. He turned and walked aft to 
 the flagstaff raking from the taffrail. To this staff, 
 with his own hand before the action, he had nailed 
 the English flag.* With the same hand he seized 
 the drooping folds of bunting, and with a breaking 
 heart tore it from the staff. 
 
 * Some authorities imply that the flag had been nailed to 
 the masthead, and that it was necessary for Pearson to go 
 aloft in default of any one else in order to strike his colors. 
 Nailing a flag to the masthead is a figure of speech, and I 
 doubt the actuality of the performance. On the other hand, 
 it would be easy and natural for Pearson to have nailed the 
 ensign to a staff, which contemporary prints show that ships 
 sometimes carried for the purpose of flying the colors. In 
 the latter case it would be easy for Pearson to tear it down ; 
 in that hypothesis his whole action then and subsequently is 
 understandable. If the flag had been nailed to the mast- 
 head it is extremely unlikely that he would have taken the 
 time, trouble, and risk of going aloft to tear it down when 
 by a simple word or two he could have surrendered his ship.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AFTER THE BATTLE REMARKS ON THE ACTION. 
 
 "THEY have struck their flag!" cried Jones, 
 who had witnessed the action. " Cease firing ! " 
 His powerful voice rang through the two ships with 
 such a note of triumph as has rarely been heard in 
 the fought-over confines of the narrow seas. 
 
 As the little scene transpired above, from the 
 decks beneath them came the roar of the Serapis' 
 guns. She had resumed her fire. Her men, too, 
 were of heroic breed ! A British ship captain 
 among the English prisoners, recovering from his 
 panic and noting the desperate condition of the 
 Richard, had slipped away from the pumps, and, 
 eluding the observation of Dale and his men, had 
 crawled through the gaping openings in the sides 
 of the Richard and the Serapis at the risk of his 
 life for the first Englishman who saw him moved 
 to cut him down and had announced the dread- 
 ful plight of the Richard to the first lieutenant of 
 the Serapis, who had succeeded in rallying his 
 men and forcing them once more back to the 
 guns. 
 
 But the cry of the American was taken up by the 
 men on the different ships until Dale came bound- 
 ing up the hatchway, when Jones ordered him to 
 15 209
 
 2io COMMODORE TAUL JONES. 
 
 board the English frigate and take possession. Fol- 
 lowed by Midshipman Mayrant and a party of 
 boarders with drawn swords, Dale leaped up on 
 the rail of the Richard, seized the end of the main 
 brace pennant, swung himself to the lower Serapis, 
 and jumped down upon her quarter-deck. As May- 
 rant followed he was met by an English seaman 
 coming from the waist, pike in hand. The sailor, 
 ignorant of or disbelieving the surrender, thrust 
 violently at Mayrant, inflicting a serious wound in 
 the thigh before he could be stopped. 
 
 Aft upon the lee side of the deck, Pearson was 
 standing alone with bowed head, leaning against 
 the rail, the flag in one hand, his face being cov- 
 ered by the other. As the Americans clambered 
 over the rail he raised his head his hand fell to the 
 breast of his coat. There was the look of defeat, the 
 saddest aspect humanity can bear, upon his face. 
 As Dale approached him, the English first lieuten- 
 ant, not believing that the ship had struck, also came 
 bounding from below. 
 
 "Have you struck?" cried Dale, stepping be- 
 fore the English captain. 
 
 " Yes, sir," was the reply. The anguish of the 
 broken-hearted sailor was apparent in his face and 
 in his voice. 
 
 " Sir, I have orders to send you on board the 
 ship alongside," replied the American, . 
 
 " Very good, sir," answered Pearson, reaching 
 for his sword and dropping the flag. Just at this 
 moment his subordinate interrupted them. 
 
 " Has the enemy struck to you, sir? " he asked. 
 
 " No, sir ; on the contrary, he has struck to us,"
 
 211 
 
 interposed Dale. But the English lieutenant re- 
 fused to believe him. 
 
 " A few more broadsides, sir, and they are ours," 
 he persisted. " Their prisoners have escaped. 
 They are sinking ! " 
 
 " The ship has struck, sir," Dale burst out hur- 
 riedly, scarcely giving the miserable Pearson an op- 
 portunity of replying, " and you are my prisoner ! " 
 Very properly, however, the English officer would 
 take such news from no one but his own captain. 
 
 " Sir ! " he cried in astonishment to Pearson, 
 " have you struck ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," at last answered Pearson reluctantly. 
 
 There was a deadly little pause. 
 
 " I have nothing more to say, sir," replied the 
 officer at last, turning to go below. As Dale inter- 
 posed, he added, '' If you will permit me to go be- 
 low I will silence the firing of the lower deck guns." 
 
 " No, sir," answered Dale, " you will accompany 
 your captain on board our ship at once, by the 
 orders of Commodore Jones. Pass the word to 
 cease firing. Your ship has surrendered ! " 
 
 Dale was fearful lest the lieutenant should go 
 below and, refusing to accept the captain's decision, 
 attempt to resume the conflict. So, with his usual 
 presence of mind, he sternly insisted upon both 
 officers proceeding on board the Richard at once. 
 In the face of the swarming crowd of the Richard's 
 men on the Serapis' quarter-deck they had, of 
 course, no option but to obey. By the aid of the 
 dangling ropes they climbed up to the rail of the 
 Indiaman and thence dropped to the quarter-deck 
 of the American ship. They found themselves in
 
 212 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the presence of a little man in a blue uniform which 
 was rent and torn from the labors he had undergone 
 during the action. He was hatless, and his dark 
 face was grimed with the smoke and soil of battle. 
 Blood spattering from a slight wound upon his fore- 
 head was coagulated upon his cheek. In the lurid 
 illumination of the fire roaring fiercely forward, 
 which, with the moon's pallid irradiation, threw a 
 ghastly light over the scene of horror, he looked a 
 hideous spectacle a picture of demoniac war. 
 Nothing but the fierce black eyes still burning with 
 the awful passions of the past few hours and gleam- 
 ing out of the darkness, with the exultant light of 
 the present conquest proclaimed the high humanity 
 of the man. In his hand he held a drawn sword. 
 As the English officers stepped upon the deck he 
 advanced toward them and bowed gracefully. 
 
 " You are " began Pearson interrogatively. 
 
 . " Commodore John Paul Jones, of the American 
 Continental squadron, and the ship Bon Homme 
 Richard, at your service, gentlemen ; and you 
 are " 
 
 " Captain Richard Pearson, of His Britannic 
 Majesty's ship Serapis," responded the other, bow- 
 ing haughtily, as he tendered his sword. 
 
 Pearson is reputed to have said on this occa- 
 sion, " I regret at being compelled to strike to a 
 man who has fought with a halter around his 
 neck," or words to that effect. He did not utter 
 the remark at that time, according to Jones' spe- 
 cific statement made long afterward. The sub- 
 stance of the statement was used, however, in 
 Pearson's testimony before a court martial subse-
 
 THE MAGNANIMITY OF JONES. 213 
 
 quently for the loss of his ship. And the story 
 probably arose from that circumstance. Jones 
 retained the sword, which was customary at that 
 period, though different customs obtained later. 
 
 As he received the proffered sword the American 
 replied, with a magnanimity as great as his valor: 
 
 " Sir, you have fought like a hero, and I make 
 no doubt that your sovereign will reward you in the 
 most ample manner." 
 
 His countrymen have ever loved Paul Jones for 
 the chivalrous nobility of this gracious answer. But 
 he wasted no further time in discussion. There was 
 too much to be done ; not a moment could be lost. 
 It was half after ten o'clock at night ; the battle 
 was over, but their tasks were not yet completed. 
 Both ships were burning furiously. Their decks 
 were filled with desperately wounded men, whose 
 agonies demanded immediate attention. Their 
 screams and groans rose above the sound of the 
 crackling, roaring flames. With but half a single 
 crew Jones had to man both ships, put out the 
 fires, force the escaped English prisoners back into 
 the hold, secure the additional prisoners, and care 
 for the wounded on the Serapis. From the actions 
 of the Alliance, too, there was no telling what Lan- 
 dais might take it into his head to do. He had fired 
 twice upon them ; he might do it again, and possibly 
 it might, be necessary for Jones to defend the flag- 
 ship and her prize from a more determined attack by 
 Landais than any to which they had yet been sub- 
 jected. 
 
 He turned over the command of the Serapis to 
 Dale, sending him, as usual, a generous contingent
 
 214 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 for a prize crew, and then, as a preliminary to fur- 
 ther work, the lashings which had held the two ves- 
 sels in their death grapple were cut asunder. The 
 Richard slowly began to draw past her beaten an- 
 tagonist. Dale immediately filled his head sail and 
 shifted his helm to wear ship and carry out his 
 orders. He was much surprised to find that the 
 Serapis lay still and did not obey the helm. Fearing 
 that the wheel ropes had been shot away, he sent a 
 quartermaster to examine them, who reported that 
 they were intact. At this moment the master of 
 the Serapis, coming aft and observing Dale's sur- 
 prise, informed him that the English ship was an- 
 chored, which was the first intimation of that fact 
 the Americans had received. Dale ordered the 
 cable cut, whereupon the ship paid off and began 
 to shove through the water, which fortunately still 
 continued calm. As he spoke, he rose from the bin- 
 nacle upon which he had been seated, and immedi- 
 ately fell prone to the deck. He discovered at that 
 moment, by his inability to stand, that he had been 
 severely wounded in the leg by a splinter, a thing 
 which he had not noticed in the heat of the action. 
 As he lay upon the deck, Mr. Henry Lunt, the 
 second lieutenant of the Richard, came on board the 
 Serapis at this juncture. This officer had been dis- 
 patched in the afternoon to pursue the brigantine, 
 and had caused his boat's crew to lay on their oars 
 at a safe distance from the two ships during the 
 whole of the desperate battle, because, as he states, 
 he " thought it not prudent to go alongside in time 
 of action." Mr. Lunt no doubt lived to regret the 
 pusillanimous " prudence " of his conduct on this
 
 THE RICHARD'S DESPERATE CONDITION. 
 
 215 
 
 occasion, although, if that conduct be an index to 
 his character, his services would not be of great 
 value in the battle. Dale turned over the command 
 of the Serapis to Lunt, and was assisted on board 
 the Richard. 
 
 As the Richard cleared the Serapis, the tottering 
 mainmast of that ship, which had been subjected 
 to a continual battering from the Q-pounders and 
 which had only been sustained by the interlocking 
 yards, came crashing down, just above the deck, 
 carrying with it the mizzen topmast, doing much 
 damage as it fell, and adding an element of ship- 
 wreck to the other evidence of disaster. The frigate 
 was also on fire, and the flames, unchecked in the 
 confusion of the surrender, were gaining great 
 headway. Moved by a sense of their common peril 
 and necessity, the English crew joined with the 
 Americans in clearing away the wreck and subduing 
 the fire. They did not effect this without a hard 
 struggle, but they finally succeeded in saving the 
 ship and following the Richard. 
 
 The situation on that ship was precarious in the 
 extreme. She was very low in the water and leak- 
 ing like a sieve. She was still on fire in several 
 places, and the flames were blazing more furiously 
 than ever. There was not a minute's respite allowed 
 her crew. Having conquered the English, they 
 turned to fight the fire and water. The prisoners 
 were forced to continue their exhausting toil at the 
 pumps. Pressing every man of the crew into serv- 
 ice, including the English officers, except those so 
 badly wounded as to be incapable of anything, Jones 
 and his men turned their attention to the fire. They
 
 2i6 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 had a hard struggle to get it under control. At one 
 time the flames approached so near to the magazine 
 that, fearful lest they should be blown up, Jones 
 caused the powder to be removed and stowed upon 
 the deck preparatory to throwing it overboard. 
 For some time they despaired of saving the ship. 
 Toward daybreak, however, they managed to extin- 
 guish the flames and were saved that danger. In 
 the morning a careful inspection of the ship was 
 made. A fearful situation was revealed. She had 
 been torn to pieces. It was hardly safe for the offi- 
 cers and men to remain on the after part of the ship. 
 Everything that supported the upper deck except a 
 few stanchions had been torn away. Her rotten 
 timbers had offered no resistance to the Serapis' 
 searching shot. Jones writes : 
 
 " With respect to the situation of the Bon 
 Homme Richard, the rudder was cut entirely off, 
 the stern frame and the transoms were almost en- 
 tirely cut away ; the timbers, by the lower deck espe- 
 cially, from the mainmast to the stern, being greatly 
 decayed with age, were mangled beyond my power 
 of description, and a person must have been an eye- 
 witness to form a just idea of the tremendous scene 
 of carnage, wreck, and ruin that everywhere ap- 
 peared. Humanity can not.but recoil from the pros- 
 pect of such finished horror, and lament that war 
 should produce such fatal consequences." 
 
 It was evident that nothing less than a miracle 
 could keep her afloat even in the calmest weather. 
 With a perfectly natural feeling Jones determined to 
 try it.
 
 THE RICHARD IS ABANDONED. 
 
 A large detail from the Pallas was set to work 
 pumping her out. Every effort, meanwhile, was 
 made to patch her up so that she could be brought 
 into the harbor. The effort^ were in vain. Owing 
 to the decayed condition of her timbers, even the 
 poor remnants of her frames that were left standing 
 aft could not bear the slightest repairing. She set- 
 tled lower and lower in the water, until, having been 
 surveyed by the carpenters and various men of ex- 
 perience, including Captain de Cottineau, about five 
 o'clock in the evening it was determined to abandon 
 her. It was time. She threatened to sink at any 
 moment would surely have sunk, indeed, if the 
 pumps had stopped. She was filled with helpless 
 wounded and prisoners. They had to be taken off 
 before she went down. 
 
 During the night everybody worked desperately 
 transferring the wounded to the other ships, fur- 
 ther details of men from the Pallas being told off to 
 man the frigate and keep her afloat. Such was the 
 haste with which they worked that they barely suc- 
 ceeded in transhipping the last of the wounded just 
 before daybreak on the 25th. Although the sea 
 fortunately continued smooth, the poor wounded 
 suffered frightfully from the rough handling neces- 
 sitated by the rapid transfer. 
 
 The removal of the prisoners from the Richard 
 was now begun ; naturally, these men, expecting the 
 ship to sink at any moment, were frantic with terror. 
 They had only been kept down by the most rigor- 
 ous measures. As day broke, the light revealed to 
 them the nearness of the approaching end of the 
 ship. They also realized that they greatly outnum-
 
 2i8 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 befed the Americans remaining on the Richard. 
 There was a hurried consultation among them : a 
 quick rush, and they made a desperate attempt to 
 take the ship. Some endeavored to overpower 
 the Americans, others ran to the 'braces and wheel 
 and got the head of the ship toward the land. A 
 brief struggle ensued. The Americans were all 
 heavily armed, the English had few weapons, and 
 after two of them had been shot dead, many 
 wounded, and others thrown overboard, they were 
 subdued once more and the ship regained. In the 
 confusion some thirteen of them got possession of 
 a boat and escaped in the gray of the morning to the 
 shore. By close, quick work during the early morn- 
 ing all the men alive, prisoners and crew, were em- 
 barked in the boats of the squadron before the 
 Richard finally disappeared.* At ten o'clock in the 
 morning of the 25th she plunged forward and went 
 down bow foremost. The great battle flag under 
 which she had been fought, which had been shot 
 away during the action, had been picked up and re- 
 set. It fluttered above her as she slowly sank be- 
 neath the sea.f 
 
 So filled had been the busy hours, and so many 
 had been the demands made upon him in every 
 direction, that Jones, ever careless of himself in 
 others' needs, lost all of his personal wardrobe, 
 papers, and other property. They went down with 
 the ship. From the deck of the Serapis, Jones, with 
 
 * It has been incorrectly stated that many wounded and 
 prisoners were carried down with the ship. Jones, who was 
 in a position to know, asserts the contrary. 
 
 f See Appendix No. III.
 
 THE SINKING OF THE RICHARD. 219 
 
 longing eyes and mingled feelings, watched the 
 great old Indiaman, which had earned everlasting 
 immortality because for three brief hours he and his 
 men had battled upon her wornout decks, sink be- 
 neath the sea. Most of those who had given their 
 lives in defense of her in the battle lay still and 
 silent upon her decks. There had been no time to 
 spare to the dead. Like the Vikings of old, they 
 found their coffin in Her riven sides, and sleep to-day 
 in the quiet of the great deep on the scene of their 
 glory. During the interval after the action, a jury 
 rig had been improvised on the Serapis, which had 
 not been severely cut up below by the light guns 
 of the Richard, and was therefore entirely sea- 
 worthy, and the squadron bore away by Jones' or- 
 ders for Dunkirk, France. 
 
 Before we pass to a consideration of the subse- 
 quent movements of the squadron, a further com- 
 parison between the Richard and the Serapis, with 
 some statement of the losses sustained and the vari- 
 ous factors which were calculated to bring about the 
 end, wall be in order, and will reveal much that is 
 interesting. The accounts of the losses upon the 
 two ships widely differ. Jones reported for the Rich- 
 ard forty-nine killed and sixty-seven wounded ; total, 
 one hundred and sixteen out of three hundred ; but 
 the number is confessedly incomplete. Pearson, for 
 the Serapis, reported the same number of killed and 
 sixty-eight wounded, out of a crew of three hundred 
 and twenty ; but it is highly probable that the loss in 
 both cases was much greater. The records, as we 
 have seen, were badly kept on the Richard, and 
 most of them were lost when the ship went do\vn.
 
 220 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 The books of the Serapis seemed to have fared 
 equally ill in the confusion. The crews of both 
 ships were scattered throughout the several ships of 
 the American squadron, and accurate information 
 was practically unobtainable. Jones, who was in a 
 better position than Pearson for ascertaining the 
 facts, reports the loss of the Serapis as over two 
 hundred men, which is probably nearly correct, and 
 the loss of the Richard was pi*obably not far from 
 one hundred and fifty men. The Countess of Scar- 
 borough lost four killed and twenty wounded. The 
 loss of the Pallas was slight, and that of the Alliance 
 and Vengeance nothing. 
 
 However this may be, the battle was one of the 
 most sanguinary and desperate ever fought upon 
 the sea. It was unique in that the beaten ship, 
 which was finally sunk by the guns of her antago- 
 nist, actually compelled that antagonist to surrender. 
 It was remarkable for the heroism manifested by 
 both crews. It is invidious, perhaps, to make a com- 
 parison on that score, yet, if the contrast can be 
 legitimately drawn, the result is decidedly in favor 
 of the Richard's men, for they had not only the 
 enemy to occupy their attention, but they sustained 
 and did not succumb to the treacherous attack of the 
 Alliance in the rear. The men of the Serapis were, 
 of course, disheartened and their nerves shattered by 
 the explosion which occurred at the close of the 
 action, but a similar and equally dreadful misfortune 
 had occurred at the commencement of the engage- 
 ment on the Richard, in the blowing up of the two 
 i8-pounders. In ninety-nine cases out of a hun- 
 dred either of these two terrible incidents would
 
 REMARKS ON THE ACTION. 221 
 
 have caused a prompt surrender of the ship on 
 which they occurred ; but the Richard's men rallied 
 from the former, and it must not be forgotten that 
 the Serapis' men did the like from the latter, for 
 they had recommenced the fire of their guns just 
 as Pearson hauled down his flag. 
 
 The officers on the two ships appear to have 
 done their whole duty, and the difference, as I have 
 said, lay in the relative qualities of the two captains. 
 Jones could not be beaten, Pearson could. When 
 humanity enters into a conflict with a man like 
 Jones, it must make up its mind to eventually dis- 
 continue the fight or else remove he -man. For- 
 tunately, Jones, though slightly wounded, was not 
 removed ; therefore Pearson had to surrender. Next 
 to Jones, the most unique personality which was 
 produced by the action was Richard Dale. I do 
 not refer to his personal courage he was no braver 
 than Pearson ; neither was Jones, for that matter ; 
 in fact, the bravery of all three was of the highest 
 order but to his astonishing presence of mind 
 and resource at that crucial moment which was the 
 third principal incident of the battle, when the Eng- 
 lish prisoners were released. The more one thinks 
 of the prompt, ready way in which he cajoled, com- 
 manded, and coerced these prisoners into manning 
 the pumps so that his own men could continue the 
 battle, the result of which, if they succeeded would 
 be to retain the English still as prisoners, the more 
 one marvels at it. The fame of Dale has been 
 somewhat obscured in the greater fame of Jones, 
 but he deserves the very highest praise for his 
 astonishing action. And in every possible public
 
 222 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 way Jones freely accorded the greatest credit to 
 him. 
 
 There is one other fact in connection with the 
 battle which must be mentioned. The English have 
 always claimed that the presence of the Alliance de- 
 cided Pearson to surrender. In justice, I have no 
 doubt that it did exercise a moral influence upon the 
 English captain. In the confusion of the fight, what 
 damage, whether little or great, had been done to 
 the Serapis by the fire of the Alliance could not be 
 definitely ascertained. Again, it would never enter 
 the head of an ordinary commander that the Alli- 
 ance was deliberately firing into her consort. So 
 far as can be determined now, no damage worthy of 
 account had been done to the English ship by the 
 Alliance ; but Pearson knew she was there, and he 
 had a right to believe that she would return at any 
 time. When she returned, if she should take posi- 
 tion on the starboard side of the Serapis, the unen- 
 gaged side, he would have to strike at once. 
 
 Something of this sort may have been in his 
 mind, and it would undoubtedly contribute to de- 
 cide him to surrender ; but, admitting all this, he 
 should have delayed the formal surrender until the 
 possible contingency had developed into a reality, 
 until he actually saw the Alliance alongside of him 
 again. As a matter of fact, he did not strike until 
 about thirty minutes after the Alliance had fired the 
 last broadside and sailed away. The American 
 frigate was out of gunshot when he surrendered, 
 and going farther from him with every minute. 
 
 Imagine what Jones would have done under 
 similar circumstances ! Indeed, we do not have to
 
 A FAIR DEFEAT. 223 
 
 imagine what he would have done, for as it hap- 
 pened the Alliance had on two occasions fired full 
 upon him, and he was actually in the dilemma which 
 Pearson imagined he might fall into, and yet it only 
 re-enforced his already resolute determination to 
 continue the fight more fiercely than ever. A nice 
 point this : with Pearson the Alliance was an im- 
 aginary danger, with Jones a real one! While the 
 presence of the Alliance, therefore, explains in a 
 measure Pearson's surrender, it does not enhance 
 his reputation for dogged determination. The un- 
 heard-of resistance which he had met from the Rich- 
 ard, the persistence with which the attack was car- 
 ried on, the apparently utterly unconquerable na- 
 ture of his antagonist of whose difficulties on the 
 Richard he was not aware, for there was no evidence 
 of faltering in the battle the frightful attack he had 
 received, and his isolation upon the deck filled with 
 dead and dying men, broke his own power of resist- 
 ance. There were two things beaten on that day 
 the Richard and Pearson ; one might almost say 
 three things : both ships and the captain of one. It 
 is generally admitted, even by the English, that the 
 result would have been the same if the Alliance had 
 never appeared on the scene. No, it was a fair and 
 square stand-up fight, and a fair and square defeat.* 
 
 * Thackeray told an American friend that the account of 
 the amazing capture of the Serapis by Paul Jones was one 
 of the most extraordinary stories in naval annals, and Mrs. 
 Ritchie, writing of her father's last days, says : " Sometimes 
 we found him .in great spirits, as when he had been reading 
 about the famous fight of the Serapis, a stirring thing in- 
 deed." EDITOR.
 
 224 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 The conduct of Landais has presented a prob- 
 lem difficult of solution. It has been surmised, and 
 upon the warrant of his own statement, that he 
 would have thought it no harm if the Richard had 
 struck to the Serapis, and he could have had the 
 glory of recapturing her and then forcing the sur- 
 render of the English frigate ; but whether he really 
 meant by his dastardly conduct to compel this situa- 
 tion from which he trusted he could reap so much 
 honor, is another story. Most of the historians 
 have been unable to see anything in his actions 
 but jealousy and treachery. The most eminent 
 critic, however, who has treated of the battle * 
 has thought his actions arose from an incapacity, 
 coupled with a timidity amounting to cowardice, 
 which utterly blinded his judgment ; that he was de- 
 sirous of doing something, and felt it incumbent 
 upon him to take some part in the action and that his 
 firing into the Richard was due to incompetency 
 rather than to anything else. With all deference, 
 it is difficult to agree with this proposition. The 
 officers of the squadron, in a paper which w r as pre- 
 pared less than a month after the action, bore con- 
 clusive testimony that while it is true that he was 
 an incapable coward, he was, in addition, either a 
 jealous traitor, or and this is the only other 
 supposition which will account for his action 
 that he was irresponsible, in short, insane. This 
 is a conclusion to which his own officers after- 
 
 * Captain A. T. Mahan, U. S. N. (retired). The greatest 
 authority, living or dead, on warfare on the sea, especially 
 from the philosophical standpoint.
 
 WAS THE RICHARD RAKED? 225 
 
 ward arrived, and which his subsequent career 
 seems to bear out. At any rate, this is the most 
 charitable explanation of his conduct which can be 
 adopted. If he had been simply cowardly, he could 
 have done some service by attacking the unprotected 
 convoy, which was entirely at his mercy, and among 
 which he could have easily taken some valuable 
 prizes. It is stated to their credit that some of the 
 officers of the Alliance remonstrated with Landais, 
 and pointed out to him that he was attacking the 
 wrong ship, and that some of his men refused to 
 obey his orders to fire. 
 
 There is but one other circumstance to which it 
 is necessary to refer. All the plans of the battle 
 which are extant, and all the descriptions which 
 have been made, from Cooper to Maclay and Spears, 
 show that the Richard passed ahead of the Serapis 
 and was raked ; and that the Serapis then ranged 
 alongside to windward of the American and pres- 
 ently succeeded in crossing the Richard's bow and 
 raking her a second time. Richard Dale's account, 
 in Sherburne's Life of Paul Jones, written some 
 forty-six years after the action, seems to bear out this 
 idea. Jones himself, whose report is condensed and 
 unfortunately wanting in detail, says : " Every meth- 
 od was practiced on both sides to gain an advantage 
 and rake each other, and I must confess that the 
 enemy's ship, being much more manageable than 
 the Bon Homme Richard, gained thereby several 
 times an advantageous situation, in spite of my best 
 endeavors to prevent it." 
 
 Nathaniel Fanning, midshipman of the maintop 
 
 in the action, stated in his narrative, published in 
 16
 
 226 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 1806, twenty-seven years later, that the Serapis 
 raked the Richard several times. 
 
 Notwithstanding this weight of apparent testi- 
 mony, I must agree with Captain Mahan in his 
 conclusion that the Serapis, until the ships were 
 lashed together, engaged the Richard with her port 
 battery only, and that the plan as given above is cor- 
 rect. In the first place, Jones' statement is too in- 
 definite to base a conclusion upon unless clearly 
 corroborated by other evidence. Dale, being in 
 the batteries, where he could hardly see the ma- 
 neuvers, and writing from memory after a lapse 
 of many years, may well have been mistaken. 
 Fanning's narrative is contradicted by the articles 
 which he signed concerning the conduct of Lan- 
 dais, in October, 1779, in the Texel, so that his 
 earliest statement is at variance with his final 
 recollection, and Fanning is not very reliable at 
 best. 
 
 However, we might accept the statements of 
 these men as decisive were it not for the fact that 
 Pearson, whose report is very explicit indeed, 
 makes no claim whatever to having succeeded in 
 raking the Richard, though it would be so greatly 
 to his credit if he had done so that it is hardly 
 probable he would fail to state it. His account of 
 the battle accords with the plan of the present work. 
 Again, when the Serapis engaged the Richard in 
 the final grapple, she had to blow off her starboard 
 port shutters, which were therefore tightly closed. 
 If she had been engaged to starboard (which would 
 necessarily follow if she had been on the port side 
 of the Richard at any time), the ports would have
 
 WAS THE RICHARD RAKED? 22/ 
 
 been opened.* This is not absolutely conclusive, be- 
 cause, of course, it would be possible that the ports 
 might have been closed when the men were shifted 
 to the other battery, but in the heat of the action 
 such a measure would be so improbable as to be 
 worthy of little consideration. But the most con- 
 clusive testimony to the fact that the Serapis was 
 not on the port side of the Richard at any time is 
 found in the charges which were signed by the offi- 
 cers concerning the conduct of Landais. Article 
 19 reads : " As the most dangerous shot which the 
 Bon Homme Richard received under the water were 
 under the larboard bow and quarter, they must 
 have come from the Alliance, for the Serapis was 
 on the other side." f 
 
 Captain Mahan well sums it up : " As Landais' 
 honor, if not his life, was at stake in these charges, 
 it is not to be supposed that six officers (besides two 
 French marine officers), four of whom were spe- 
 cially well situated for seeing, would have made this 
 statement if the Serapis had at any time been in 
 position to fire those shots." 
 
 This consideration, therefore, seems to settle the 
 question. Again, the maneuvers as they have been 
 described in this volume are the simple and natural 
 evolutions which, under the existing conditions of 
 wind and weather and the relative positions of the 
 two ships, would have been in all human probabil- 
 
 * She could only have engaged to starboard by crossing 
 the path of the Richard, in which event she would have raked 
 her, of course, with her port battery, and then have brought 
 her starboard battery in play when she got alongside again. 
 
 f Italics mine.
 
 228 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ity carried out. The attempt to put the ships in 
 the different positions of the commonly accepted 
 plans involves a series of highly complicated and 
 unnecessary evolutions (scarcely possible, in fact, in 
 the very light breeze), which no commander would 
 be apt to attempt in the heat of action unless most 
 serious contingencies rendered them inevitable.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR IN THE TEXEL, 
 
 AFTER the sinking of the Richard, Jones turned 
 his attention to the squadron. Those ships which 
 had been in action were now ready for sea, so far, 
 at least, as it was possible to make them, and it 
 was necessary to make a safe port as soon as pos- 
 sible. He had now some five hundred English 
 prisoners, including Captains Pearson and Piercy 
 and their officers, in his possession. These equaled 
 all the American seamen held captive by the Eng- 
 lish, and, with one of the main objects of his ex^ 
 pedition in view, Jones earnestly desired to make a 
 French port, in which case his prizes would be 
 secure and he would be able to effect a proper ex- 
 change of prisoners. But the original destination 
 of the squadron had been the Texel. It is evident 
 that in sending the squadron into the Zuyder Zee 
 Franklin shrewdly contemplated the possibility of 
 so compromising Holland by the presence of the 
 ships as to force a recognition from that important 
 maritime and commercial power of the belligerency 
 of the United States. This was the real purport of 
 the orders. There \vas an ostensible reason, how- 
 ever, in the presence of a large fleet of merchant ves- 
 sels in the Texel, which would be ready for sailing 
 
 . 229
 
 230 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 for France in October, and Jones' squadron could 
 give them a safe convoy. 
 
 The events of the cruise had brought about a 
 somewhat different situation from that contem- 
 plated in the original orders, and Jones was un- 
 doubtedly within his rights in determining to 
 enter Dunkirk, the most available French port ; 
 in which event the difficulties which afterward 
 arose concerning the exchange of prisoners and 
 the disposition of the prizes would never have pre- 
 sented themselves. In the latter case, however, the 
 hand of Holland might not have been so promptly 
 forced, and the recognition accorded this country 
 would probably have been much longer delayed, al- 
 though in the end it would have come. But the 
 balance of advantage lay with Jones' choice of Dun- 
 kirk. 
 
 For a week the ships beat up against contrary 
 winds, endeavoring to make that port. Their posi- 
 tion was most precarious. Sixteen sail, including 
 several ships of the line, were seeking the audacious 
 invaders, and they were likely to overhaul them at 
 any time. The Frenchmen naturally grew nervous 
 over the prospect. Finally, the captains, who had 
 been remonstrating daily with Jones, refused to 
 obey his orders any longer ; and, the wind continu- 
 ing unfavorable for France, they actually deserted 
 the Serapis, running off to leeward in a mass and 
 heading for the Texel. 
 
 The officers of the American squadron were 
 fully aware of the assigned destination, although 
 the deep reasons for Franklin's subtle policy had 
 probably not been communicated to them. In.view
 
 THE TEXEL. 
 
 231 
 
 of this unprecedented situation, which may be traced 
 distinctly to the concordat, there was nothing left to 
 Jones but to swallow the affront as best he might, 
 and follow his unruly squadron. 
 
 Landais had not yet been deposed from the com- 
 mand of the Alliance, because it would have prob- 
 ably required force to arrest him on the deck of 
 his own ship, and an internecine conflict might have 
 been precipitated in his command. On the 3d of 
 October, having made a quick run of it, the squad- 
 ron entered the Texel. 
 
 From the mainland of the Dutch Republic, now 
 the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the state of North 
 Holland thrusts a bold wedge of land far to the 
 northward, between the foaming surges of the Ger- 
 man Ocean on the one hand, and the tempest-tossed 
 waters of the Zuyder Zee on the other. Opposite 
 the present mighty fortifications of Helder, justly 
 considered the Gibraltar of the North, which ter- 
 minate the peninsula, lies a deep and splendid chan- 
 nel, bounded on the north side by the island of 
 Texel, from which the famous passage gets its 
 name. Through this ocean gateway, from time im- 
 memorial, a splendid procession of gallant ships and 
 hardy men have gone forth to discover new worlds, 
 to found new countries, to open up new avenues of 
 trade with distant empires, and to uphold the honor 
 of the Orange flag in desperate battles on the sea. 
 Through the pass sailed the first great Christian for- 
 eign missionary expedition of modern times, when 
 in 1624 the Dutchmen carried the Gospel to the dis- 
 tant island of Formosa, the beautiful. 
 
 Brederode and the wild beggars of the sea;
 
 232 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 Tromp, De Ruyter, van Heemskerk, De Winter, 
 leading their fleets to battles which made their 
 names famous, had plowed through the deep chan- 
 nel with their lumbering keels. Of smaller ships 
 from these familiar shores, the little Half Moon, of 
 Henry Hudson, and the pilgrim-laden Mayflower 
 had taken their departure. But no bolder officer nor 
 better seaman had ever made the passage than the 
 little man on the deck of the battered Serapis on 
 that raw October morning. It is a rather interest- 
 ing coincidence that among the prizes of this cruise 
 was one which bore the name of the Mayflower. 
 
 As the cables of the ships tore through the 
 hawse pipes when they dropped anchor, Jones may 
 have imagined that his troubles were over. As a 
 matter of fact, they had just begun, and his stay 
 in the Texel was not the least arduous nor the 
 least brilliant period in his life. His conduct in the 
 trying circumstances in which he found himself was 
 beyond reproach. The instant that he appeared, 
 Sir Joseph Yorke, the able and influential Minister 
 of England at The Hague, demanded that the 
 States-General deliver the Serapis and the Scar- 
 borough to him and compel the return of the Eng- 
 lish prisoners held by Jones, and that the American 
 " Pirate " should be ordered to leave the Texel im- 
 mediately, which would, of course, result in the cer- 
 tain capture of his ships, for the English pursuing 
 squadron appeared off the mouth of the channel 
 almost immediately after Jones.' entrance. 
 
 Sir Joseph made the point and it was a pretty 
 one that by the terms of past treaties prizes taken 
 by ships whose commanders bore the commission of
 
 THE ENGLISH DEMANDS. 
 
 233 
 
 no recognized power or sovereign were to be re- 
 turned to the English whenever they fell into the 
 hands of Holland. This placed the States-General 
 in a dilemma. Paul Jones would show no commis- 
 sion except that of America; indeed, he had no 
 other. In Sir Joseph's mind the situation was this : 
 The States-General would comply with the terms of 
 the treaty or it would not. If it did, he would get 
 possession of the ships and of Jones as well. If 
 it did not, the logic of events would indicate that the 
 States-General considered the commission which 
 Paul Jones bore as being valid, in that it was issued 
 by a sovereign power. This would be in effect a 
 recognition of belligerency. In other words, the 
 shrewd British diplomatist was endeavoring to force 
 the hand of the States-General. To determine the 
 position of Holland with regard to the revolted 
 colonies of Great Britain was a matter of greater 
 moment than to secure Paul Jones or to receive the 
 two ships, the loss of which, except so far as it 
 affronted the pride of England, was of no conse- 
 quence whatever. The States-General, however, 
 endeavored to evade the issue and postpone the de- 
 cision, for, while their " High Mightinesses " re- 
 fused to cause "the ships to be given up, they ordered 
 Jones to leave the harbor at once, and they earnestly 
 disclaimed any intention of recognizing the revolted 
 colonies. 
 
 As a matter of fact, since there were two parties 
 in the government of Holland, and two opinions on 
 the subject, they could come to no more definite 
 conclusion. Jones was intensely popular with the 
 people, and the democratic opinion favored the im-
 
 234 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 mediate recognition of American independence, and 
 protested against any arbitrary action toward him 
 and his ships. The Prince of Orange and the aris- 
 tocratic party took the contrary view, and they 
 pressed it upon him as far as they dared. Realizing 
 the precarious nature of his stay in Holland, Jones 
 immediately set to work with his usual energy to 
 refit the ships, especially the Serapis. Dispatching 
 a full account of his cruise and his expedition to 
 Franklin, he went in person to Amsterdam to facili- 
 tate his desire. A contemporary account states that 
 he was dressed in an American naval uniform,* 
 wearing on his. head, instead of the usual cocked hat, 
 a Scotch bonnet edged with gold lace. 
 
 When he appeared in the exchange he received 
 a popular ovation, which naturally greatly pleased 
 him. However, he modestly strove to escape the 
 overwhelming demonstrations of admiration and 
 approval with which he was greeted, by retiring to 
 a coffee room, but he was compelled to show him- 
 self again and again at the window in response to 
 repeated demands from crowds of people assem- 
 bled in the street who desired a sight of him. He 
 was made the hero of song and story, and one of the 
 ballads of the time, a rude, rollicking, drinking 
 
 * By resolution of the Marine Committee, dated Septem- 
 ber 5, 1776, this was, for captains: "A coat of blue cloth 
 with red lapels, slashed cuffs, a stand-up collar, flat yellow 
 buttons, blue breeches, and a red waistcoat with yellow 
 lace." In Jones' case the " flat yellow buttons " were made 
 of gold and the lace was woven of the same precious tissue. 
 Nothing was too good for him, for the rank he supported, 
 and the cause he upheld.
 
 A POPULAR HERO. 235 
 
 song, very popular among sailors, which celebrates 
 his exploits, is sung to this day in the streets of 
 Amsterdam.* So delighted were the Dutch with 
 the humiliation he had inflicted upon their ancient 
 enemy that some of the principal men of the nation, 
 including the celebrated Baron van der Capellen, 
 subsequently noted for his friendship for America 
 (evidently not in harmony with the aristocratic 
 party), entered into a correspondence with him, 
 which must have been highly flattering to him, from 
 the expressions of admiration and approval with 
 which every letter of the baron's abounds. They 
 desired to receive at first hand an account of his 
 exploits. In response to this request Jones had 
 his report to Dr. Franklin copied and sent to van 
 der Capellen, together with other documents illus- 
 trative of his career, accompanied by the following 
 letter : 
 
 "ON BOARD THE SERAPIS AT THE TEXEL, 
 ' ' October 79, 7779. 
 
 " MY LORD : Human nature and America are 
 under a very singular obligation to you for your 
 patriotism and friendship, and I feel every grateful 
 sentiment for your generous and polite letter. 
 
 " Agreeable to your request I have the honour 
 to inclose a copy of my letter to his Excellency Doc- 
 tor Franklin, containing a particular account of my 
 late expedition on the coasts of Britain and Ireland, 
 by which you will see that I have already been 
 praised far more than I have deserved ; but I must 
 at the same time beg leave to observe that by the 
 
 * See Appendix No. IV.
 
 236 COMMODORE PAUL JONES.. 
 
 other papers which I take, the liberty to inclose 
 (particularly the copy of my letter to the Countess 
 of Selkirk, dated the day of my arrival at Brest from 
 the Irish Sea), I hope you will be convinced that 
 in the British prints I have been censured unjustly. 
 I was, indeed, born in Britain, but I do not in- 
 herit the degenerate spirit of that fallen nation, 
 which I at once lament and despise. It is far be- 
 neath me to reply to their hireling invectives. They 
 are strangers to the inward approbation that greatly 
 animates and rewards the man who draws his sword 
 only in support of the dignity of freedom. 
 
 " America has been the country of my fond elec- 
 tion from the age of thirteen, u'licn I first sau 1 it* I 
 had the honour to hoist, with my own hands, the 
 flag of freedom, the first time that it wcs displayed 
 on the Delaware, and I have attended it with ven- 
 eration ever since on the Ocean ; I see it respected 
 even here, in spite of the pitiful Sir Joseph, and I 
 ardently wish and hope very soon to exchange a 
 salute with the flag of this Republick. Let but the 
 two Republicks join hands, and they will give Peace 
 to the World." 
 
 Among the documents transmitted was the fa- 
 mous letter to Lady Selkirk, of which sententious 
 epistle he evidently remained inordinately proud. 
 In acknowledging this courtesy van der Capellen 
 wrote as follows : 
 
 " The perusal of the letters with which you have 
 favoured me has done the very same effect upon 
 
 * Italics mine.
 
 BARON VAN DER CAPELLEN. 237 
 
 me that his Excell. Dr. Franklin expected they 
 would do on the Countess of Selkirk, as you are 
 represented in some of our Newspapers as a rough, 
 unpolished sailor, not only, but even as a man of 
 little understanding and no morals and sensibility, 
 and as I think the 4 papers extremely fit to destroy 
 these malicious aspersions, I must take the liberty 
 of asking your permission to publish them in our 
 gazettes. The public will soon make this very just 
 conclusion that the man honoured by the friendship 
 and intimacy of a Franklin can not be such as you 
 hare been represented.* There are three points on 
 which you will oblige me by giving some elucida- 
 tion, ist. whether you have any obligations to 
 Lord Selkirk? 2d. whether Lady Selkirk has ac- 
 cepted your generous offer? 3d. whether you have 
 a commission of France besides that of the Con- 
 gress? 'Tis not a vain curiosity that incites me to 
 be so importunate ; no, sir, the two first questions 
 are often repeated to me by your enemies, or, at 
 least, by prejudiced people ; and as to the last, a 
 relative of mine, a known friend of America, has 
 addressed himself to me for information on that 
 subject, which he will be glad to have before the 
 States of his province, of which he is a member 
 (but not yet, as I am, expelled the house), be as-, 
 sembled. 
 
 " You will greatly oblige me by sending me as 
 soon as possible such information as you will think 
 proper to grant. 
 
 " You may rely on our discretion ; we can keep 
 
 * Italics mine.
 
 238 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 a secret, too. I am in a great hurry, with the most 
 perfect esteem . . ." 
 
 The baron's statement gives us a contemporary 
 opinion one of entire approbation, by the way 
 of the letter to Lady Selkirk, and it shows us that 
 our great-grandfathers looked at things with differ- 
 ent eyes from ours. 
 
 In reply, Jones dispatched the following letter 
 a month later : 
 
 "ALLIANCE, TEXEL, November 29, 1779. 
 " MY LORD : Since I had the honour to receive 
 your second esteemed letter I have unexpectedly 
 had occasion to revisit Amsterdam ; and, having 
 changed ships since my return to the Texel, I have 
 by some accident or neglect lost or mislaid your 
 letter. I remember, however, the questions it con- 
 tained : ist, whether I ever had any obligation to 
 Lord Selkirk ? 2dly, whether he accepted my offer ? 
 and 3dly, whether I have a French commission ? I 
 answer: I have never had any obligation to Lord 
 Selkirk, except for his good opinion, nor does 
 know me nor mine except by character. Lord Sel- 
 kirk wrote me an answer to my letter to the Count- 
 ess, but the Ministry detained it in the general post 
 office in London for a long time, and then returned 
 it to the author, who afterward wrote to a friend of 
 his (M. Alexander), an acquaintance of Doctor 
 Franklin's then at Paris, giving him an account of 
 the fate of his letter to me & desiring him to 
 acquaint his Excellency and myself that if the plate 
 was restored by Congress or by any public Body he 
 would accept it, but that he would not think of ac-
 
 A NICE SENSE OF HONOR. 
 
 239 
 
 cepting it from my private generosity. The plate 
 has, however, been bought, agreeable to my letter 
 to the Countess, and now lays in France at her dis- 
 posal. As to the 3rd article, / never bore nor acted 
 under any other commission than what I have received 
 from the Congress of the United States of America* 
 
 " I am much obliged to you, my Lord, for the 
 honour you do me by proposing to publish the 
 papers I sent you in my last, but it is an honour 
 which I must decline, because I can not publish 
 my letter to a lady without asking and obtaining the 
 lady's consent, and because I have a very modest 
 opinion of my writings, being conscious that they 
 are not of sufficient value to claim the notice of 
 the public. I assure you, my Lord, it has given 
 me much concern to see an extract of my rough 
 journal in print, and that, too, under the disadvan- 
 tage of a translation. That mistaken kindness of a 
 friend will make me cautious how I communicate 
 my papers. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, my Lord, with great 
 esteem and respect, 
 
 " Your most obliged, 
 
 " And very humble servant." 
 
 The nice delicacy of his conduct in refusing to 
 permit the publication of a letter to a lady without 
 her consent goes very far toward redeeming the ab- 
 surdity of the letter itself. While this interesting 
 correspondence was going on, events of great mo- 
 ment were transpiring. In the first place, Captain 
 Pearson was protesting against his detention as a 
 
 * Italics mine.
 
 240 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 prisoner in the most vehement way, and otherwise 
 behaving in a very ill-bred manner. When the com- 
 modore offered to return him his plate, linen, and 
 other property, which had been taken from the 
 Serapis, he refused to accept it from Jones ; but he 
 intimated that he would receive it from the hand 
 of Captain de Cottineau ! Jones had the magnanim- 
 ity to overlook this petty quibbling, and returned 
 the property through the desired channel. Pearson, 
 like Jones, was of humble origin ; but, unlike Jones, 
 he never seems to have risen above it. On October 
 he addressed the following note to Jones : 
 
 " PALLAS, TUESDAY EVENING, October 19, 7779. 
 " Captain Jones, Serapis. 
 
 " Captain Pearson presents his compliments to 
 Captain Jones, and is sorry to find himself so little 
 attended to in his present situation as not to have 
 been favoured with either a Call or a line from Cap- 
 tain Jones since his return from Amsterdam. Cap- 
 tain P ... is sorry to say that he can not look 
 upon such behaviour in any other light than as a 
 breach of that Civility, which his Rank, as well as 
 behaviour on all occasions entitles to, he at the same 
 time wishes to be informed by Captain Jones 
 whether any Steps has been taken toward the en- 
 largement or exchange of him, his officers and peo- 
 ple, or what is intended to be done with them. As 
 he can not help thinking it a very unprecedented 
 circumstance their being kecped here as prisoners 
 on board of ship, being so long in a neutral port." 
 
 He received in return this decided and definite 
 reply :
 
 A SHARP LETTER. 241 
 
 " SERAPIS, WEDNESDAY, October 20, 7779. 
 " Captain Pearson. 
 
 " SIR : As you have not been prevented from 
 corresponding with your friends, and particularly 
 with the English ambassador at The Hague, I could 
 not suppose you to be unacquainted with his me- 
 morial, of the 8th, to the States-General, and there- 
 fore I thought it fruitless to pursue the negotiation 
 for the exchange of the prisoners of war now in our 
 hands. 
 
 " I wished to avoid any painful altercation with 
 you on that subject ; I was persuaded that you had 
 been in the highest degree sensible that my be- 
 haviour ' toward you had been far from a breach of 
 civility.' This charge is not, Sir, a civil return for 
 the polite hospitality and disinterested attentions 
 which you have hitherto experienced. 
 
 " I know not what difference of respect is due to 
 ' Rank,' between your service and ours ; I sup- 
 pose, however, the difference must be thought very 
 great in England, since I am informed that Captain 
 Cunningham, of equal denomination, and who bears 
 a senior rank in the service of America, than yours 
 in the service of England, is now confined at Plym- 
 outh in a dungeon, and in fetters. 
 
 " Humanity, which hath hitherto superseded the 
 plea of retaliation in American breasts, has induced 
 me (notwithstanding the procedure of Sir Joseph 
 Yorke) to seek after permission to land the danger- 
 ously wounded, as well prisoners as Americans, 
 to be supported and cured at the expense of our 
 Continent. The permission of the Government has 
 been obtained, but the magistrates continue to make 
 17
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 objections. I shall not discontinue my application. 
 I am ready to adopt any means that you may pro- 
 pose for their preservation and recovery, and in the 
 meantime we shall continue to treat them with the 
 utmost care and attention, equally, as you know, 
 to the treatment of our people of the same rank. 
 
 " As it is possible that you have not yet seen the 
 memorial of your ambassador to the States-General, 
 I enclose a paper which contains a copy, and I be- 
 lieve he has since written what, in the opinion of 
 good men, will do still less honour to his pen. 
 
 " I can not conclude without informing you that 
 unless Captain Cunningham is immediately better 
 treated in England, I expect orders in consequence 
 from His Excellency Dr. Franklin ; therefore, I be- 
 seech you, Sir, to interfere." 
 
 The States-General having refused to consent 
 to the restoration of the ships and the surrender of 
 the prisoners, Paul Jones went to The Hague for 
 the purpose of pleading his own cause ; and there, 
 through the representations of the French ambas- 
 sador, the Due de la Vauguyon, received permis- 
 sion from their High Mightinesses to land the more 
 dangerously wounded among his prisoners and 
 crew as well, numbering over one hundred, in order 
 that he might better care for them and establish 
 them in more comfortable quarters than the crowded 
 ships permitted. 
 
 From motives of humanity, in view of the con- 
 dition of the prisoners, Sir Joseph Yorke acquiesced 
 in this arrangement. It was first proposed that 
 Jones should land them and establish a hospital at
 
 EXIT PEARSON. 243 
 
 Helder; but the magistrates of that town objecting 
 to the proposition, a fort on the Texel was assigned 
 to him, of which the entire charge was committed to 
 him. Colonel de Weibert, with a sufficient force to 
 garrison the works, was placed in command of the 
 fort. 
 
 Meanwhile, the charges against Landais, having 
 been formulated and signed, were dispatched to 
 Franklin, who, with the consent of the French Gov- 
 ernment, ordered him to resign the command of 
 the Alliance and repair immediately to Paris. Be- 
 fore he left the Texel the erratic Frenchman com- 
 pelled Captain de Cottineau to accord him the honor 
 of a duel. As Landais was an expert swordsman, he 
 succeeded in severely wounding his less skillful but 
 far more worthy antagonist. Elated by this exploit, 
 the mad Frenchman sent Jones a challenge also. 
 In reply to Landais' note, the commodore, Marius- 
 like, promptly dispatched men to arrest him ; but 
 Landais got wind of the attempt and hastened to 
 escape, taking up his departure for Paris. During 
 the stay in the Texel Jones succeeded in effecting 
 the exchange of Captain Pearson for Captain Gus- 
 tavus Cunningham, whom he had at last the pleas- 
 ure of receiving upon his own ship.* Meanwhile, 
 
 * As this is the last appearance of Pearson in our pages, 
 it may be interesting to note that when he returned to Eng- 
 land he was knighted for " his gajlant defense of the Serapis 
 against a greatly superior force"; in addition to which the 
 merchants of London presented him, and Captain Piercy as 
 well, with very valuable services of plate for their efficient 
 protection of their convoy. Pearson afterward rose to high 
 rank in the British service. He certainly had protected his 
 convoy, for all of them escaped, and the gratitude of the
 
 244 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 with true British persistence, Sir Joseph kept at the 
 States-General, and it in turn pressed upon Jones, 
 who imperturbably passed the matter on to the 
 French ambassador and Dr. Franklin. 
 
 On the 12th of November, to relieve a situation 
 which had- become* well-nigh insupportable, the 
 French Government, with the consent of Franklin, 
 directed that the command of the Serapis should 
 be given to Captain de Cottineau, and that all 
 the other vessels, except the Alliance, to which 
 the French had no claim, should hoist the French 
 flag, and that the Americans should be sent on 
 board the Alliance, which should be turned over 
 to Paul Jones. To his everlasting regret, Jones had 
 to obey the heart-breaking order, and in one mo- 
 ment found himself deprived of his command and 
 his prizes taken from him. It was a crushing blow, 
 but he had no option save to bear it as best he could. 
 The exchange was effected at night, and the next 
 morning, when the Dutch admiral sent his flag cap- 
 merchants was natural. On the other hand, he had been 
 beaten by an inferior force, and merited no honors on that 
 score. As a matter of fact, the Serapis alone, to say nothing 
 of the Countess of Scarborough, was nearly a match for 
 Jones' whole squadron. Suppose, for instance, that Jones 
 had been in command of the Serapis and Pearson of the 
 Richard. Does anybody doubt that Jones could have beaten 
 the Richard, the Alliance, and the Pallas with the Serapis 
 alone? But it is unprofitable to discuss this question 
 further. When Jones heard of these honors, he is reported 
 to have made the following remark : 
 
 " He has done well, and if he get another ship and I fall 
 in with him again, I will make a duke of him." There is a 
 grim humor about his comment which is highly pleasing, in 
 spite of Jones' subsequent repudiation of it.
 
 JONES GIVES UP THE SERAPIS. 245 
 
 tain on board the Serapis to attempt his usual bully- 
 ing, he was surprised to see the French flag flying 
 from her gaff end, and to be informed that she was 
 now the property of France, as were all the other 
 ships except the Alliance. Proceedings at once, 
 therefore, fell to the ground as regarded all the ships 
 but the American frigate. There was no possible 
 reason for giving up the ships of the French king 
 to the British Government, so Sir Joseph Yorke 
 necessarily, although with a very bad grace, 
 dropped the matter, and . a short time after the 
 French ships and the prizes sailed with the merchant 
 fleet under a strong Dutch convoy for France, 
 where they all arrived safely. Yorke persisted, how- 
 ever, in attempting to secure the person of Jones, it 
 is gravely alleged, through the efforts of private 
 individuals, kidnappers or bravos. At any rate, he 
 redoubled his representations regarding the Alli- 
 ance, and his efforts to force the departure, of the 
 ship that she might fall into the hands of the wait- 
 ing English. 
 
 The Serapis had been thoroughly overhauled 
 and refitted, and the other ships, with the exception 
 of the Alliance, were in good shape. By his un- 
 sailorly antics and foolish arrangements Landais 
 had almost destroyed the qualities of that noble 
 frigate. She was in a dreadful condition. Thirteen 
 Dutch men-of-war, all of them two-deckers, or line 
 of battle ships, had assembled in the Texel to en- 
 force the orders of the States-General, which, on 
 the 1 7th of November, by a specific resolution di- 
 rected the Admiralty Board at Amsterdam to com- 
 mand Jones to let no opportunity escape to put to
 
 246 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 sea, as the approach of winter might make his de- 
 parture inconvenient or impossible if he delayed 
 longer. Vice-Admiral Rhynst, who had succeeded 
 Captain Rimersina (like van der Capellen, another 
 friend of the United States) in the command of the 
 Dutch fleet, was peremptorily ordered to permit no 
 delay which was not unavoidable in the carrying out 
 of these orders. He was instructed and empowered 
 to use force if necessary. Outside the harbor there 
 was a constantly increasing number of English 
 ships, so that Jones found himself " between the 
 devil and the deep sea." He was not to be intimi- 
 dated, however, and he absolutely refused to go out 
 at all until he was ready, sending Admiral Rhynst a 
 rather boastful letter to the effect that he could not 
 engage more than three times his force with any 
 hope of success, but were the odds any less he 
 should go out at once. M. Dumas, the French 
 commissary and the agent of the United States at 
 The Hague, had been directed to proceed to the 
 Texel and do what he could for Jones, and an in- 
 teresting correspondence was carried on between 
 them and the French ambassador on the subject of 
 Jones' departure. With clear-eyed diplomacy and 
 stubborn resolution the American held on ; go he 
 would not until he was ready ! It was, no doubt, 
 very exasperating to the Dutch, and they did every- 
 thing possible save using force to get rid of their 
 unwelcome visitor. 
 
 The Alliance, as has been stated, was in an un- 
 seaworthy condition. An old-fashioned sailing 
 vessel was as complex and delicate a thing as a 
 woman ; rude, brutal, and unskillful handling had
 
 UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR. 
 
 247 
 
 the same effect on both of them it spoiled them. 
 Jones at once began the weary work of refitting her 
 so far as his limited resources provided. The 
 powder which had been saved from the wreck of the 
 Richard replaced the spoiled ammunition of the 
 Alliance. Two cables had been borrowed from the 
 Serapis, and such other steps taken as were possible. 
 When the squadron was turned over to France the 
 prisoners, except those already exchanged by agree- 
 ment between Jones and Pearson, also were directed 
 to be surrendered to the French Government, who 
 immediately exchanged them with the English for 
 an equal number of French prisoners, promising 
 Franklin that they would presently exchange a cor-, 
 responding number of French prisoners for the 
 Americans. But Jones resolutely refused to give 
 up all of his prisoners. In spite of protests and 
 orders he re-embarked the hundred men who had 
 been recovering from their wounds in the fort on 
 the Texel, and taking all the Americans of the 
 squadron, so that the Alliance was heavily over- 
 manned, he made his preparations to get away. 
 
 At this time the Due de la Vauguyon, by the di- 
 rection of De Sartine, made Jones the offer of a 
 French naval letter of marque, which might have 
 protected the captain of the Alliance on her pro- 
 posed homeward passage, and have removed all 
 legal cause of objection as to her stay in the Texel. 
 To this proposition, which he considered insulting, 
 Jones made the following characteristic answer : 
 
 " MY LORD : Perhaps there are many men in 
 the world who would esteem as an honour the com-
 
 248 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 mission that I have this day refused. My rank from 
 the beginning knew no superior in the marine of 
 America; how then must I be humbled were I to 
 accept a letter of marque! I should, my lord, 
 esteem myself inexcusable were I to accept even a 
 commission of equal or superior denomination to 
 that I bear, unless I were previously authorised by 
 Congress, or some other competent authority in 
 Europe. And I must tell you that, on my arrival 
 at Brest from the Irish Channel, Count D'Orvilliers 
 offered to procure for me from court a commission 
 of ' Capitaine de Vaisseau,' which I did not then 
 accept for the same reason, although the war be- 
 .tween France and England was not then begun, 
 and of course the commission of France would have 
 protected me from an enemy of superior force. 
 
 " It is a matter of the highest astonishment to 
 me that, after so many compliments and fair pro- 
 fessions, the court should offer the present insult 
 to my understanding, and suppose me capable of 
 disgracing my present commission. I confess that 
 I never merited all the praise bestowed on my past 
 conduct, but I also feel that I have far less merited 
 such a reward. Where profession and practice are 
 so opposite I am no longer weak enough to form a 
 wrong conclusion. They may think as they please of 
 me; for u'hcre I can not continue my esteem, praise or 
 censure from any man is to me a matter of indifference.* 
 
 " I am much obliged to them, however, for hav- 
 ing at last fairly opened my eyes, and enabled me 
 to discover truth from falsehood. 
 
 * Italics mine.
 
 UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR. 
 
 249 
 
 " The prisoners shall be delivered agreeable to 
 the orders which you have done me the honour to 
 send me from his excellency the American ambas- 
 sador in France. 
 
 " I will also with great pleasure not only permit 
 a part of my seamen to go on board the ships under 
 your excellency's orders, but I will also do my ut- 
 most to prevail with them to embark freely; and if 
 I can now or hereafter, by any other honourable 
 means, facilitate the success or the honour of his 
 Majesty's arms, I pledge myself to you as his am- 
 bassador, that none of his own subjects would bleed 
 in his cause with greater freedom than myself, an 
 American. 
 
 " It gives me the more pain, my lord, to write 
 this letter, because the court has enjoined you to 
 prepare what would destroy my peace of mind, and 
 my future veracity in the opinion of the world. 
 
 " When, i^'itli the consent of the court, and by 
 order of the American ambassador, I gave Ameri- 
 can commissions to French officers, I did not fill 
 up those commissions to command privateers, nor 
 even for a rank equal to that of their commissions in 
 the marine of France. They were promoted to rank 
 far superior. And why ? Not from personal friend- 
 ship, nor from my knowledge of their services and 
 abilities (the men and their characters being entire 
 strangers to me), but from the respect which I be- 
 lieved America would wish to show for the service 
 of France. 
 
 " While I remained eight months seemingly 
 forgot by the court at Brest, many commissions, 
 such as that in question, were offered to me ; and I
 
 250 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 believe (when I am in pursuit of plunder) I can still 
 obtain such an one without application to court. 
 
 " I hope, my lord, that my behaviour through 
 life will ever entitle me to the continuance of your 
 good wishes and opinion, and that you will take 
 occasion to make mention of the warm and personal 
 affection with which my heart is impressed toward 
 his Majesty." 
 
 In no other letter among the many which I have 
 examined does Jones appear in so brilliant and suc- 
 cessful a light. His high-souled decision, and his 
 dignified but explicit way of conveying it, alike 
 do him the greatest credit. In the hands of such a 
 man, not only his own honor but that of his country 
 would be perfectly safe always. As usual, on the 
 1 6th of December, he inclosed a copy of his letter 
 to Franklin with the following original comment : 
 
 " I hope," he said, " that the within copy of my 
 letter to the Due de la Vauguyon will meet your 
 approbation, for I am persuaded that it never could 
 be your intention or wish that I should be made the 
 tool of any great r . . . whatever ; or that the com- 
 mission of America should be overlaid by the dirty 
 piece of parchment which I have thus rejected! 
 They have played upon my good humour too long 
 already, but the spell is at last dissolved. They 
 would play me off with assurance of the personal 
 and particular esteem of the king, to induce me to 
 do what would render me contemptible even in the 
 eyes of my own servants ! Accustomed to speak 
 untruths themselves, they would also have me to 
 give under my hand that I am a liar and a scoundrel.
 
 UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR. 
 
 251 
 
 They are mistaken, and I would tell them what you 
 did to your naughty servant. ' We have too con- 
 temptible an opinion of one another's understand- 
 ing to live together.' I could tell them, too, that if 
 M . . . de C . . . had not taken such safe precau- 
 tions to keep me honest by means of his famous 
 concordat, and to support me by so many able col- 
 leagues, these great men would not have been re- 
 duced to such mean shifts ; for the prisoners could 
 have been landed at Dunkirk the day that I entered 
 the Texel, and I could have brought in double the 
 numbers." 
 
 After annoying him with daily injunctions and 
 commands, on the i6th of December Vice Admiral 
 Rhynst finally commanded Jones to come on board 
 his flagship and report his intentions. Jones 
 promptly refused to obey this astonishing order, 
 telling the Dutchman that he had no right to order 
 him anywhere. Whereupon the vice admiral wrote 
 to him as follows : 
 
 " I desire you by this present letter to inform me 
 how I must consider the Alliance which you are on 
 board of: whether as a French or American vessel. 
 If the first, I expect you to cause his Majesty's com- 
 mission to be "shown to me, and that you display the 
 French flag and pendant, announcing it by dis- 
 charging a gun. If the second, I expect you to 
 omit no occasion of departing, according to the 
 orders of their High Mightinesses." 
 
 Jones had passed beyond the arguing point, and 
 treated this communication with contempt. He
 
 252 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 rightly judged that the Dutch would not resort to 
 force in the end, and he refused to go out to certain 
 capture; indeed, he would not move until he was 
 ready and a fair chance of escape presented itself. 
 
 When the French Commissary of Marine at Am- 
 sterdam, the Chevalier de Lironcourt, saw Rhynst's 
 communication, which Jones sent to him, he sug- 
 gested that Jones might waive the point and display 
 French colors on his ship, disclaiming, at the same 
 time, any ulterior motive not in consonance with the 
 dignity of the commander, on the part of himself or 
 his government, in this proposition. But Jones was 
 not to be moved from the stand he had taken. The 
 man of the world was becoming the dauntless citizen 
 of the United States at last. He curtly told the 
 Dutch admiral that he had no orders to hoist any 
 other flag than the American, and that it only should 
 fly from the gaff of his ship. He also told him that 
 as soon as a pilot would undertake to carry out his 
 ship he would leave. But his most significant action 
 was to state emphatically to the vice admiral's flag 
 captain, who came aboard the Alliance for an answer 
 to his note of the i6th, that he was tired of the 
 annoyances, insults, and threats which had been di- 
 rected at him daily, and that they must be stopped 
 in future, as he would receive no more communica- 
 tions from the vice admiral. He also requested the 
 flag captain to say to his superior officer that, al- 
 though the Dutch flagship mounted sixty-four 
 guns, if she and the Alliance were at sea together 
 the vice admiral's conduct toward him would not 
 have been tolerated for a moment. I have no doubt 
 that Jones meant exactly what he said, and I think
 
 UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR. 253 
 
 the vice admiral was lucky in not being required 
 to test the declaration. From this time until his 
 departure no communications of any sorf. were re- 
 ceived by Jones from his baffled and silenced tor- 
 mentor. 
 
 He had done all that mortal man could do to 
 retain his prizes, to protract his stay in Dutch 
 waters, to commit Holland to the side of the United 
 States, to effect an exchange of prisoners, and to 
 maintain the honor of the American flag. In doing 
 this, on all sides he had been harassed and insulted 
 beyond measure. It was therefore some consola- 
 tion to him to receive on the 2ist the following note 
 of explanation and apology from De la Vauguyon : 
 
 ' ' December 21, 1779. 
 
 " I perceive with pain, my dear commodore, that 
 you do not view your situation in the right light ; and 
 I can assure you that the ministers of the king have 
 no intention to cause you the least disagreeable feel- 
 ing, as the honourable testimonials of the esteem of 
 his majesty, which I send you, ought to convince 
 you. I hope you will not doubt the s ; ncere desire 
 with which you have inspired me to procure you 
 every satisfaction you may merit. It can not fail to 
 incite you to give new proofs of your zeal for the 
 common cause of France and America. I flatter 
 myself to renew, before long, the occasion and to 
 procure you the means to increase still more the 
 glory you have already acquired. I am already oc- 
 cupied with all the interest I promised you ; and if 
 my view's are realized, as I have every reason to be- 
 lieve, you will be at all events perfectly content ; but
 
 254 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 I must pray you not to hinder any project by de- 
 livering yourself to the expressions of those strong 
 sensations to which you appear to give way, and 
 for which there is really no foundation. You appear 
 to possess full confidence in the justice and kindness 
 of the king; rely also upon the same sentiments on 
 the part of his ministers." 
 
 To this letter Jones sent the following reply ; 
 he was a generous man, who bore no malice : 
 
 ' ' ALLIANCE, TEXEL, December 25, 7779. 
 " The Duke de Vauguyon. 
 
 " MY LORD : I have not a heart of stone, but I 
 am duly sensible of the obligations conferred on 
 me by the very kind and affectionate letter that you 
 have done me the honour to write me the 2ist cur- 
 rent. 
 
 " Were I to form my opinion of the ministry 
 from the treatment that I experienced while at 
 Brest, or from their want of confidence in me after- 
 ward, exclusive of what has taken place since I had 
 the misfortune to enter this port, I will appeal to 
 your Excellency as a man of candour and ingenu- 
 ousness, whether I ought to desire to prolong a con- 
 nection that has made me so unhappy, and wherein 
 I have given so little satisfaction? M. de Chev. de 
 Lironcourt has lately made me reproaches on ac- 
 count of the expense that he says France has been 
 at to give me reputation, in preference to twenty cap- 
 tains of the royal navy, better qualified than myself, 
 and who, each of them, solicited for the command 
 that was lately given to me! This, I confess, is 
 quite new- and indeed surprising to me, and had I
 
 UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR. 
 
 255 
 
 known it before I left France I certainly should 
 have resigned in favour of the twenty men of supe- 
 rior merit. I do not, however, think that his first 
 assertion is true, for the ministry must be unworthy 
 of their places were they capable of squandering the 
 public money merely to give an individual reputa- 
 tion ! and as to the second, I fancy the court will 
 not thank him for having given me this information, 
 whether true or false. I may add here that, with 
 a force so ill-composed, and with powers so limited, 
 I ran ten chances of ruin and dishonour for one 
 of gaining reputation ; and had not the plea of 
 humanity in favour of the unfortunate Americans in 
 English dungeons superseded all considerations of 
 self, I faithfully assure you, my lord, that I would 
 not have proceeded under such circumstances from 
 Groix. I do not imbibe hasty prejudices against 
 any individual, but when many and repeated cir- 
 cumstances, conspiring in one point, have inspired 
 me with disesteem toward any person, I must see 
 very convincing proofs of reformation in such per- 
 son before my heart can beat again with affection 
 in his favour ; for the mind is free, and can be 
 bound only by kind treatment. 
 
 " You do me great honour, as well as justice, 
 my lord, by observing that no satisfaction can be 
 more precious to me than by giving new proofs of 
 my zeal for the common cause of France and Amer- 
 ica ; and the interest that you take to facilitate the 
 means of my giving such proofs by essential serv- 
 ices, claims my best thanks. / hope I shall not, 
 through any imprudence of mine, render ineffectual 
 any noble design that may be in contemplation for the
 
 256 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 general good.* Whenever that object is mentioned, 
 my private concerns are out of the question, and 
 where 1 can not speak exactly what I could wish 
 with respect to my private satisfaction, I promise 
 you in the meantime to observe a prudent silence. 
 " With a deep sense of your generous senti- 
 ments of personal regard toward me, and with the 
 most sincere wishes to merit that regard by my 
 conduct through life." 
 
 The following extract from a letter to Robert 
 Morris well indicates how his treatment by the 
 French ambassador rankled : 
 
 " By the within despatches for Congress I am 
 persuaded you will observe with pleasure that my 
 connection with a court is at an end, and that my 
 prospect of returning to America approaches. The 
 great seem to wish only to be concerned with tools, 
 who dare not speak or write truth. I am not sorry 
 that my connection with them is at an end. In the 
 course of that connection I ran ten chances of ruin 
 and dishonour for one of reputation ; and all the 
 honours or profit that France could bestow should 
 not tempt me again to undertake the same service 
 with an armament, equally ill composed, and with 
 powers equally limited. It affords me the most ex- 
 alted pleasure to reflect that, when I return to Amer- 
 ica, I can say that I have served in Europe at my own 
 expense, and without the fee or rcz^ard of a court. \ 
 When the prisoners we have taken are safely lodged 
 in France I shall have no further business in Eu- 
 
 * Italics mine. f Italics mine.
 
 UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR. 
 
 257 
 
 rope, as the liberty of our fellow citizens who now 
 suffer in English prisons will then be secured; and 
 I shall hope hereafter to be usefully employed under 
 the immediate direction of the Congress." 
 
 It is a remarkable thing that, during the per- 
 plexities and harassing incidents of his stay in the 
 Texel, with the constant demands made upon him 
 in every direction, the difficulties with which he had 
 to cope, the responsibilities he assumed, the prob- 
 lems he had to solve, and the dangers grappled with, 
 he found time to carry on such a voluminous and 
 extraordinary correspondence as has been pre- 
 served. Among other documents he drew up a long 
 memorial to Congress recounting his career and 
 public services to date, which is of much service to 
 those who strive to solve the enigma of his com- 
 plex life and character. The tendency to lionize a 
 hero was as prevalent then as now, and Jones was 
 compelled by the exigencies of his situation to re- 
 fuse many invitations of a social nature at Amster- 
 dam and The Hague. " Duty," he says, " must take 
 precedence of pleasure. I must wait a more favour- 
 able opportunity to kiss the hands of the fair." Cer- 
 tain young impressionable misses, after the custom 
 of the day, indited poetical effusions to him. In the 
 hurry and rush of business he could only find time 
 in his replies to deplore the fact that so much was 
 expected from him that he could not respond in 
 rhyme to these metrical communications. 
 
 i-
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE ESCAPE OF THE ALLIANCE. 
 
 CHRISTMAS day passed gloomily enough, I im- 
 agine, for the Americans on the Alliance. There had 
 been opportunities, of course, when it would have 
 been possible for Jones to have made the mouth of 
 the harbor, but his capture would have been in- 
 evitable. So, on one pretext or another, he delayed 
 until the night of the 2/th of December, when he 
 weighed anchor and dropped down to the mouth of 
 the Texel. Early the next morning in a howling 
 gale he dashed for the sea. On the same day he 
 sent the following note back to Dumas, and merrily 
 proceeded on his way: 
 
 " I am here, my dear sir, with a good wind at 
 east, and. under my best* American colours ; so far 
 you have your wish. What may be the event of this 
 critical moment I know not; I am not, however, 
 without good hopes. Through the ignorance or 
 drunkenness of the old pilot the Alliance last night 
 got foul of a Dutch merchant ship, and I believe the 
 Dutchmen cut our cable. We lost the best bower 
 anchor, and the ship was brought up with the sheet 
 anchor so near the shore that this morning I have 
 been obliged to cut the cable in order to get clear 
 258
 
 tHE ESCAPE OF THE ALLIANCE. 2 $$ 
 
 of the shore, and that I might not lose this oppor- 
 tunity of escaping from purgatory." 
 
 Though he had escaped from the Texel, his 
 situation was one of extreme peril. It is claimed 
 that no less than forty sail were on the lookout for 
 him in the English Channel ; and, besides those spe- 
 cifically detailed for the purpose, there were a num- 
 ber of ships and at least two great fleets at anchor 
 in these narrow waters, which he would have to 
 pass. I suppose that never before had so many ves- 
 sels been on the lookout for a single ship as in 
 this instance. It never seems to have occurred to 
 the blockading ships that Jones would attempt 
 to pass down the Channel ; his safest course from 
 the point of view of the ordinary man would have 
 been through the North Sea and around Scot- 
 land and Ireland. But Jones was not an ordinary 
 man, though the English refused to see the fact. 
 Consequently, his bold course took them by sur- 
 prise, and, as usual, by choosing apparently the most 
 dangerous way he escaped. And the way of it 
 was this : By the exercise of his usual seamanship 
 Jones managed to hug the Flemish banks so closely 
 that he passed to windward of the British blockad- 
 ing ships, which were driven to the northward by 
 the same gale of which he had taken advantage. 
 
 The wind came strongly from the east, and un- 
 der a great press of canvas the Alliance staggered 
 away toward the south, keeping as dose as possible 
 to the weather shore until all danger from the imme- 
 diate blockading fleet was avoided. Then Jones ran 
 for the middle of the Channel, and the next day the
 
 260 COMMODORE PAUL JOKES. 
 
 Alliance passed through the straits of Dover and 
 ran close to the Goodwin Sands, passing in full view 
 of a large English fleet anchored in the Downs only 
 three miles to leeward. On the day after, the 29th, 
 the Alliance flew by the Isle of Wight, running near 
 enough to take a good look at another fleet at Spit- 
 head. 
 
 On the ist of January Jones was out of the 
 Channel, having passed in sight of, and almost in 
 range, at different times in this bold dash for free- 
 dom, of several British ships of the line, just out of 
 gunshot to leeward. During all this time he had 
 not ceased to fly the American flag. I do not know 
 of a more splendid piece of sea bravado than this 
 dash of the Alliance from the Texel. The daring 
 and gallantry of the man at first seemed to have 
 led him into injudicious and dangerous situations 
 when he took the Alliance so close to the English 
 coast and the British fleets ; but his effrontery was 
 governed by that sound and practical sense which 
 ever distinguished his conduct from mere unthink- 
 ing recklessness, for no one would ever imagine 
 that the escaping ship would take such a course, and 
 those vessels on the lookout for him would prob- 
 ably be found where a less subtle commander would 
 have endeavored to pass off the Flemish coast and 
 near the French shore, for instance. Be that as it 
 may, the little Alliance, with her Stars and Stripes 
 flapping defiantly in the great breeze in the face 
 of the overmastering English ships, running the 
 gantlet of her enemies, is a picture we love to 
 think upon. 
 
 The ship was in a critical condition. Damages
 
 THE ESCAPE OF THE ALLIANCE. 2 6l 
 
 which she had incurred in her voyage from Boston 
 to France were still unrepaired. Her trim had been 
 altered for the worse by Landais' blunders, and the 
 improper stowage of the ballast had dangerously 
 strained her and greatly diminished her speed, 
 which had originally been very high. There was 
 no way these things could have been temporarily re- 
 paired in the Texel ; in fact, but little could be done 
 until the vessel reached France. Owing to the un- 
 sanitary regimen of Landais, disease had broken out 
 at different times, and the ship had become so dirty 
 that nothing short of a -thorough disinfection would 
 render her safe for her crew. She was much over- 
 crowded with men, all actually or professedly 
 American, and carried a hundred prisoners as well. 
 There were two sets of officers on board those 
 originally attached to her and the officers of the 
 Richard. Jealousy and bickerings between the two 
 crews were prevalent. Naturally, they had no love 
 for each other. The officers and men of the 
 Richard could not forget the conduct of those on 
 the Alliance, and they looked upon them with 
 hatred and contempt. Sailorlike, the men of the 
 Alliance reciprocated that feeling. It was the desire 
 of every one, except Jones and a few others, to get 
 to France at once, but the commodore wished to 
 return with more prizes ; so he bore away to the 
 south and west, seeking for ships, impressing 
 upon his discontented men that the Alliance was 
 equal to anything under a fifty-gun ship ! He was 
 not fortunate on this occasion, however, and finally, 
 to avoid a threatened gale, he ran into the port of 
 Corunna in Spain, on the i6th of January, 1780,
 
 2 62 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 where he was kindly received and hospitably enter- 
 tained. During this cruise, in spite of the responsi- 
 bilities of his position, he found time to compose the 
 following verses in reply to a similar communication 
 which he had received from the daughter of M. Du- 
 mas (it will be remembered that he deplored his in- 
 ability in the Texel to find time for his present oc- 
 cupation) : 
 
 " Were I, Paul Jones, dear maid, ' the king of sea,' 
 
 I find such merit in thy virgin song, 
 A coral crown with bays I'd give to thee, 
 
 A car which on the waves should smoothly glide along ; 
 The "Nereides all about thy side should wait, 
 And gladly sing in triumph of thy state, 
 ' Vivat ! vivat ! the happy virgin Muse ! 
 Of liberty the friend, who tyrant power pursues ! ' 
 
 " Or, happier lot ! Were fair Columbia free 
 
 From British tyranny, and youth still mine, 
 I'd tell a tender tale to one like thee 
 
 With artless looks and breast as pure as thine. 
 If she approved my flame, distrust apart, 
 Like faithful turtles, we'd have but one heart ; 
 Together, then, we'd tune the silver lyre, 
 As love or sacred freedom should our lays inspire. 
 
 " But since, alas ! the rage of war prevails, 
 
 And cruel Britons desolate our land, 
 For freedom still I spread my willing sails. 
 
 My unsheath'd sword my injured country shall command. 
 Go on, bright maid ! the Muses all attend 
 Genius like thine, and wish to be its friend. 
 Trust me, although conveyed through this poor shift, 
 My New Year's thoughts are grateful for thy gift." 
 
 I have read worse poetry than this, also better, 
 but it is very creditable to the sailor. If the reader
 
 THE STAY AT CORUNNA. 263 
 
 has a low opinion of it, let him essay some verse- 
 writing himself.* 
 
 While at Corunna, the ship was careened and her 
 bottom scraped as far as possible without docking 
 her, and, having procured an anchor to take the 
 place of the two lost in the Texel, Jones prepared to 
 set forth once more. The 28th of January was fixed 
 for his departure, but the discontent among the 
 crew reached such a pitch that they positively re- 
 fused to weigh anchor unless they received at 
 least a portion of their pay or prize money. Noth- 
 ing had been paid them from the time the ships 
 had been put in commission until they reached 
 the Texel. There Jones had received from Am- 
 sterdam a small sum of money, from which he ad- 
 vanced five ducats to each of the officers and one to 
 each of the men. The amount, compared to their 
 dues and needs, was so insignificant that many of the 
 men threw the money into the sea in disgust a 
 very foolish but extremely sailorlike action. 
 
 There were many patriotic men on these ships 
 w 7 ho merit the approbation and deserve the gratitude 
 of their country. They had shown, especially those 
 belonging to the Richard, a most desperate courage 
 in most trying scenes. They had performed services 
 upon which no monetary value could be placed, and 
 had subjected themselves to dangers which no mere 
 pecuniary consideration could have tempted them 
 to face. It may at first, therefore, seem surprising 
 that they should have so resolutely demanded their 
 
 * For another specimen of Jones' verse-writing, see page 
 
 277-
 
 264 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 pay and prize money, even to the extent of mutiny- 
 ing for it; but it is a common experience that men 
 who will freely offer themselves for the most dan- 
 gerous undertakings, and who really are actuated 
 by the strongest kind of patriotism, will quarrel and 
 rebel, and even fight, for the petty amounts prom- 
 ised them by way of wages, which in themselves 
 neither could tempt them to, nor repay them for, the 
 sacrifices they had cheerfully undergone. Frankly, 
 I have the greatest sympathy with the point of view 
 of the unpaid soldiers or sailors of the past, and I 
 quite understand their demands and complaints 
 under such circumstances. 
 
 Perhaps there is an association of ideas between 
 fighting for the liberties of one's country and de- 
 manding one's dues. Both are a revolt against in- 
 justice and oppression. The mind of the common 
 sailor, especially of that day, was not calculated to 
 draw nice distinctions, and he could see little dif- 
 ference between fighting for liberty and demanding 
 that the country whose independence he periled 
 his life to establish should show the small appre- 
 ciation of his devotion involved in paying his 
 scanty wages and not withholding his lawful prize 
 money. Jones struggled for rank, station, repu- 
 tation, opportunity; these men could aspire to no 
 higher station than they already filled, and their 
 corresponding effort was for the money justly 
 due them. 
 
 The Richard's men had lost practically every- 
 thing except the clothes they stood in when their 
 ship went down, and their personal needs were neces- 
 sarily very great. The. original crew of the Alliance
 
 A BROKEN PROMISE. 265 
 
 were under the impression that Jones had reserved 
 from the small sum he had received at Amsterdam 
 a considerable portion for himself. There is not 
 the slightest evidence to warrant this supposition. 
 The commodore was the most prodigal and gen- 
 erous of men, and his whole career evidences his 
 entire willingness to devote his own personal prop- 
 erty to the welfare and wages of his men. He finally 
 persuaded the crew to get under way by promising 
 to run direct to L'Orient, where he hoped they 
 would undoubtedly receive their prize money. 
 With this understanding the crew consented to 
 work the ship to that point, and their departure was 
 accordingly taken on the 28th. 
 
 When the vessel was fairly at sea, however, Jones 
 summoned the officers to the cabin and proposed 
 that they should cruise two or three weeks in those 
 waters before making their promised port. I am 
 afraid that the commodore allowed the possibility 
 of taking some valuable prizes and perhaps another 
 British frigate to incline him to break his promise 
 to his men. His interview in his cabin with his 
 officers was an interesting one. With all the elo- 
 quence of which he was a master and he was able 
 to speak convincingly and well on congenial sub- 
 jects he placed before them the possibilities pre- 
 sented, appealed to their patriotism, their love of 
 fame, and as a last resort pointed out the further 
 monetary advantage of another rich prize lago's 
 argument ! If they were successful in taking an- 
 other frigate they would shed still greater luster 
 upon their names, and put money in their pockets. 
 The officers, however, bluntly refused to be per-
 
 2 66 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 suacled. They emphasized the mutinous and dis- 
 contented state of the crews, who had only sailed 
 under Jones' positive promise to take them immedi- 
 ately to L'Orient ; pointed out that many of the men 
 had not proper clothing with which to endure the 
 severe winter weather, and that they themselves 
 were in a destitute condition. 
 
 Their natural reluctance to fall in with his plans 
 infuriated Jones. Rising from the chair upon which 
 he had been sitting, with an emphatic stamp of his 
 foot he dismissed them with a sneering contempt in 
 the following words : 
 
 " I do not want your advice, neither did I send 
 .for you to comply with your wishes, but only by 
 way of paying you a compliment, which was more 
 than you deserve by your opposition. Therefore, 
 you know my mind ; go to your duty, each one of 
 you, and let me hear no more grumbling ! " 
 
 The Alliance cruised for some days to the west- 
 ward of Cape Finisterre, but, as the quarreling be- 
 tween the two crews ran higher than ever, and as 
 Jones had failed to keep his promise, thus adding to 
 their discontent, when they fell in with the Amer- 
 ican ship Livingstone, laden with a valuable cargo 
 of tobacco, Jones gave over his attempt, and de- 
 cided to convoy her to L'Orient, where he arrived 
 on the loth of February, 1780. That he should 
 gravely have contemplated action with a British 
 frigate with his ill-conditioned ship and mutinous 
 crew shows the confidence he felt in his own abil- 
 ity. I have no doubt that, unprepared as she
 
 SAFE AT LAST. 267 
 
 was, if the Alliance had fallen in with an Eng- 
 lish ship Jones would have been able to persuade 
 his men to action, and with anything like an 
 equal force the results would have been satis- 
 factory.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HONORS AND REWARDS QUARREL WITH LANDAIS 
 
 RELINQUISHES THE ALLIANCE. 
 
 THE tremendous nervous strain which Jones had 
 undergone, the constant labor and exposure neces- 
 sitated by the circumstances of his hard cruising 
 and righting, and the recent exposure in the severe 
 winter weather had broken down his health. His 
 spirit had outpaced his body, and in a very ill and 
 weak condition, with his eyes so inflamed that he 
 was almost blinded, he went on shore in search 
 of rest. Meanwhile preparations were made thor- 
 oughly to overhaul the Alliance and load her with 
 a large quantity of valuable and much-needed mili- 
 tary supplies which had been purchased for the 
 army of the United States, among them the bat- 
 tery which had been cast for the Bon Homme 
 Richard, which had arrived after her departure. 
 
 Hard by the Alliance in the harbor lay the hand- 
 some Serapis. With perfectly natural feelings 
 Jones longed to get possession of her again. He 
 wrote immediately to Franklin, detailing the repairs 
 necessary to put the Alliance in shape, which were 
 very extensive and correspondingly expensive, and 
 asked that he might have leave to sheath the Alli- 
 ance with copper, and that the Serapis might be 
 268
 
 FRANKLIN ENJOINS ECONOMY. 269 
 
 purchased and turned over to him. He hoped that 
 the repairs to the Alliance might be made by the 
 French Government, perhaps that they would also 
 give him the Serapis. As the condition of the Alli- 
 ance had been justly attributed by Jones to the neg- 
 ligence and incompetence of Landais, and not to 
 any accident of the cruise under the auspices of 
 France, there did not seem to be any good reason 
 for having the ship repaired at the expense of the 
 French Government. Franklin stated that the 
 whole expense would have to fall upon him, and 
 begged him in touching words to be as economical 
 as possible, as his financial resources, as always, 
 were limited. For the same reason it was impos- 
 sible to secure the Serapis. 
 He says : 
 
 " I therefore beg you would have mercy on me ; 
 put me to as little charge as possible, and take noth- 
 ing that you can possibly do without. As to sheath- 
 ing with copper, it is totally out of the question. I 
 am not authorized to do it if I had money ; and I 
 have not money for it if I had orders." 
 
 As the demand in America for the military sup- 
 plies which Franklin had procured was pressing, 
 Jones was ordered to hasten the repairs to the 
 Alliance. In spite of Franklin's strict injunction 
 to economize, Jones proceeded to overhaul, refit, 
 and remodel entirely the frigate in accordance 
 with his ideas and experience. As his ideas were 
 excellent and his experience had been ample, when 
 the repairs had been completed they left noth- 
 ing to be desired. But the bills were very heavy.
 
 COMMODORE PAUL 
 
 Franklin protested, but paid. As a matter of fact, 
 it must be admitted Jones did not stint himself when 
 it came to outfitting a ship or anything else, for 
 that matter. His experience with the Ranger, the 
 Richard, and the Alliance had naturally disgusted 
 him with inadequately provided ships of war. The 
 beautiful little boat was the superior of any of her 
 size upon the ocean, and subsequently, under the 
 command of Captain John Barry, she did brilliant 
 and noteworthy service. If it had not been for Jones 
 she would have been worthless. 
 
 The charge of extravagance, however, is fairly 
 substantiated. Jones was, in fact, as indifferent in 
 the spending of other people's money as he was with 
 his own, and I have no doubt the bills, although he 
 paid them, almost broke the harassed commis- 
 sioner's heart. Jones, however, was in a very dif- 
 ferent position from that he had occupied previ- 
 ously. He had demonstrated his capacity in the 
 most unequivocal manner. He was not a man to 
 be dealt with slightingly, nor did Franklin, who un- 
 doubtedly cherished a genuine admiration and re- 
 gard for him, which the sailor fully reciprocated by 
 an enthusiastic admiration amounting to veneration, 
 wish to do anything to humiliate him. 
 
 While the repairs were progressing the financial 
 status of the crew was in no way amended. There 
 was no money forthcoming to them on the score 
 of wages ; the sale of the prizes was delayed, and 
 serious differences arose between the agents of the 
 crews, de Chaumont as representing the king, and 
 Jones himself. Finally, in order to further the set- 
 tlement of the matter, Jones decided to go to Paris
 
 ARRIVAL OF ARTHUR LEE. 2^1 
 
 and see what he could do personally to hasten the 
 sale of the prizes, and perhaps secure some funds 
 with which to pay the wages of the crews, in part 
 at least. 
 
 Early in April, therefore, he left the Alliance at 
 L'Orient and repaired to the capital. From one 
 point of view it was an unwise thing to do, for he 
 left behind him a discontented and mutinous crew, 
 which only his own indomitable personality had 
 been able to repress and control. It is likely, how- 
 ever, that affairs at L'Orient would have remained 
 in statu quo had it not been for the advent of Arthur 
 Lee. This gentleman is perhaps the only member 
 of the famous family whose name he bore upon 
 whose conduct and character severe judgment must 
 be passed. Jealous, quarrelsome, and incompetent, 
 his blundering attempts at diplomacy had worked 
 more harm than good to the American nation. By 
 his vanity and indiscretion he had continually 
 thwarted the wise plans and brilliant policy of 
 Franklin, with whom he had finally embroiled him- 
 self to such an extent that it became necessary for 
 him to return home. Not only had he lost the 
 esteem of Franklin, but through his petty meanness 
 he had also forfeited the confidence of Congress, 
 which had superseded him by John Jay at the court 
 of Spain, to which he had been accredited previ- 
 ously. 
 
 Franklin desired Jones to give him a passage 
 home in the Alliance. Jones had a great dislike to 
 his proposed passenger. When his draft upon the 
 commissioners for twenty-four thousand livres had 
 been dishonored, it was largely through the influ-
 
 272 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ence of Lee that the money had been refused him. 
 Lee was fully acquainted with the circumstances 
 which caused Jones to apply, and he might have 
 secured payment. At least that was the opinion 
 of Jones. With his usual frankness, Jones had not 
 hesitated to express his opinion to Lee in a very tart 
 letter, which had not improved the situation. In 
 the face of the request of Franklin, Jones had no 
 option but to receive Lee and his suite on the 
 Alliance. He objected, however, most strenuously 
 to allowing the ex-commissioner to take his car- 
 riage and other equipage on the frigate, stating with 
 entire accuracy that articles of such bulk would 
 take up much room, which could be better devoted 
 to other and more important freightage. This, 
 no doubt, further incensed Lee against Jones. 
 He was ever inclined 'to put his personal comfort 
 before the welfare of his country. 
 
 Landais had been summoned, as we have seen, 
 to Paris. The commissioners, with the documents 
 prepared in the Texel before them, had discussed 
 his case, and had decided to send him to America 
 for trial. Franklin, who had not yet expressed any 
 public judgment in the premises, though his private 
 opinion was well known, had presented Landais 
 with a sum of money for his voyage to the United 
 States, and the \vhole correspondence, including the 
 charges, had been transmitted to Congress. 
 
 Arthur Lee, with his usual captious spirit, and 
 inspired by his hatred of Jones and the desire to 
 disagree with Franklin at the same time, had dis- 
 sented from the view and decision of his colleagues. 
 He had maintained that Landais was legally en-
 
 LEE AND LANDAIS MAKE TROUBLE. 
 
 273 
 
 titled to continue in the command of the Alliance, 
 and that Franklin had not the power to supersede 
 him a contention not substantiated by the facts, 
 nor, as was afterward shown, supported by Con- 
 gress itself. 
 
 When Jones went to Paris, therefore, Lee, realiz- 
 ing his opportunity, at once began to. foment addi- 
 tional disorder in the already demoralized crew. 
 Coincident with Jones' departure, Landais also 
 made his appearance. Had Lee summoned him? 
 Lee did not hesitate to express the opinion to that 
 gentleman himself, his officers, and crew, that Lan- 
 dais was legitimately entitled to the command of the 
 Alliance, and could not be removed therefrom ex- 
 cept by specific direction of Congress. Things, 
 therefore, developed with painful rapidity at L'Ori- 
 ent, until Landais addressed a note to Franklin de- 
 manding that he be reinstated in the command of 
 the Alliance a curious procedure for a man who 
 claimed that Franklin was without power to dis- 
 place him ! 
 
 Meanwhile Jones was having a brilliant recep- 
 tion in France. While he had incurred the hostility 
 of the French naval officers, who fancied that he had 
 deprived them of commands to which they were 
 better entitled, and in the enjoyment of which he 
 had gained distinction through opportunities which 
 might possibly have fallen to them and which they 
 might have embraced, he was everywhere received 
 with the highest honors, as well by the court as the 
 people. To the populace, indeed, he was a hero 
 who had humbled the enemy whom they hated with 
 the characteristic passion of Frenchmen. Franklin 
 19
 
 274 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 took him to call upon his old tormentor, the dilatory 
 de Sartine, and, owing perhaps to naval prejudice, 
 his first reception was extremely cool ; but, as it be- 
 came evident that he was a popular hero, the tone 
 of the minister was lowered, and his actions were 
 modified, so that he afterward extended him a warm 
 welcome and professed extreme friendship for the 
 commodore. The king and queen accorded him 
 the favor of an audience, and his majesty, falling 
 in with the popular current, was pleased to declare 
 his intention of presenting him with a magnificent 
 gold-mounted sword, to be inscribed with the fol- 
 lowing flattering motto : 
 
 "VINDICATI MARIS LUDOVICUS XVI. REMUNE- 
 RATOR STRENUO VINDICI." * 
 
 He also signified his royal purpose, should the 
 Congress acquiesce therein, of investing Jones with 
 the cross of the Order of Military Merit, a distinc- 
 tion never before accorded to any but a subject of 
 France, and only awarded for heroic conduct or con- 
 spicuous and brilliant military or naval services 
 against the enemy. Nothing could have been more 
 grateful to a man of Jones' temperament than the 
 appreciation of the French people, and these evi- 
 dences of admiration and esteem from the hand of 
 the king. On his previous visit to Paris, after the 
 capture of the Drake, he had been made much of ; 
 in this instance his reception greatly surpassed his 
 former welcome. He became the lion of the day, 
 
 * " Louis XVI, the rewarder, to the mighty deliverer, for 
 the freedom of the sea."
 
 HONORS AND REWARDS. 275 
 
 the attraction of the hour. Great men sought his 
 company, and held themselves honored by his 
 friendship ; while the fairest of the ladies of the gay 
 court were proud to receive the attentions of the 
 man who had so dramatically conquered the hated 
 English. In all these circumstances he bore himself 
 with becoming modesty. On one occasion he was 
 invited to the queen's box at the opera. When he 
 entered the theater he was loudly cheered, and at 
 the close of the act a laurel wreath was suspended 
 over his head, whereupon he changed his seat. This 
 natural action has been quaintly commented upon 
 by various biographers, and the statement is made 
 that for many years it was held up before the 
 French youth as an exhibition of extraordinary 
 modesty ! 
 
 One of the most admirable of Jones' traits was 
 a chivalrous devotion to women. To a natural grace 
 of manner he added the bold directness of a sailor, 
 which was not without its charm to the beauties 
 of Versailles, sated with the usual artificial gallantry 
 of the men of the period. Jones spoke French 
 rather well, and had a taste for music and poetry. 
 There were, therefore, many who did not disdain to 
 draw the " sea lion " in their train. On account of 
 the favors he had received he was a person of dis- 
 tinction at the court. Among his voluminous cor- 
 respondence which has been preserved are numbers 
 of letters to and from different women of rank and 
 station, dating from this period and from his pro- 
 longed stay in Paris after the war had terminated. 
 Among others, he corresponded with a lady who, 
 after the romantic fashion of the time, at first en-
 
 276 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 deavored to hide her identity under the name of 
 Delia. Between Jones and Delia there seems to 
 have sprung up a genuine passion, for the letters 
 on both sides breathe a spirit of passionate, heart- 
 felt devotion. It has been discovered that Delia 
 was but another name for Madame de Telison, a 
 natural daughter of Louis XV, with whom Jones 
 frequently corresponded under her own name, and 
 who is referred to in his biographies as Madame 
 T , and the identification is definite and com- 
 plete. He was catholic in his affections, however, 
 for he by no means confined his epistolary rela- 
 tions to the gentle and devoted Madame de Telison. 
 
 It is interesting to note that in all these letters 
 there is not a single indelicate or ill-bred allusion. 
 That is what would be expected to-day, but when 
 we remember that so great an authority as Robert 
 Walpole suggested that everybody at his table 
 should " talk bawdy," as being the only subject 
 every one could understand, the significance of his 
 clean letters is apparent. In his correspondence, 
 except in the case of Aimee Adele de Telison, he 
 never appears to have passed beyond the bounds 
 of romantic friendship. In later years, however, it 
 is possible to infer from his letters that Madame de 
 Telison bore to him a son, whose history is entire- 
 ly unknown. Among others who honored him with 
 their friendship were three women of high rank, 
 the Duchess de Chartres, Madame d'Ormoy, and 
 the Countess de Lavendahl, who painted his por- 
 trait in miniature. 
 
 An English lady, Miss Edes, sojourning in 
 France at this time, thus refers to him in two letters
 
 'AN AGREEABLE SEA WOLF." 
 
 277 
 
 which she wrote for publication in the English 
 journals : 
 
 " The famous Paul Jones dines and sups here 
 often ; he is a smart man of thirty-six, speaks but 
 little French, appears to be an extraordinary genius, 
 a poet as well as hero; a few days ago he wrote 
 some verses extempore, of which I send you a copy. 
 He is greatly admired here, especially by the ladies, 
 who are wild for love of him ; but he adores the 
 Countess of Lavendahl, who has honored him with 
 every mark of politeness and distinction. 
 
 " ' Insulted freedom bled ; I felt her cause, 
 And drew my sword to vindicate her laws 
 From principle, and not from vain applause. 
 I've done my best ; self-interest far apart, 
 And self-reproach a stranger to my heart. 
 My zeal still prompts, ambitious to pursue 
 The foe, ye fair ! of liberty and you ; 
 Grateful for praise, spontaneous and unbought, 
 A generous people's love not meanly sought ; 
 To merit this, and bend the knee to beauty, 
 Shall be my earliest and latest duty.' 
 
 " Since my last, Paul Jones drank tea and supped 
 here. If I am in love for him, for love I may die. 
 I have as many rivals as there are ladies, but the 
 most formidable is still Lady Lavendahl, who pos- 
 sesses all his heart. This lady is of high rank and 
 virtue, very sensible, good-natured, and affable. 
 Besides this, she is possessed of youth, beauty, and 
 wit, and every other form of female accomplishment. 
 He is gone, I suppose, for America. They corre- 
 spond, and his letters are replete w r ith elegance, sen- 
 timent, and delicacy. She drew his picture, a strik-
 
 278 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ing likeness, and wrote some lines under it which 
 are much admired, and presented it to him. Since 
 he received it he is, like a second Narcissus, in love 
 with his own resemblance ; to be sure, he is the 
 most agreeable sea wolf one would wish to meet 
 with." 
 
 In all this, however, Jones did not for a moment 
 neglect the business which had called him to Paris. 
 He moved heaven and earth to effect the sale of 
 the prizes, bringing to bear all his personal popu- 
 larity and making use of his new-found friends, both 
 men and women, to accomplish the desired results. 
 In all his attempts he was zealously supported by 
 Franklin, who, I have no doubt, greatly enjoyed the 
 popularity of his protege. 
 
 Finally, on the last day of May, having received 
 positive assurance that the prizes would be sold and 
 distribution made immediately, he set out for L'Ori- 
 ent. On leaving Paris he carried with him a per- 
 sonal commendation from Franklin and a letter 
 from de Sartine to the President of Congress, as 
 follows : 
 
 " PASSY, June /, 1780. 
 " Samuel Hnntington, Esq., President of Congress. 
 
 " SIR : Commodore Jones, who by his bravery 
 and conduct has done great honour to the American 
 flag, desires to have that also of presenting a line 
 to the hands of your Excellency. I cheerfully com- 
 ply with his request, in recommending him to the 
 notice of Congress, and to your Excellency's pro- 
 tection, though his actions are more effectual rec- 
 ommendations, and render any from me unneces-
 
 COMMENDED TO CONGRESS. 
 
 279 
 
 sary. It gives me, however, an opportunity of 
 shewing my readiness to do justice to merit, and of 
 professing the esteem and respect with which I am, 
 etc. B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 From M. de Sartine to Mr. Huntington, Presi- 
 dent of the Congress of the United States : 
 
 " VERSAILLES, May jo, 1780. 
 
 " Commodore Paul Jones, after having shown to 
 all Europe, and particularly to the enemies of 
 France and the United States, the most unques- 
 tionable proofs of his valor and talents, is about re- 
 turning to America to give an account to Congress 
 of the success of his military operations. I am 
 convinced, Sir, that the reputation he has so justly 
 acquired will precede him, and that the recital of his 
 actions alone will suffice to prove to his fellow 
 citizens that his abilities are equal to his courage. 
 But the king has thought proper to add his suffrage 
 and attention to the public opinion. He has ex- 
 pressly charged me to inform you how perfectly he 
 is satisfied with the services of the Commodore, 
 persuaded that Congress will render him the same 
 justice. He has offered, as a proof of his esteem, to 
 present him with a sword, which can not be placed 
 in better hands, and likewise proposed to Congress 
 to decorate this brave officer with the cross of Mili- 
 tary Merit. His Majesty conceives that this par- 
 ticular distinction, by holding forth the same hon- 
 ours to the two nations, united by the same inter- 
 ests, will be looked upon as one tie more that con- 
 nects them, and will support that emulation which 
 is so precious to the common cause. If, after hav-
 
 2 8o COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ing approved the conduct of the Commodore, it 
 should be thought proper to give him the command 
 of any new expedition to Europe, His Majesty will 
 receive him again with pleasure, and presumes that 
 Congress will oppose nothing that may be judged 
 expedient to secure the success of his enterprises. 
 My personal esteem for him induces me to recom- 
 mend him very particularly to you, Sir, and I dare 
 flatter myself that the welcome he will receive from 
 Congress and you will warrant the sentiments with 
 which he has inspired me." 
 
 While all this had been going on, however, 
 Franklin had been having serious trouble with the 
 men of the Alliance. On the I2th of April the offi- 
 cers dispatched a letter to Franklin demanding 
 their prize money and wages. Franklin had previ- 
 ously advanced them twenty-four thousand livres, 
 and he wrote them that everything was being done 
 to hasten the sale of the prizes, and that they would 
 have to be content with what he had given them, 
 and receive the balance when they reached the 
 United States. On the 2Qth of May Landais wrote, 
 repeating his application of the I7th of March, and 
 inclosing a mutinous letter signed by one hundred 
 and fifteen of the crew of the Alliance, declaring 
 that they would not raise an anchor nor sail from 
 L'Orient till they had six months' wages paid to 
 them, and the utmost farthing of their prize money, 
 including that for the ships sent into Norway, and 
 until their legal captain, Pierre Landais, was re- 
 stored to them. 
 
 Landais had added the phrase " until their legal
 
 TROUBLE ON THE ALLIANCE. 28 1 
 
 captain, P. Landais, is restored to us," himself. 
 With this letter was another communication from 
 fourteen of the original officers of the Alliance, to 
 the effect that the crew were in favor of Landais, 
 who was a capable officer, whose conduct had been 
 misrepresented, and whom they considered them- 
 selves bound to obey as their legal captain. These 
 officers can not be relieved of a large share of the 
 odium attaching to the conduct of the Alliance dur- 
 ing the battle between the Richard and the Serapis. 
 The reason for their dislike of Jones is therefore ap- 
 parent. To carry out their designs they had circu- 
 lated among the crew statements to the effect that 
 Jones had received the prize money and was enjoy- 
 ing himself at their expense. The fine Italian hand 
 of Mr. Lee is to be seen in the documents they for- 
 warded to Franklin. Franklin's reply to this dis- 
 gracefully insubordinate batch of letters was re- 
 markable for its tact, acumen, and good sense. 
 After keenly expressing his surprise that the very 
 officers who had testified against Landais a short 
 time before, and whom Landais had stated were all 
 leagued against him, were now desirous of being 
 placed again under his command, he writes as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " I have related exactly to Congress the manner 
 of his [Landais'] leaving the ship, and though I 
 declined any judgment of his maneuvers in the fight, 
 I have given it as my opinion, after examining the 
 affair, that it was not at all likely either that he 
 should have given orders to fire into the Bon 
 Homme Richard, or that his officers should have
 
 2g2 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 obeyed such an order should it have been given 
 them. Thus I have taken what care I could of 
 your honour in that particular. You will, therefore, 
 excuse me if I am a little concerned for it in an- 
 other. If it should come to be publicly known that 
 you had the strongest aversion to Captain Landais, 
 who has used you basely, and that it is only since 
 the last year's cruise, and the appointment of Com- 
 modore Jones to the command, that you request to 
 be again under your old captain, I fear suspicions 
 and reflections may be thrown upon you by the 
 world, as if this change of sentiment may have 
 arisen from your observation during the cruise, that 
 Captain Jones loved close fighting,* but that Cap- 
 tain Landais was skilful in keeping out of harm's 
 way ; and that you, therefore, thought yourself safer 
 with the latter. For myself, I believe you to be 
 brave men and lovers of your country and its glori- 
 ous cause ; and I am persuaded you have only been 
 ill-advised and misled by the artful and malicious 
 representations of some persons I guess at. Take 
 in good part this counsel from an old man who is 
 your friend. Go home peaceably with your ship. 
 Do your duty faithfully and cheerfully. Behave re- 
 spectfully to your commander, and I am persuaded 
 he will do the same to you. Thus you will not 
 only be happier in your voyage, but recommend 
 yourselves to the future favours of Congress and of 
 your country." 
 
 At the same time he specifically directed Lan- 
 dais to refrain from meddling with the men or creat- 
 
 * Italics mine.
 
 FRANKLIN'S WISDOM AND FIRMNESS. 283 
 
 ing any disturbance on the Alliance at his peril. To 
 this letter Landais paid no attention. This was the 
 situation when Jones reached L'Orient. Franklin 
 wrote him concerning the letters and batch of docu- 
 ments from Landais and the crew, which had arrived 
 after his departure, and advised him what had been 
 done in consequence. The commissioner had pro- 
 cured an imperative order to the authorities at 
 L'Orient for the arrest of Landais, who was to be 
 tried for his life as an emigrant without the king's 
 permission. Franklin also directed Jones to with- 
 hold from the signers of the mutinous letter any 
 portion of the money he had advanced on account 
 of the prizes, and he added the firm and decided in- 
 junction that if any one was not willing to trust his 
 country to see justice done him he should be put 
 ashore at his own charges to await the sale of the 
 prizes. 
 
 The situation was most critical, and that Frank- 
 lin appreciated it fully is shown by the following 
 citation from one of his letters to Jones : 
 
 "... You are likely to have great trouble. I 
 wish you well through it. You have shown your 
 abilities in fighting ; you have now an opportunity of 
 showing the other necessary part in the character 
 of a great chief, your abilities in policy." 
 
 Before this letter was received, however, mat- 
 ters had risen to a climax, which resulted in the 
 ejection of Jones and the assumption of the com- 
 mand by Landais. Immediately he arrived at 
 L'Orient, Jones hastened to get ready for leaving. 
 The Ariel, a small ship of twenty guns, had been
 
 284 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 loaned by the French Government to carry such 
 supplies as could not be taken on the -Alliance. 
 Several American vessels with valuable cargoes 
 were awaiting his departure also, to sail under his 
 convoy. 
 
 Jones had gone on board the Alliance as usual, 
 as his duty demanded, and had been received 
 respectfully and his orders promptly obeyed. On 
 the morning of the 13th of June, being now for the 
 first time informed of the mutinous action of the 
 crew and the letters to Franklin, he mustered the 
 crew and caused his commission and Franklin's 
 first order to him to take command of the ship in 
 the Texel, and his last one, to carry her to Phila- 
 delphia, to be read to the men. He then addressed 
 the seamen, pointing out to them the obligations 
 they had assumed, the consequences of a refusal 
 to obey him on their part, and urged them to a 
 faithful performance of their duty. He asked them, 
 if any one had any complaints to make against him, 
 that they be made now. No reply was made to this 
 address, and no complaints were brought forward. 
 The men were then dismissed to their stations. 
 
 Shortly after this incident Jones went ashore. 
 Landais was advised of the whole situation imme- 
 diately, and sent a letter to Degges, the first lieu- 
 tenant, ordering him to assume the command of 
 the ship and retain it in the face of Jones or any one 
 else until Landais should receive an answer to his 
 demand to Franklin to be replaced in the command 
 of the Alliance. When he received this order, Lan- 
 dais stated that he would at once come on board and 
 take over the ship. Degges mustered the crew
 
 LANDAIS SEIZES THE ALLIANCE. 285 
 
 again and read this letter. The adroit suggestions 
 of Mr. Lee and the insinuations as to Jones' alleged 
 betrayal of their interests by making off with the 
 prize money had so worked on the feelings of the 
 men that they at once declared for Landais, who, 
 on being notified, promptly repaired to the ship 
 and formally assumed command. 
 
 Dale and the officers of the Richard on the Alli- 
 ance, w r ho had not been aware of these last proceed- 
 ings, for they had been adroitly timed for their din- 
 ner hour when they were below, were apprised of 
 Landais' arrival by the cheering on deck. They pro- 
 tested against his assuming command, and were all 
 sent ashore without ceremony. Mr. Lee seems to 
 have suggested and approved of the action of Lan- 
 dais ; indeed, without his sanction the latter would 
 never have dared to take command of the ship. 
 
 On the afternoon of the same day Jones dis- 
 patched a letter to Franklin by express, relating 
 the circumstances, and then immediately followed in 
 person, which was an unnecessary thing to do. On 
 his arrival at Paris he found that peremptory orders 
 had already been sent post haste to L'Orient to de- 
 tain forcibly the Alliance, and reiterating the com- 
 mand to arrest Landais. Franklin, appreciating the 
 meddling of Lee, withdrew his request to Jones to 
 receive him as a passenger, and stated that he might 
 return to America in some of the other ships going 
 home under the convoy of the Alliance. Finding 
 nothing more to be done, after staying but two days, 
 Jones returned to L'Orient as quickly as possible. 
 He arrived on the morning of the 2Oth of June, hav- 
 ing been absent six days.
 
 286 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 During this time the Alliance had been warped 
 out of the inner roads into the narrow strait called 
 Port Louis, which was inclosed by rocks and com- 
 manded by batteries, which she would have to pass 
 before she could reach the outer roads of Groix. 
 The peremptory orders to stop the ship had not ar- 
 rived, but the commander of the port under his pre- 
 vious orders had caused a barrier to be drawn across 
 the narrow strait of Port Louis, and had ordered 
 the forts to sink the frigate if she attempted to pass 
 out. When Jones arrived, a boat was sent off to 
 the ship by the port officer, carrying the king's 
 order for the arrest of Landais. He positively re- 
 fused to surrender himself. Franklin's latest orders 
 to Landais and the officers and men were then de- 
 livered, and were treated with equal contempt. 
 
 All this was another evidence of Landais' folly, 
 for the Alliance was completely in Jones' power. 
 He had but to give the word to have caused the bat- 
 teries to open fire and sink her. She could neither 
 have escaped nor made adequate reply. Indeed, it 
 is probable, from the character of her captain, offi- 
 cers, and crew, that she would have made little or 
 no fight. But, according to Jones' specific state- 
 ment, for France, the avowed ally of America, to 
 have opened fire upon an American ship, and to 
 have killed and wounded American sailors, would 
 have been a terrible misfortune, a thing greatly to 
 be deplored, and to be avoided if possible, lest the 
 present friendly relations between the two countries 
 should be impaired by this action. The aid of 
 France was vital to the American cause at this 
 juncture, and it was patent that every effort should
 
 LANDAIS DEFIES THE COMMODORE. 287 
 
 be made to promote harmony rather than sow dis- 
 cord ; therefore Jones reluctantly requested the com- 
 mander to secure his batteries, open the barrier, 
 and allow the Alliance to get through the strait. The 
 French officers accordingly, in the absence of other 
 orders, stopped the preparations they had made to 
 detain the frigate, and expressed their admiration 
 for the magnanimity of Jones in allowing the Alli- 
 ance to go free. As soon as he received permission, 
 Landais warped the Alliance through the passage 
 between the rocks and anchored in Groix roads. 
 Safe out of harm's way, he had reached a position 
 from which he really could defy Jones and France at 
 last, and defy them he did, more boldly than ever. 
 
 It is impossible entirely to approve of Jones' 
 conduct in this complicated affair. He might have 
 gone on board the Alliance the day of the outbreak 
 and confronted Landais. His own personality was 
 so strong that it seems probable he could have re- 
 gained possession of the ship in despite of anything 
 the weak Landais could say or do. However, if 
 the spirit of the men had been so turned against him 
 that in his judgment this would have been imprac- 
 ticable, he certainly had the situation entirely in 
 his own hands when the Alliance lay under the guns 
 of the batteries. It was not necessary for the bat- 
 teries to open fire. If he had simply kept the pass 
 closed Landais would have been unable to get away, 
 and it is difficult to see how he could have avoided 
 surrendering himself and yielding up his ship 
 eventually. All that would have been necessary for 
 Jones to do would be to have patience ; that was a 
 thing, however, of which he had but little through-
 
 288 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 out his life. If he did not desire to wait, he could 
 have opened fire upon the ship, taking the risk of 
 a rupture, or allowing the blame, if any arose, to fall 
 upon those who had put him in command of the 
 Alliance originally, and had continued him therein. 
 I venture to surmise that the first broadside would 
 have brought down the flag of the Alliance. In this 
 action he would have been entirely within his rights. 
 If Jones really wanted her, he could have easily se- 
 cured possession of the ship. 
 
 Instead of doing any of these things, he let Lan- 
 dais and the Alliance go. For this he is distinctly 
 censurable. It is, perhaps, not difficult to see why 
 he permitted her to escape. I have no doubt he 
 loathed the officers and men upon her. He was 
 probably sick of the sight of her. He could con- 
 template with no satisfaction whatever a cruise upon 
 her, especially with Arthur Lee as a passenger, and 
 he was a gentleman whom it would have been diffi- 
 cult to dispose of. 
 
 There was, it has been surmised, still another 
 and more pertinent reason. The Serapis was still in 
 the harbor. She had just been purchased by the 
 king. Jones' desire for her was as strong as ever 
 stronger, if anything. Upward of five hundred tons 
 of public stores and munitions of war still remained 
 to be taken to America. The Ariel could not begin 
 to carry it all. His dream was to beg or borrow 
 the Serapis, which, in conjunction with the Ariel, 
 should transport the stores to the United States, and 
 then be refitted for warlike cruising under his com- 
 mand. If he retained the Alliance this hope would 
 vanish. When the Alliance was warped out of the
 
 THE ALLIANCE DEPARTS. 289 
 
 harbor he promptly wrote to Franklin suggesting 
 this plan. Meanwhile, he kept up a hot fire of orders 
 and letters upon Landais, who, being now out of 
 his power, treated his communications with silent 
 contempt. When Jones directed that his personal 
 baggage be sent off from the Alliance, Landais sent 
 it to him in disgraceful condition, trunks broken 
 open, papers scattered, and much of his private 
 property missing. 
 
 On the 28th he wrote to Landais ordering him 
 not to sail without his permission, and directing him 
 to send eighty of his best seamen riggers to assist 
 in equipping the Ariel. Landais sent him twenty- 
 two people, of whom he wished to be rid, with an 
 insolent note. When Jones wrote to him for the 
 balance of the men he had ordered, Landais would 
 not allow the officer carrying the order to come on 
 board. A few days after this he sailed for America, 
 with many of the men of the Bon Homme Rich- 
 ard, who still adhered to Jones, and who refused to 
 assist him in getting the ship under way, in irons in 
 the hold. 
 
 To close a troublesome subject, it may be stated 
 that the Alliance reached Boston in August. The 
 peculiar conduct of Landais on this cruise so 
 alarmed the officers and jeopardized the safety of 
 the ship, that by the advice of the meddlesome Lee 
 who was in this single instance justified in his 
 suggestions he was summarily deprived of the 
 command of the ship on the plea of insanity, and 
 kept closely confined till they reached Boston. No 
 one was more incensed against him than his whilom 
 upholder and defender, Lee. Landais was formally 
 
 20
 
 290 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 tried by court-martial when he arrived in the United 
 States and dismissed the service. He got off lightly. 
 He should have been hanged from the yardarm of 
 his own ship as an example and a warning to muti- 
 nous traitors.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE CRUISE OF THE ARIEL. 
 
 EARLY in the month of July Jones received the 
 sword which had been bestowed upon him by the 
 king. He commented enthusiastically upon its 
 beauty and its value, saying that it had cost twenty- 
 four hundred dollars a large sum for that day. 
 The month was passed in preparing the Ariel for de- 
 parture, and in a vigorous correspondence with 
 Franklin and his friends, feminine and otherwise. 
 On the 2d of August, in a note to the Prime Min- 
 ister, the Count de Vergennes, Jones informed him 
 that he was nearly ready to sail. The last of July 
 Franklin had sent him his final dispatches with the 
 Count de Vauban, who expected to sail with him, 
 but for unexplained reasons Jones did not take 
 his departure until the 4th of September, when the 
 Ariel was warped out to the open roads of Groix. 
 From the 4th of September to the 7th of October 
 he was detained, partly by contrary winds and partly 
 by a rumor, to which, perhaps, he should not have 
 given credence, that further dispatches were to be 
 sent to him. On the 7th of October, at two o'clock 
 in the afternoon, he weighed anchor and put to 
 sea, convoying three merchant ships. The wind, 
 
 291
 
 292 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 being from the north-north.west, blew fair for their 
 departure, and the weather was mild and pleasant. 
 
 The next morning the wind shifted and came in 
 violent squalls from the southward. The ship was 
 not yet clear of the land. The island of Groix lay 
 about fifteen miles to the northeastward, and, as the 
 weather became very thick and the wind increased 
 until it was blowing a tremendous gale, they soon 
 lost sight of the shore to the leeward. In spite of 
 their efforts, they were unable to make any headway 
 against the storm, and were accordingly carried 
 down toward the Penmarque Rocks, a series of 
 sharp, low reefs, jagged needles of the sea, terminat- 
 ing the southeastern extremity of the peninsula of 
 Brittany, among the most dangerous in the world. 
 The ship was in that position above all others 
 dreaded by the mariner drifting upon a lee shore 
 in a gale of wind. The Ariel had been put under 
 close-reefed fore and main sails, and her head laid to 
 the northwest in the hope that she might stretch 
 along and clear the reefs ; but the wind, increasing 
 to a perfect hurricane, in the language of Mackenzie, 
 " smothered " the ship, at last obliging Jonec to furl 
 the courses and prevented him from showing even 
 a storm staysail. 
 
 In the report of the officers it is stated that the 
 storm had become so violent that " the lee fore 
 yardarm was frequently under water ; the lee gang- 
 way was laid entirely under water, and the lee side 
 of the waist was full." The water in the hold flowed 
 into the cockpit, notwithstanding the utmost efforts 
 of the chain pumps. The ship was very heavy laden, 
 and lay deep in the water, dipping her yardarms with
 
 A TERRIFIC STORM. 
 
 293 
 
 every roll. As the tempest rose in violence it be- 
 came impossible to tell just where they were, as the 
 murky darkness of the s,torm hid every landmark. 
 It was evident, however, from an inspection of the 
 compass that they were still drifting toward the 
 shore. This fact was confirmed by the rapid shoal- 
 ing of the water, a fact Jones established by person- 
 ally taking successive casts with the hand lead. 
 There was no room to veer and get the ship headed 
 the other way. If there had been, the result would 
 probably have been no different. In the face of 
 such a storm she would have continued to drift to- 
 ward the reef. Their progress to leeward was fright- 
 fully rapid. The ship was leaking badly, and one 
 of the chain pumps had become choked and refused 
 to work. Destruction seemed inevitable. In all his 
 varied experiences Jones had seen nothing like the 
 storm. In his report he says that never before did 
 he fully conceive the awful majesty of a shipwreck. 
 In their distress, as a last resort, he determined to 
 anchor. 
 
 .A hasty consultation was had among the offi- 
 cers on the quarter-deck, and this desperate resort 
 was agreed upon. At eleven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing the best bower anchor w ? as let go with thirty 
 fathoms of cable. The effect was not perceptible. 
 The ship was not brought to, and continued to drift 
 broadside on toward the land in the trough of the 
 sea. She dragged her anchor as if it had been a 
 straw. Two other cables were spliced on and veered 
 out. Still she drove on. The pressure of the gale 
 upon the bare spars was tremendous. The wind 
 roared through the top-hamper with amazing ve-
 
 294 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 locity. The masts quivered and buckled under the 
 awful strain to which they were subjected; the 
 standing rigging to windward stood out as taut and 
 rigid as if it had been cut from bars of steel. As the 
 frigate lay in the trough of the sea the mighty 
 waves tossed her about like a cockboat. Broad 
 sheets of foam swept over the deck, washing away 
 everything not tightly secured. To relieve the pres- 
 sure and get the ship to ride to her anchor, Jones 
 now ordered the weather shrouds of the foremast 
 to be cut, and the wind instantly snapped off the 
 mast above the deck ; with all its weight of spars and 
 rigging it fell to leeward and carried away the other 
 bower anchor and a kedge anchor, and smashed 
 up the head badly. 
 
 This afforded some relief, for immediately after 
 the anchor took hold and the ship gradually swung 
 head to the wind at last. Her drift toward the rocks 
 was not entirely checked, but while they were 
 hesitating as to what to do next, the mainmast, the 
 heel of which had been jerked out of its step by the 
 violent motion of the ship, so that it had been vi- 
 brating to and fro like a smitten reed, parted just 
 where it entered the main deck. The wind hurled 
 the immense mass of timber and cordage aft, where 
 it fell across the decks, carrying with it the mizzen- 
 mast, smashing the lee quarter gallery, and gener- 
 ally wrecking the after part of the vessel. The ship 
 was thus stripped of her spars except the bowsprit, 
 and they could do no more. If she did not bring to 
 her anchor and cease her drag toward the rocks, 
 over which the breakers could now be seen crashing 
 w ? ith terrible force, and with a roar heard above the
 
 IN GOD'S HANDS. 
 
 295 
 
 mad noises of the tempest, they were lost. They 
 hastily cleared the wreck as they were able, letting it 
 drift to leeward, and waited with still hearts and 
 bated breaths for the next happening. No mere 
 seamanship, no human skill could save them now. 
 They were in God's hands. Since their other an- 
 chor had been lost by the fall of the foremast, if 
 their present anchor gave way they were helpless. 
 Fortunately the stripped ship, relieved of the tre- 
 mendous pressure of the wind upon her top-hamper, 
 at last rode to her anchor, and her drift on the rocks 
 was stopped. For the present they were saved. 
 They could do nothing now but wait and trust to 
 the strength of the iron fluke and the hempen 
 cable. Fortunately, both held. 
 
 For two days and three nights the Ariel swung 
 to that single anchor, and passively endured the tre- 
 mendous buffeting of wind and waves within a short 
 distance of the mighty reefs upon which, if she had 
 struck, every soul on board must have perished. 
 For the greater part of this time the motion of 
 the mastless ship was so violent that the most 
 experienced seaman could not keep his legs upon 
 the deck. On the I2th the gale had sufficiently 
 moderated to permit the crew to erect jury masts 
 under which they could regain the harbor. The 
 cable was hove short, but the anchor could not be 
 weighed, as it was probably caught upon a rock. 
 Indeed, nothing but a rock hold would have 
 saved them; so the cable was cut, and the bat- 
 tered Ariel limped back to L'Orient, which she 
 reached on the I3th of October. The gale was one 
 of the most severe with which that storm-bound
 
 296 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 coast had ever been visited within the memory 
 of man. The whole shore was strewed with 
 wrecks and the bodies of drowned men. The 
 merchant ships of the convoy were lost, with hun- 
 dreds of other vessels. That the Ariel, in the most 
 dangerous position which could possibly have been 
 imagined even, escaped without loss of life was due 
 to the Providence of God and the brilliant seaman- 
 ship of her captain. Long afterward Richard Daie 
 wrote thus of his commander's conduct in these 
 trying circumstances : 
 
 " Never saw I such coolness and readiness in 
 such frightful circumstances as Paul Jones showed 
 in the nights and days when we lay off the Pen- 
 marques, expecting every moment to be our last; 
 and the danger was greater even than we were in 
 when the Bon Homme Richard fought the Serapis." 
 
 Two months were required to put the Ariel in 
 shape for sea once more. All the arms which she 
 was carrying out for the use of the army had been 
 so damaged by water as to be useless. They were 
 left behind and their place supplied by other cargo. 
 During this interval, when not occupied in superin- 
 tending the repairs to the ship, Jones amused him- 
 self with his usual prolific correspondence. He had 
 also a spirited encounter with one Thomas Truxtun, 
 afterward the distinguished naval officer, at that 
 time master of a privateer called the Independence. 
 Truxtun entered the harbor of L'Orient flying a 
 pennant, the use of which was restricted by act of 
 Congress to regularly commissioned vessels of war, 
 except in the case of privateers cruising alone. A
 
 TRUXTUN RECEIVES A LESSON. 
 
 297 
 
 sharp correspondence was carried on between Jones 
 and Truxtun, who was a mere boy at the time. 
 Truxtun at first refused to haul down the offending 
 pennant, but was finally induced to do so by Richard 
 Dale and two heavily armed boats' crews from the 
 Ariel. Jones was not to be trifled with, and Trux- 
 tun received a good lesson in subordination and 
 obedience to law always of value to a privateer.* 
 
 While the Ariel was being refitted, Jones, with 
 his usual longing for a first-class ship of war a 
 thing he never enjoyed during the whole course of 
 his life through some influential friends made an 
 attempt to get the French Government to lend him 
 the new and handsome frigate Terpsichore, but his 
 request, as usual, was not complied with. Just be- 
 fore the Ariel sailed, Jones gave a grand entertain- 
 ment on board of her, to which he invited all his 
 friends, which closed with an exercise at general 
 quarters, followed by a representation of battle, 
 which greatly alarmed his fair visitors. 
 
 On the 1 8th of December he took his departure 
 once more. His last letters to Madame d'Ormoy 
 are very characteristic of Jones in his capacity as a 
 squire of dames, and well indicate his feelings at this 
 time: 
 
 " I can not leave France without expressing how 
 much I feel myself honoured and obliged by the 
 
 * Evidently Truxtun learned the lesson well, for in 
 the war with France he became one of the sternest and most 
 severe disciplinarians in the naval service, in spite of which 
 his crews adored him. See my books, Reuben James, A 
 Hero of the Forecastle ; and American Fights and Fighters.
 
 298 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 generous attention that you have shown to- my repu- 
 tation in your journal. I will ever have the most 
 ardent desire to merit the spontaneous praise of 
 beauty and her pen ; and it is impossible to be more 
 grateful than I am for the very polite attentions I 
 received at Paris and Versailles. My particular 
 thanks are due to you, madam, for the personal 
 proofs I have received of your esteem and friend- 
 ship, and for the happiness you procured me in the 
 society of the charming countess, and other ladies 
 and gentlemen of your circle. But I have a favour 
 to ask of you, madam, which I hope you will grant 
 me. You tell me in your letter that the inkstand I 
 had the honour to present to you, as a small token 
 of my esteem, shall be reserved for the purpose of 
 writing what concerns me ; now I wish you to see 
 my idea in a more expanded light, and would have 
 you make use of that inkstand to instruct mankind, 
 and support the dignity and rights of human 
 nature." 
 
 In another letter to the same lady he says : 
 
 " It is impossible to be more sensible than I 
 am of the obligation conferred on me by your 
 attentions and kind remembrance, joined to that 
 of the belle comtesse, your fair daughters, and 
 the amiable ladies and gentlemen of your soci- 
 ety. I have returned without laurels and, what 
 is worse, without having been able to render 
 service to the glorious cause of liberty. I know 
 not why Neptune was in such anger, unless he 
 thought it was an affront in me to repair on his 
 ocean with so insignificant a force. It is cer-
 
 A VAIN ATTEMPT. 
 
 2 99 
 
 tain that till the night of the 8th I did not fully 
 conceive the awful majesty of tempest and ship- 
 wreck. I can give you no just idea of the tremen- 
 dous scene that Nature then presented, which sur- 
 passed the reach even of poetic fancy and the pencil. 
 I believe no ship was ever before saved from an equal 
 danger off the point of the Penmarque rocks. I am 
 extremely sorry that the young English lady you 
 mention should have imbibed the national hatred 
 against me. I have had proofs that many of the first 
 and finest ladies of that nation are my friends. In- 
 deed, I can not imagine why any fair lady should be 
 my enemy, since, upon the large scale of universal 
 philanthropy, I feel, acknowledge, and bend before 
 the sovereign power of beauty. The English may 
 hate me, but / will force them to esteem me too." * 
 
 The voyage was uneventful. Jones chose the 
 southern passage, which was less frequented by 
 ships than the more direct route ; the value of his 
 cargo being so great and the force of his vessel so 
 small, he did not wish to run any risk of being cap- 
 tured on this cruise. When they had reached a 
 point about twelve hundred miles east of Florida 
 and nine hundred miles north of Barbadoes, in lati- 
 tude 26 N., longitude 60 W., they were chased 
 by a sail, which appeared to be a large frigate. 
 Jones, for the reasons mentioned, endeavored by 
 crowding sail on the Ariel to escape his reputa- 
 
 * That was beyond his power. They never did and to 
 this day do not "esteem" him other than a pirate. His 
 courage and ability are, however, alike unquestioned by 
 friends and foes.
 
 300 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 tion for courage and intrepidity was sufficiently high 
 to allow him to run away without any imputation 
 being warranted by this action but the stranger 
 had the heels of the Ariel, and gradually over- 
 hauled her. Night came on before she came 
 within range, and Jones hoped to run away from 
 her in the darkness ; but his efforts to elude his 
 pursuer were unavailing, and when day dawned 
 she was still close at hand. 
 
 The wind fell during the morning, and the 
 two ships maintained their relative positions all day. 
 Toward evening the breeze became stronger again, 
 and the stranger began to draw up on the Ariel. As 
 she came nearer, Jones discovered that she was not 
 so formidable a vessel as he had imagined, and he 
 determined to effect her capture. Making a great 
 show of endeavoring to escape, therefore, he cleared 
 ship for action, sent his men to quarters, and per- 
 mitted his pursuer to overhaul him. She ranged 
 alongside the lee beam just at nightfall. Both ships 
 were flying the English flag. Jones was ready for 
 action, the other ship was not. The quartermaster 
 of the Ariel, whose duty it was to hoist the flags, had 
 unfortunately allowed one end of the halliards to 
 escape him. Jones had intended, as the stranger 
 ranged alongside, to haul down the English flag 
 and substitute the American colors, then, crossing 
 the enemy's bows, pour in a broadside and capture 
 her by boarding; but this petty neglect, or trifling 
 accident, on the part of the quartermaster made it 
 impossible to haul down the flag at the appointed 
 time, so the opportunity was lost and the project 
 had to be given over. Vessels of war, when maneu-
 
 ACTION WITH THE TRIUMPH. 301 
 
 vering for position, frequently sail under strange 
 colors, but it is a point of honor, invariably observed, 
 which, so far as my knowledge goes, has not been 
 disregarded in civilized warfare if that phrase be 
 permissible to fight under one's own flag. 
 
 Having lost his opportunity from this unfortu- 
 nate mischance, Jones necessarily entered into a con- 
 versation with the other ship, while he made prep- 
 arations for further maneuvering. What is. known 
 in sea parlance as " a regular gam " ensued. The 
 conversation lasted for some time, during which he 
 discovered that their pursuer was the Triumph, an 
 American-built ship of twenty guns, Captain John 
 Pindar, an equal match for the Ariel. She was 
 a British privateer, though Jones and his men con- 
 sidered her a man-of-war. Pindar probably told 
 them so to increase his prestige. After learning all 
 that he could about English affairs in America from 
 the garrulous captain of the privateer, who must 
 have beemextraordinarily stupid, Jones directed him 
 to lower a boat and come on board with his com- 
 mission to prove that he was really an Englishman. 
 Pindar refused to do this, and Jones, watch in hand, 
 said he would allow him just five minutes for reflec- 
 tion as to the disastrous consequences of a refusal 
 to comply with this request. During this interval 
 the Englishman endeavored to clear ship for action, 
 his men not having gone to quarters before a 
 great piece of carelessness and neglect. 
 
 At the expiration of the appointed time, Pindar 
 still proving obdurate, Jones backed his ship on the 
 weather quarter of the Triumph, put his helm up, 
 crossed her stern, and poured in a broadside which
 
 3Q2 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 raked her at short range and naturally did much 
 execution. He then ranged alongside the lee beam 
 of the privateer, and for ten minutes poured in a 
 vigorous fire. The resistance of the enemy, at first 
 spirited, had grown more feeble, until at the end of 
 that time Pindar hauled down his flag and begged 
 for quarter, saying when he surrendered that half 
 his crew were killed or wounded. The Ariel's men 
 left their stations and gave three cheers, but the 
 erstwhile stupid Pindar proved to be a more wily 
 antagonist than they imagined. His ship had 
 gradually moved ahead of the Ariel during the con- 
 test, and now, suddenly putting up his helm and 
 throwing out his studding sails, he ran off dead be- 
 fore the wind, with all his killed and wounded. The 
 unsuspecting and astonished Americans on the Ariel 
 endeavored to follow the man who had so cleverly 
 eluded them, but their overloaded ship was no 
 match in sailing for the swift privateer, which soon 
 made good her escape in the night. 
 
 Jones was naturally much disgusted at the out- 
 come of this engagement, and in his journal he 
 properly comments upon Pindar's action as follows : 
 
 " The English captain may properly be called 
 a knave, because, after he surrendered his ship, 
 begged for and obtained quarter, he basely ran 
 away, contrary to the laws of naval war and the 
 practice of civilized nations." 
 
 Jones stated that he never had seen a ship bet- 
 ter fought by a crew than the Ariel had been in 
 this instance. However, the usual conspiracy to 
 rise and take the ship was discovered among the
 
 ARRIVAL AT PHILADELPHIA. 303 
 
 English members of the crew later on. It was 
 thwarted by his vigorous measures, and on the i/th 
 of February, 1781, the Ariel dropped anchor in the 
 harbor of Philadelphia, just three years, three 
 months, and sixteen days from the departure of the 
 Ranger at Portsmouth.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CAREER IN THE UNITED STATES TO THE CLOSE OF 
 THE WAR. 
 
 WHEN Jones arrived at Philadelphia, the Board 
 of Admiralty was engaged in investigating the delay 
 in bringing the stores from France. Franklin, 
 Jones, and Landais were under discussion. For his 
 share in the performance, and for other actions men- 
 tioned, Landais had already been punished, as we 
 have seen. Jones, therefore, was at once summoned 
 before the board, but before he reported to them 
 they dismissed the summons and instead requested 
 him to answer in writing an exhaustive series of 
 questions covering his actions from the time of his 
 arrival at L'Orient the year before. Jones immedi- 
 ately set about preparing his replies, meanwhile 
 sending Franklin's note and De Sartine's letter to 
 the President to Congress, which, on the 2/th of 
 February, adopted the following resolutions : 
 
 " Resolved, That the Congress entertain a high 
 sense of the distinguished bravery and military con- 
 duct of John Paul Jones, Esq., captain in the navy 
 of the United States, and particularly in his victory 
 over the British frigate Serapis on the coast of Eng- 
 land, which was attended with circumstances so 
 304
 
 THANKED BY CONGRESS. 305 
 
 brilliant as to excite general applause and admira- 
 tion. 
 
 " That the Minister Plenipotentiary of these 
 United States, at the Court of Versailles, communi- 
 cate to his Most Christian Majesty, the high satis- 
 faction Congress has received from the conduct and 
 gallant behaviour of Captain John Paul Jones, 
 which have merited the attention and approbation 
 of his Most Christian Majesty, and that his Majes- 
 ty's offer of adorning Captain Jones with a Cross 
 of Military Merit, is highly acceptable to Congress." 
 
 In accordance with the permission conveyed by 
 these flattering resolutions, the French Minister, M. 
 de la Luzerne, gave a splendid entertainment, to 
 which the members of Congress and the principal 
 citizens of Philadelphia were invited. Before this 
 distinguished company, in the name of the king, the 
 commodore, wearing his beautiful sword, was in- 
 vested with the cross of a Knight of the Order of 
 Military Merit. It is stated that Jones habitually 
 wore this decoration thereafter, and referred to him- 
 self, and desired to be addressed, by the title of 
 Chevalier, which was conferred with it. 
 
 On the 28th of March, having carefully consid- 
 ered his answers to the questions, the board de- 
 clared itself as fully satisfied that the delay had not 
 been owing to Jones or Franklin, and stated to Con- 
 gress in an enthusiastic document that the conduct 
 of Jones merited some distinguished mark of appro- 
 bation. In accordance with this recommendation, 
 on the 1 4th of April the following resolution was 
 passed :
 
 306 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 " That the thanks of the United States, in Con- 
 gress assembled, be given to Captain John Paul 
 Jones, for the zeal, prudence, and intrepidity with 
 which he hath supported the honour of the Ameri- 
 can flag ; for his bold and successful enterprises, to 
 redeem from captivity the citizens of these States, 
 who had fallen under the power of the enemy ; and, 
 in general, for the good conduct and eminent serv- 
 ices by which he has added lustre to his character 
 and to the American arms. 
 
 " That the thanks of the United States, in Con- 
 gress assembled, be also given to the officers and 
 men who have faithfully served under him from 
 time to time, for their steady affection to the cause 
 of their country, and the bravery and perseverance 
 they have manifested therein." 
 
 The thanks of Congress, the highest honor an 
 officer can receive, were given to but five other offi- 
 cers during the Revolution viz., to Washington, for 
 the capture of Boston ; to Gates, for taking Bur- 
 goyne ; to Wayne, for the storming of Stony Point ; 
 to Morgan, for the victory at the Cowpens ; and to 
 Greene, for his success at Eutaw Springs. Jones, 
 therefore, stood in distinguished company. 
 
 On the igih of May, to all of these honors was 
 added a further evidence of esteem, which was per- 
 haps as valuable as any that he had received. It 
 came in the shape of the following letter from 
 Washington : 
 
 " SIR : My partial acquaintance with either our 
 naval or commercial affairs makes it altogether im- 
 possible for me to account for the unfortunate delay
 
 WASHINGTON'S TRIBUTE. 307 
 
 of those articles of military stores and clothing 
 which have been so long provided in France. Had 
 I any particular reasons to have suspected you of 
 being accessory to that delay, which I assure you 
 has not been the case, my suspicions would have 
 been removed by the very full and satisfactory an- 
 swers, which you have, to the best of my judgment, 
 made to the questions proposed to you by the Board 
 of Admiralty, and upon which that board have, in 
 their report to Congress, testified the high sense 
 which they entertain of your merit and services. 
 
 " Whether our naval affairs have, in general, 
 been well or ill conducted it would be presumptuous 
 for me to determine. Instances of bravery and good 
 conduct in several of our officers have not, however, 
 been wanting. Delicacy forbids me to mention 
 that particular one which has attracted the admira- 
 tion of all the world, and which has influenced a 
 most illustrious monarch to confer a mark of his 
 favour which can only be obtained by a long and 
 honourable service, or by the performance of some 
 brilliant action. 
 
 " That you may long enjoy the reputation you 
 have so justly acquired is the sincere wish of, Sir, 
 your most obedient and very humble servant, 
 " GEORGE WASHINGTON." 
 
 An attempt was made in Congress to promote 
 him to the grade of rear admiral which he certainly 
 deserved and a resolution to that effect was intro- 
 duced. Owing, however, to jealousy among certain 
 other officers whom he would have superseded, the 
 effort fell through. This would have settled the
 
 308 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 long and tiresome contention on the question of 
 relative rank, and naturally would have been most 
 agreeable to Jones. However, the matter was set- 
 tled in a more indirect but perhaps equally satisfac- 
 tory way. 
 
 On the 23d of June, Robert Morris became Min- 
 ister of Marine in succession to the Board of Ad- 
 miralty, which was abolished, arid on that same day 
 Congress resolved to take a ballot three days later 
 to designate the commander of the America, a mag- 
 nificent ship of the line, building at Portsmouth, 
 which was then believed to be nearly ready for 
 launching. On the 26th of June, the ballot being 
 taken, it was found that Paul Jones had been unani- 
 mously chosen for the position. Since the act of 
 Congress on the I5th of November, 1776, made a 
 captain of a ship of from twenty to forty guns equal 
 to a lieutenant colonel, while a captain of a ship of 
 forty guns and upward was made equal to a colonel, 
 and as he was the only officer intrusted with so large 
 a command, Jones was thus in effect placed at the 
 head of the navy list. He certainly belonged there. 
 With his usual good sense he notes in his journal 
 his satisfaction, as follows : 
 
 " Thus Congress took a delicate method to avoid 
 cabal and to do justice. It was more agreeable 
 to Captain Jones to be so honourably elected cap- 
 tain of the line than to have been, as was pro- 
 posed by the committee, raised at once to the 
 rank of rear admiral, because Congress had not 
 then the means of giving a command suitable to 
 that rank."
 
 COMMANDS THE AMERICA. 
 
 309 
 
 By direction of Robert Morris, at this time he 
 presented his accounts to Congress. He had re- 
 ceived no pay and but little prize money since his 
 entry into the service, and, as has been stated, had 
 advanced large sums of money from his private 
 funds for the payment of officers and crew. The 
 Government indebtedness to him amounted to some 
 twenty-seven thousand dollars, but no money was 
 forthcoming, consequently on the 28th of July he 
 was actually compelled to ask for an advance of four 
 hundred pounds to pay current expenses and small 
 debts in Philadelphia, and enable him to proceed to 
 New Hampshire and enter upon his duties. This he 
 appears to have received. He stopped en route at 
 New Rochelle, where he was handsomely enter- 
 tained by Washington and de Rochambeau, both 
 of whom he had great pleasure in meeting. As he 
 received a hint at the army headquarters that his 
 decoration and title might be obnoxious to the 
 sturdy New Englanders, he thereafter discontinued 
 wearing the cross for a space. He reached Ports- 
 mouth toward the last of August, and found that 
 the America was still on the ways and would not be 
 ready to put to sea for months. This was a great 
 disappointment to him, but he set to work with his 
 usual zeal to further the work of getting the ship 
 ready for launching. 
 
 During his wanderings he had collected a most 
 valuable professional library, and he now found lei- 
 sure to devote a good part of his time to study, some 
 of the results of which appeared in the improve- 
 ments which he carried out on the America. As 
 usual, he also resumed his correspondence. In his
 
 310 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 letters of this period are many excellent suggestions 
 looking to the welfare and future development of 
 the naval service. Many of these suggestions were 
 subsequently adopted in the service. The following 
 letter, dated August 12, 1782, which he received 
 from John Adams, then minister at The Hague, is 
 pleasant reading: 
 
 " The command of the America could not have 
 been more judiciously bestowed; and it is with im- 
 patience that I wish her at sea, where she will do 
 honour to her name. Nothing gives me so much 
 surprise, or so much regret, as the inattention of my 
 countrymen to their navy ; it is a bulwark as essen- 
 tial to us as it is to Great Britain.* It is less costly 
 than armies, and more easily removed from one end 
 of the United States to the other. 
 
 " Rodney's victory has intoxicated Britain again 
 to such a degree that I think there will be no peace 
 for some time. Indeed, if I could see a prospect 
 of half a dozen line of battle ships under the Ameri- 
 can flag, commanded by Commodore John Paul 
 Jones, engaged with an equal British force, I appre- 
 hend the event would be so glorious for the United 
 States, arid ay, so sure a foundation for their pros- 
 perity, that it would be a rich compensation for a 
 continuance of the war." 
 
 When Jones heard of the movement which re- 
 sulted in the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, 
 he had expressed a desire to serve as a volunteer 
 
 * The remarks of John Adams as to the need of a great 
 navy are even more apposite now than they were then.
 
 LETTER FROM LAFAYETTE. 311 
 
 in the army for the campaign under Lafayette. He 
 pined for action always. On this subject he received 
 the following affectionate letter from that gallant 
 Frenchman : 
 
 " December 22, 1781. 
 
 " I have been honoured with your polite favour, 
 my dear Paul Jones, but before it reached me I was 
 already on board the Alliance, and every minute ex- 
 pecting to put to sea. It would have afforded me 
 great satisfaction to pay my respects to the inhab- 
 itants of Portsmouth, and the State in which you 
 are for the present. As to the pleasure to take you 
 by the hand, my dear Paul Jones, you know my af- 
 fectionate sentiments, and my very great regard for 
 you, so that I need not add anything on that subject. 
 
 " Accept of my best thanks for the kind expres- 
 sions in your letter. His Lordship's [Lord Corn- 
 wallis] downfall is a great event, and the greater 
 as it was equally and amicably shared by the two 
 allied nations. Your coming to the army I had the 
 honour to command would have been considered as 
 a very flattering compliment to one who loves you 
 and knows your worth. I am impatient to hear that 
 you are ready to sail, and I am of opinion that we 
 ought to unite under you every Continental ship 
 we can muster, with such a body of well-appointed 
 marines [troupes de mer] as might cut a good figure 
 ashore, and then give you plenty of provisions and 
 carte blanche." 
 
 It would appear from the letters that both 
 Adams and Lafayette held a similar opinion of the 
 capacity of the great commodore,
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 On the occasion of the rejoicings at Portsmouth 
 over the surrender of Cormvallis he ventured to 
 assume his cross of knighthood again, and, finding 
 that no objections were made, he continued to wear 
 it on all occasions, and he also resumed the title 
 of Chevalier. The fall, the winter, and the follow- 
 ing summer passed quietly and pleasantly for the 
 little captain, busily engaged in writing, waiting, 
 working, planning, and drawing. On the whole I 
 think this must have been, after Paris, the happiest 
 period of his life. He made many friends, and was 
 much looked up to by the people of Portsmouth and 
 vicinity. There was a spice of excitement about his 
 work as well, which relieved the monotony, for the 
 enemy conceived various projects to destroy the 
 America, which could not be put in operation owing 
 to the vigorous watchfulness of Jones, who armed 
 and drilled and exercised his workmen for guarding 
 the ship. The birth of the French Dauphin was 
 celebrated elaborately in the summer of 1782. 
 
 Toward the last of August the ship w r as about 
 ready for launching, and Jones cherished high 
 hopes of soon getting to sea in her. Unfortunately, 
 however, a squadron of French ships of the line, 
 under the Marquis de Vaudreuil, entered the harbor 
 of Boston at this time, and one of them, named the 
 Magnifique, was stranded on a rock and lost. Con T 
 gress. by a resolution dated the 3d of September, 
 presented the America to the French king as a rec- 
 ompense for the loss of the Magnifique, and on the 
 4th of September Morris sadly acquainted Jones 
 with the decision. To be compelled to turn over the 
 great ship, in which he had hoped to do such bril-
 
 THE INDIEN AGAIN. 
 
 313 
 
 liant service, to the French was a tremendous disap- 
 pointment to the commodore, but he wrote in so 
 noble and magnanimous a manner to Morris on the 
 subject that the latter at once said to him that the 
 sentiments which he had expressed would always re- 
 flect the highest honor upon his character. In fact, 
 Jones' words made so strong an impression upon 
 the mind of Morris that he immediately submitted 
 his letter to Congress. 
 
 The America was launched on the 5th of No- 
 vember. The operation of getting her into the 
 water was a difficult one on account of the peculiar 
 lay of the land opposite the ways, but Jones accom- 
 plished it with his usual skill and address. When 
 the ship was safely moored he turned her over to 
 the Chevalier de Martigne, the former captain of 
 the Magnifique, and on the next day he started for 
 Philadelphia. The America was reputed to be one 
 of the most beautiful and effective ships afloat. 
 
 Morris, who was a great admirer and an old 
 friend of Jones, now desired to place him in com- 
 mand of that vessel which had been the object of his 
 desire for so many years, the frigate Indien, which, 
 by a queer combination of circumstances, had 
 finally been brought to Philadelphia. The King of 
 France, having no use for the ship, had lent her 
 to the Chevalier de Luxembourg, who had entered 
 into a business arrangement with a certain sea cap- 
 tain named Gillon, who was employed by the State 
 of South Carolina to command a small naval force 
 which had been equipped for the protection of her 
 coasts, Gillon assuming the title of commodore. 
 
 The Indien, now called the South Carolina, had
 
 314 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 been a rather fortunate cruiser. Gillon had captured 
 a number of merchantmen, and had joined in an- 
 other successful expedition to New Providence. 
 He had then proceeded to Philadelphia. As he was 
 indebted to the United States for advances of large 
 sums of money, and as he had made no accounting 
 to the Chevalier de Luxembourg for his share of 
 the prizes, it was thought by Robert Morris and 
 Luzerne, the French Minister, who represented 
 Luxembourg, that if they could get control of this 
 frigate, by placing it under Jones' command with 
 other ships, they could create a formidable force to 
 cruise against the enemy. 
 
 But Gillon contrived to evade the legal process 
 by which the claimants sought to insure the pay- 
 ment of their dues, and, in spite of the efforts made 
 to detain him, he succeeded in carrying the Indien 
 to sea, where she was promptly captured just as she 
 cleared the capes of the Delaware by the Diomede, 
 the Astrea, and the Quebec, three English frigates 
 stationed particularly to intercept her. 
 
 Disappointed again in his hope of getting a com- 
 mand by these untoward circumstances, Jones re- 
 quested permission to embark as a volunteer in the 
 squadron of De Vaudreuil, which was destined to 
 take part in a proposed grand expedition to France 
 and Spain against Jamaica. Morris forwarded Jones' 
 request to Congress with a strong recommendation, 
 and that body at once passed the following resolu- 
 tions : 
 
 " Resolved, That the agent of marine be informed 
 that Congress, having a high sense of the merit and
 
 REJOICING IN PEACE. ^5 
 
 services of Captain J. P. Jones, and being disposed 
 to favor the zeal manifested by him to acquire im- 
 provement in the line of his profession, do grant 
 the permission which he requests, and that the said 
 agent be instructed to recommend him accordingly 
 to the countenance of his Excellency, the Marquis 
 de Vaudreuil." 
 
 Admiral de Vaudreuil was graciously pleased to 
 receive the chevalier on his flagship, the Triom- 
 phante, where he treated him with the highest 
 consideration, even sharing his cabin with him. 
 The expedition came to nothing, and though 
 Jones probably enjoyed ample opportunity for ob- 
 serving the handling of the fleet, he saw no actual 
 service, to his great disappointment ; instead of 
 which he became seriously ill with intermittent 
 fever. At Porto Cabello, on the 4th of April, 1783, 
 he received the news of the signing of the treaty of 
 peace, and this stern warrior, who was supposed to 
 live only for fighting, thus expressed himself con- 
 cerning the subject : 
 
 " The most brilliant success, and the most in- 
 structive experience in war, could not have given 
 me a pleasure comparable with that which I re- 
 ceived when I learned that Great Britain had, after 
 so long a contest, been forced to acknowledge the 
 independence and sovereignty of the United States 
 of America." 
 
 Jones shortly thereafter left the French fleet and 
 returned to Philadelphia, where he arrived on the 
 1 8th of May, 1783. He was still very ill. He car-
 
 316 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ried with him the two following letters to the 
 French Minister from de Vaudreuil and the Baron 
 de Viomenil, who commanded the land forces on 
 board the fleet. 
 
 From the Marquis de Vaudreuil : 
 
 " M. Paul Jones, who embarked with me, re- 
 turns to his beloved country. I was very glad to 
 have him. His well-deserved reputation caused me 
 to accept his company with much pleasure, and I 
 had no doubt that we should meet with some occa- 
 sions in which his talents might be displayed. But 
 peace, for which I can not but rejoice, interposes an 
 obstacle which renders our separation necessary. 
 Permit me, sir, to pray you to recommend him to 
 his chiefs. The particular acquaintance I have 
 formed with him since he has been on board the 
 Triomphante makes me take a lively interest in his 
 fortunes, and I shall feel much obliged if you find 
 means of doing him services." 
 
 From the Baron de Viomenil : 
 
 " M. Paul Jones, who will have the honour of 
 delivering to you, sir, this letter, has for five months 
 deported himself among us with such wisdom and 
 modesty as add infinitely to the reputation gained 
 by his courage and exploits. I have. reason to be- 
 lieve that he has preserved as much the feeling of 
 gratitude and attachment toward France as of pa- 
 triotism and devotion to the cause of America. 
 Such being his titles to attention, I take the liberty 
 of recommending to you his interests, near the 
 President and Congress."
 
 VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 317 
 
 lie was in some doubt as to his future career, 
 but for the present the state of his health rendered 
 it necessary for him to abstain from active duty. 
 As a matter of fact, there was practically no Ameri- 
 can navy in existence at the close of the war, and 
 no duty for him to undertake. The commodore's 
 constitution was much shattered, and the wasting 
 fever still clung to him. He removed, therefore, 
 by the advice of his physician, to the village of 
 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he passed the sum- 
 mer in rest and retirement, and his health gradually 
 improved under the careful treatment he received. 
 He seems to have had in mind the project of set- 
 tling down and forming an establishment some- 
 where, and marrying " some fair daughter of lib- 
 erty," and he wrote to some friends in regard to an 
 estate he desired to purchase near Newark, New 
 Jersey. However, the design fell through, mainly 
 because he was unable to realize upon his resources, 
 as his expense account had not been paid by Con- 
 gress, and no prize money was yet forthcoming. 
 While awaiting the complete restoration of his 
 health he prepared several .plans for organizing a 
 navy for the new country, all of which are distin- 
 guished by his usual insight and skill. Many of the 
 plans, including the germ of a proposed naval 
 academy in the shape of a schoolship filled with 
 cadets, were adopted with profit to the naval serv- 
 ice and the country in after years. But the new na- 
 tion was too poor and the central government too 
 weak at that time to accept any of these suggestions. 
 Finally, by an act of Congress, dated November I, 
 1783, in accordance with the report of a committee
 
 318 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 of which Mr. Arthur Lee was a member sin- 
 gular revolution of time which put him in the posi- 
 tion of upholding Jones ! he was appointed a spe- 
 cial commissioner to solicit and receive the money 
 due from France for the prizes taken by the Bon 
 Homme Richard and his squadron. He was, of 
 course, to act under the direction of the American 
 Minister, Franklin, and was required to give bond 
 to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars for 
 the faithful performance of his duty. It is an evi- 
 dence of his high reputation for probity and honor 
 that he found no difficulty in securing signers to his 
 bond.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PRIZE AGENT IN FRANCE AND DENMARK LAST 
 
 VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES A BLOT ON THE 
 ESCUTCHEON FAMOUS PASSAGE OF THE BALTIC. 
 
 ON the loth of November Jones sailed from 
 Philadelphia to Havre in the packet Washington. 
 Being detained by contrary winds, however, he put 
 into Plymouth on the 3Oth of November, his first 
 visit to England, save as an enemy, for many years. 
 He there left the ship and went to London for a con- 
 ference with Adams, the minister, who informed him 
 that his dispatches for Franklin probably contained 
 instructions for concluding the commercial treaty 
 with England, and advised him to hasten. He there- 
 fore repaired immediately to Paris, where he arrived 
 on the 4th of December. He was most kindly re- 
 ceived by the Marechal de Castries, the new Min- 
 ister of Marine, and by the king and queen. So- 
 ciety, too, welcomed him with open arms. He im- 
 mediately set about the task which had been allotted 
 to him, with his characteristic energy. For a year 
 and a half he successfully combated the various 
 efforts of the French Government to make deduc- 
 tions from the amount realized from the sale of the 
 prizes on one pretext or another, and on the 23d of 
 
 319
 
 320 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 October, 1784, de Castries at last approved of the 
 account. 
 
 There were further delays, as usual, and the mat- 
 ter dragged until January, 1785, when he wrote to 
 de Castries as follows : 
 
 " From the great number of affairs more impor- 
 tant that engage your attention, I presume this, little 
 matter which concerns me, in a small degree per- 
 sonally, but chiefly as the agent of the brave men 
 who served under my orders in Europe, may have 
 escaped your memory. My long silence is a proof 
 that nothing but necessity could have prevailed on 
 me to take the liberty of reminding your Excellency 
 of your promise." 
 
 As usual, his persistence at last received its re- 
 ward in the shape of an order on the Royal Auditor 
 at L'Orient for the money. He set out for L'Orient 
 in July, and there stirred up a further nest of 
 troubles, which, however, he managed to triumph 
 over by the display of his usual qualities, and at the 
 end of September, 1785, the account, amounting to 
 one hundred and eighty-one thousand livres, etc., 
 was paid to him.* He charged no commission for 
 collecting this money, but his expenses for the 
 period of his sojourn in France were placed at the 
 large sum of forty-eight thousand livres; to this 
 was added thirteen thousand livres as his share of 
 the prize money, making a total of sixty-one thou- 
 sand livres, which he appropriated to himself. After 
 
 * Nearly $40,000, equivalent in that day to much more 
 than at present.
 
 TftE PRIZE MONEY IS PAID. 
 
 321 
 
 paying certain persons then living in France who 
 were entitled to share in the prize money, he turned 
 over to Thomas Jefferson, who had succeeded 
 Franklin, the sum of one hundred and twelve thou- 
 sand livres, to be returned to the United States 
 for the use of the officers and men entitled to par- 
 ticipate in the distribution. 
 
 The charges that he made for his personal ex- 
 penses were certainly very large, but there is not 
 the slightest reason to infer, as has been insinuated, 
 that "he falsified the account every reason to think 
 the contrary, in fact. I have no doubt that he actu- 
 ally spent all that he claimed to have done prob- 
 ably more, for he was as apt to spend as he was to 
 fight but the amount is greatly in excess of what 
 should have been properly expended, or at least 
 charged against the total for legitimate living ex- 
 penses. As I have stated, however, he was su- 
 premely indifferent to money, his own or other 
 people's, and it passed easily through his hands; 
 although, so far as is known, he avoided debts 
 and promptly paid his bills. He had great ideas 
 as to the exalted nature of his position and the 
 dignity of the country he represented, and he 
 did not stint himself in anything. It was an 
 expensive court, and he ruffled it royally with 
 the best. He moved as an equal in an extrava- 
 gant and gay society, and he allowed no considera- 
 tions as to economy to restrain him from standing 
 among the freest and highest. We need not cen- 
 sure him too severely in the premises, for the ac- 
 count was afterward investigated by Congress and 
 his expenditures approved. 
 
 22
 
 322 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 During his long stay jn France the fertile mind 
 of the chevalier was busied with various projects to 
 advance his fortunes, among which was a design 
 which he conceived in conjunction with the famous 
 navigator and explorer Ledyard, who had gone 
 around the world with the more famous Captain 
 Cook. The two men proposed to engage in the 
 fur trade in the then comparatively unexplored 
 and unknown waters of the Pacific Ocean. The 
 affair assumed a considerable state of forwardness, 
 but was finally dropped on account of lack of 
 necessary funds, the expenses proving much 
 greater than either of the projectors had imagined 
 they would be. In view of the vast fortunes 
 which have been made subsequently in pursuance 
 of this very idea, the conception throws an in- 
 teresting light upon the keen business quality of 
 the commodore's mind.* As a light relaxation he 
 had his bust made by the celebrated sculptor Hou- 
 don, copies of which he presented, with wide gener- 
 osity, to a number of his friends. The bust was 
 made at the instance of the French Masonic lodge 
 of Three Sisters, of which he was an honored 
 member. 
 
 Early in 1787, upon the advice of Jefferson, he 
 determined to repair to Denmark to see what he 
 could do to further the payment of the claim for 
 indemnity, amounting to forty thousand pounds, 
 caused by the delivery of the prizes of his famous 
 squadron to the English at Bergen. He had 
 
 * Quite what might have been expected from a "canny 
 Scot." But it must not be forgotten that the chevalier had 
 been a trader before he became a fighter.
 
 RETURNS TO THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 323 
 
 reached Brussels on his journey to Copenhagen 
 when he decided to return to America for two 
 reasons: In the first place, Jefferson had no author- 
 ity to approve the account of the commodore in 
 the matter of prize money recently received from 
 France. He had simply acted as a medium of trans- 
 mittal of the balance handed him to the United 
 States. The Treasury Board of Audit, to which the 
 account and the accompanying balance had been 
 submitted, strongly disapproved of the large item 
 covering personal expenses, and Jones, when he 
 heard their views, felt it incumbent upon him to 
 return to America immediately to insure the ac- 
 ceptance of his statement and the adjustment of 
 the account. In the second place, another mo- 
 tive for his return was on account of lack of funds. 
 He had expected to receive at Brussels remittances 
 from some investments in bank stock in the United 
 States to enable him to proceed to Copenhagen, 
 but they were not forthcoming. It would appear 
 that he had spent all of his prize money, etc., which 
 indicates his careless extravagance in monetary 
 matters.* Accordingly, he abandoned his Danish 
 trip for the time, and returned to the United States 
 in the spring of 1787. 
 
 His explanations of his personal expenditures, 
 while they may not have convinced the auditors, 
 were apparently satisfactory to Congress, to which 
 the matter had been referred, for his accounts were 
 soon approved, and Congress did him a singular 
 honor in passing the following resolutions, which 
 
 * Very unlike a "canny Scot" in this instance.
 
 324 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 certainly could never have been adopted if there 
 had been in the minds of any of the members the 
 least cloud upon his financial reputation : 
 
 " Resolved, That a medal of gold be struck, and 
 presented to the Chevalier Paul Jones in commem- 
 oration of the valor and brilliant service of that 
 officer in the command of a squadron of American 
 and French ships under the flag and commission of 
 the United States, off the coast of Great Britain, in 
 the late war; and that the Honourable Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States 
 at the court of Versailles, have the same executed 
 with the proper devices." 
 
 The fact that eight years had elapsed since the' 
 event commemorated shows that this action of Con- 
 gress was not the result of any sudden enthusiasm, 
 but was deliberate and. therefore more valuable. 
 In addition to this unique tribute to his worth 
 and services, the same august body addressed the 
 following personal letter to the king, Louis XVI : 
 
 " Great and beloved Friend : We, the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, in consideration 
 of the distinguished mark of approbation with 
 which your Majesty has been pleased to honour the 
 Chevalier John Paul Jones, as well as from a sense 
 of his merit, have unanimously directed a medal of 
 gold to be struck and presented to him, in com- 
 memoration of his valour and brilliant services 
 while commanding a squadron of French and 
 American ships, under our flag and commission, 
 off the coast of Great Britain in the late war.
 
 LETTER TO THE KING. 
 
 325 
 
 " As it is his earnest desire to acquire knowledge 
 in his profession, we cannot forbear requesting your 
 Majesty to permit him to embark in your fleets of 
 evolution, where only it will be probably in his 
 power to acquire that knowledge, which may here- 
 after render him most extensively useful. 
 
 " Permit us to repeat to your Majesty our sin- 
 cere assurances that the various and important 
 benefits for which we are indebted to your friend- 
 ship will never cease to interest us in whatever may 
 concern the happiness of your Majesty, your family, 
 and people. We pray God to keep you, our great 
 and beloved friend, under his holy protection. 
 
 " Done at the City of New York, the sixteenth 
 day of October, in the year of our Lord 1787, and 
 of our sovereignty and independence the twelfth." 
 
 This \vas presumably a reply to the official 
 communication of De Sartine which has been cited 
 before. So far as I know, Jones remains to this day 
 the only officer so commended. Before this action 
 of Congress he had written the following letter to 
 Jay, the Secretary of State, which may have sug- 
 gested the official letter to the French king: 
 
 "... My private business here being already 
 finished, I shall in a few days re-embark for Europe, 
 in order to proceed to the court of Denmark. It is 
 my intention to go by the way of Paris, in order 
 to obtain a letter to the French Minister at Copen- 
 hagen, from the Count de Montmorin, as the one I 
 obtained is from the Count de Vergennes. It would 
 be highly flattering to me if I could carry a letter 
 with me from Congress to his most Christian Ma-
 
 326 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 jesty, thanking him for the squadron he did us the 
 honour to support under our flag. And on this oc- 
 casion, sir, permit me, with becoming diffidence, to 
 recall the attention of my sovereign to the letter of 
 recommendation I brought with me from the court 
 of France dated 3Oth of May, 1780. It would be 
 pleasing to me if that letter should be found to merit 
 a place on the journals of Congress. Permit me also 
 to entreat that Congress will be pleased to read the 
 letter I received from the Minister of Marine, when 
 his Majesty deigned to bestow on me a golden- 
 hilted sword, emblematical of the happy alliance, an 
 honour which his Majesty never conferred on any 
 other foreign officer. . . . 
 
 '* It is certain that I am much flattered by re- 
 ceiving a gold sword from the most illustrious mon- 
 arch now living; but I had refused to accept his 
 commission on two occasions before that time, 
 when some firmness was necessary to resist the 
 temptation ; he was not my sovereign. I served the 
 cause of freedom, and honours from my sovereign 
 would be more pleasing. Since the year 1775, when 
 I displayed the American flag for the first time with 
 my own hands, I have been constantly devoted to 
 the interests of America. Foreigners have, perhaps, 
 given me too much credit, and this may have raised 
 my ideas of my services above their real value ; but 
 my zeal can never be overrated. 
 
 " I should act inconsistently if I omitted to men- 
 tion the dreadful situation of our unhappy fellow citi- 
 zens in slavery at Algiers. Their almost hopeless 
 fate is a deep reflection on our national character in 
 Europe. I beg leave to influence the humanity of
 
 THE PRISONERS IN ALGIERS. 
 
 327 
 
 Congress in their behalf, and to propose that some 
 expedient may be adopted for their redemption. A 
 fund might be raised for that purpose by a duty of a 
 shilling per month from seamen's wages throughout 
 the continent, and I am persuaded that no difficulty 
 would be made to that requisition." 
 
 This is the first mention of a matter which had 
 recently come to his notice, and ever after engaged 
 his attention the dreadful situation of the Ameri- 
 cans held captive in the Barbary States. The first 
 public agitation for the amelioration of their unfor- 
 tunate condition came from him, and the glorious 
 little struggle by which the United States, a few 
 years after his death, broke the power of these 
 pirates, and alone among the nations of the world 
 made them respect a national flag, had its origin 
 in the love and sympathy of Paul Jones for the 
 prisoner wherever he might be a significant fact 
 generally forgotten. 
 
 On the 25th of October Congress passed some 
 strong resolutions on the subject of the failure of 
 Denmark to pay the claim referred to above, and 
 instructed Jefferson to dispatch the Chevalier Paul 
 Jones to prosecute the claim at the Danish court, 
 stating, however, that no final settlement or adjust- 
 ment must be made without the approval of the 
 minister. There was a decided difference between 
 the two commissions with which Congress honored 
 Jones. 
 
 In the first instance, in France, he was simply 
 to obtain what had been actually received by the 
 French Government from the sale of certain prizes ;
 
 328 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the amount in question was not in negotiation save 
 for some allowances or deductions which did not 
 greatly affect the total one way or the other. In 
 other words, he was simply to collect, if he could, a 
 just and admitted debt, and, after deducting ex- 
 penses, divide it in accordance with a certain recog- 
 nized principle so far as his own share, or the share 
 of any one in Europe, was concerned, and remit the 
 balance to Congress for action. In the second in- 
 stance, he was charged with the more delicate and 
 responsible work of pressing a claim for heavy dam- 
 ages based on the estimated value of prizes which 
 the Danish Government had illegally returned to 
 their original owners, the whole transaction on 
 their part constituting an unfriendly and unlawful 
 act, which could easily be magnified into a casus 
 belli. In the first case he was to collect a bill for 
 forty thousand dollars ; in the second, to secure an 
 admittance of obligation, establish the justice of a 
 claim for five times the first amount, and force a 
 payment. The second commission was the more 
 honorable because the more responsible, and is an- 
 other proof of the continued and, in fact, increased 
 confidence in him which was felt by Congress. 
 
 The propriety, therefore, of associating him with 
 Thomas Jefferson, by requiring the approval of the 
 latter to any final settlements, can not be questioned. 
 It can not be considered in any sense as a reflection 
 upon Jones. It was the usual and common practice 
 under such important circumstances to associate 
 several negotiators to conduct the affair. The ac- 
 tion was unfortunate, however, as it was made a pre- 
 text by the Danish Government for delaying the
 
 CAPTAIN LANDAIS AGAIN. 
 
 329 
 
 settlement. They had already compromised their 
 contention of the legality of their action in giving 
 up the ships by offering to settle with Franklin for 
 ten thousand pounds, which offer had been re- 
 fused. 
 
 One other incident of his stay in his country 
 the last visit he was destined to pay to it, by the 
 way brings upon the scene for the last time one of 
 the principal actors in the drama of Jones' life. 
 During his stay in New York, in the month of 
 October, he was conversing with a friend while 
 standing on Water Street, when Captain Landais, 
 who had made his home in Brooklyn since his dis- 
 missal from the navy, approached them. Jones' 
 back was turned, and when Mr. Milligan, his friend, 
 told him of the advent of the Frenchman, he con- 
 tinued his conversation without turning around. 
 Landais approached slowly, wearing a vindictive 
 smile. When a few yards away from the two gentle- 
 men, he halted, spat upon the pavement, remarked, 
 " I spit in his face," and passed on. Mr. Milligan 
 asked Jones if he had heard Landais' remark, and 
 he replied that he had not. Nothing further was 
 said about the incident at that time. Landais, how- 
 ever, circulated reports of the meeting derogatory 
 to Jones' character, and in reply the chevalier pub- 
 lished a statement of the occurrence signed by Mr. 
 Milligan, and added that his respect for the public 
 had induced him to establish the falsity of Landais' 
 report by the testimony of the only witness present ; 
 he also stated that he should not condescend to take 
 notice of anything further which might be said or 
 done by his antagonist. From this circumstance
 
 330 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 arose the rumor that he. had been publicly in- 
 sulted caned, in fact without resenting it ! * 
 
 * After his dismissal Landais resided in Brooklyn, where 
 he lived in very straitened circumstances on a small annu- 
 ity, the income upon an advance of four thousand dollars 
 from Congress on account of arrears of prize money due 
 him, which amount was to be deducted from his share of 
 whatever was recovered from Denmark. His income was 
 about two hundred dollars a year, but by strict economy it 
 sufficed him. He is reputed to have cherished a high feeling 
 of independence, and would never consent to receive a gift 
 he was unable to return. Toward the close of his life he 
 was a constant petitioner for five thousand dollars with 
 interest, which he conceived to be still due him on account 
 of the Danish claim. Every other year he contrived to visit 
 the seat of government to plead his cause in person. On 
 one occasion,' having heard that a member of Congress had 
 spoken slightingly of him, he put on his faded Continental 
 uniform, buckled on his small sword, repaired to the gal- 
 lery of the House of Representatives, and expressed his 
 readiness to meet any gentleman who wished for an honorable 
 satisfaction. His quaint figure, so attired, was often seen on 
 the streets of New York. He used to carry his hat in his hand 
 for hours in the street, ou{ of respect to his lawful monarch, 
 executed by the rebels of France ! He never ceased to affirm 
 that he, and not Paul Jones, had captured the Serapis. He 
 died in 1818 at the age of eighty-seven years, and was buried 
 in St. Patrick's Cathedral churchyard. He had probably 
 returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which he is said to 
 have abjured on his entry into the American service. One of 
 his biographers tells us that he was a cadet of the family of 
 a younger son of the youngest branch of one of the oldest, 
 proudest, and poorest families in Normandy ; that, owing to 
 his lack of court interest, which was due to his poverty, he 
 was kept for thirty years a midshipman in the French navy. 
 The same ingenious apologist makes the following quaint 
 comment on the respective actions and qualities of Landais 
 and Jones :
 
 THE END OF LANDAIS. 331 
 
 During this period Jones, as usual, kept up his 
 correspondence, especially with Madame de Telison, 
 with whom his relations had evidently reached that 
 intimate point to which I have referred on page 276. 
 On June 23d she advised him of the death of her 
 friend and protectress at court, the Marquise de 
 Marsan. He wrote immediately, commending her 
 
 " Paul Jones, by his impetuous and undisciplined gal- 
 lantry, earned the reputation of a hero, and poor Landais, 
 by a too scrupulous attention to the theory of naval science, 
 incurred that of a coward. I believe that naval authority is 
 against me, but I venture to assert meo pericido and on the 
 authority of one of my uncles, who was in that action as a 
 lieutenant to Paul Jones, that Landais erred not through any 
 defect of bravery, but merely from his desire to approach his 
 enemy scientifically, by bearing down upon the hypothenuse 
 of the precise right-angled triangle prescribed in the thirty- 
 seventh ' manoeuvre' of his old text-book." 
 
 Surely the author of this extraordinary paragraph must 
 have been more than an unconscious humorist ! 
 
 A stone erected over his remains, which has long since 
 disappeared, bore the following inscription : 
 A la Memoire 
 
 de 
 
 PIERRE DE LANDAIS 
 Ancien Contre-Amiral 
 
 au service 
 
 DBS TATS UNIS 
 
 Qui Disparut 
 
 Juin 1818 
 Age 87 ans. 
 
 There is something pathetic in the picture of the "Ancien 
 Contre-Amiral," in his faded Continental uniform and the 
 proud independence of his old age ; and perhaps after all we 
 may charitably attribute his colossal blunders to insanity 
 and incompetency rather than to malice or treachery.
 
 332 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 to Jefferson, and at once, dispatched the following 
 letter to the lady herself : 
 
 " NEW YORK, September 4, 1787. 
 
 " No language can convey to my fair mourner 
 the tender sorrow I feel on her account ! The loss 
 of our worthy friend is indeed a fatal stroke ! It is 
 an irreparable misfortune, which can only be alle- 
 viated by this one reflection, that it is the will of 
 God, whose providence has, I hope, other blessings 
 in store for us. She was a tried friend, and more 
 than a mother to you ! She would have been a 
 mother to me also had she lived. We have lost 
 her ! Let us cherish her memory, and send up 
 grateful thanks to the Almighty that we once had 
 such a friend. I can not but flatter myself that 
 you have yourself gone to the king in July, as he 
 had appointed. I am sure your loss will be a new 
 inducement for him to protect you, and render you 
 justice. He will hear you, I am sure ; and you may 
 safely unbosom yourself to him and ask his advice, 
 which can not but be flattering to him to give you. 
 Tell him you must look on him as your father and 
 protector. If it were necessary, I think, too, that 
 
 the Count d'A , his brother, would, on your 
 
 personal application, render you good services by 
 speaking in your favour. I should like it better, 
 however, if you can do without him. Mr. Jefferson 
 will show you my letter of this date to him. You 
 will see by it how disgracefully I have been detained 
 here by the Board of Treasury. It is impossible for 
 me to stir from this place till I obtain their settle- 
 ment on the business I have already performed ; and,
 
 WAS THIS HIS SON? 333 
 
 as the season is already far advanced, I expect to be 
 ordered to embark directly for the place of my des- 
 tination in the north. Mr. Jefferson will forward 
 me your letters. I am almost without money, and 
 much puzzled to obtain a supply. I have written to 
 Dr. Bancroft to endeavour to assist me. I mention 
 this with infinite regret, and for no other reason than 
 because it is impossible for me to transmit you a sup- 
 ply under my present circumstances. This is my fifth 
 letter to you since I left Paris. The two last were 
 from France, and I sent them by duplicates. But 
 you say nothing of having received any letters from 
 me ! Summon, my dear friend, all your resolution ! 
 Exert yourself, and plead your own cause. You 
 can not fail of success ; your cause would move a 
 heart of flint! Present my best respects to your 
 sister. You did not mention her in your letter, but 
 I persuade myself she will continue her tender care 
 of her sweet godson, and that you will cover him 
 all over with kisses from me ; they come warm to 
 you both from the heart ! " 
 
 The Count d'A referred to was the Count 
 
 d'Artois, subsequently King Charles X. Madame 
 de Telison was his natural aunt, and that Jones 
 should fear any evil consequence to her from her 
 speaking to him is a hideous commentary on the 
 morals of the times. Mackenzie infers the possibil- 
 ity that the Marchioness de Marsan was really the 
 mother of Madame de Telison, and from the assur- 
 ance that she would have been a mother to him 
 also, had she lived, he thinks it possible that Jones 
 might have contemplated marrying his correspond-
 
 334 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ent. The godson was possibly Jones' own child. 
 Shortly after this, correspondence with Madame 
 de Telison ceased temporarily. But when Jones 
 finally returned to France their relations were re- 
 sumed. Before he died he provided for her, and 
 she was with him to the end. 
 
 On the nth of November Jones left America for 
 the last time, taking passage at New York on a ves- 
 sel bound for Holland. He was landed in England, 
 however, and after another interview with Adams at 
 London, he repaired to Paris on the nth of De- 
 cember, and presented his dispatches to Jefferson. 
 Jefferson now communicated to him a project which 
 had been under discussion between himself and de 
 Simolin, the Russian ambassador at Versailles, look- 
 ing to a demand for the services of Jones by the Em- 
 press Catherine II of Russia. Some recent disasters 
 to the Russian fleet in the Black Sea in the war 
 which she had been waging against the Turks had 
 caused the minister to consider the possibility of se- 
 curing the services of the distinguished sea captain. 
 No definite action was taken by either party at that 
 time, although Jones, after some persuasion, ex- 
 pressed his willingness at least to consider the situa- 
 tion. Indeed, the prospects were sufficiently brilliant 
 to have dazzled any man ; but nothing came of the 
 matter then. Jones had other business to attend to. 
 At the close of January, 1788, he received his cre- 
 dentials from Jefferson, and on the morning of the 
 2d of February, the day of his departure for Den- 
 mark, he breakfasted with a Mr. Littlepage, cham- 
 berlain to the King of Poland, and the Russian Min- 
 ister, who informed him that he had seriously pro-
 
 RUSSIAN SERVICE PROPOSED. 335 
 
 posed to his sovereign that Jones be intrusted with 
 the command of the Black Sea fleet. He had, in 
 fact, written to her as follows : 
 
 " That if her Imperial Majesty should confide to 
 Jones the chief command of her fleet on the Black 
 Sea, with carte blanche, he would answer for it that 
 in less than a year Jones would make Constanti- 
 nople tremble." 
 
 He also informed the commodore that the em- 
 press had been much impressed with the proposi- 
 tion, and was disposed to l6ok favorably upon it. 
 
 Jones in reply said that he would undertake the 
 command, under certain conditions, if the empress 
 continued in the same mind, and set out with high 
 hopes for Copenhagen. He reached that city on the 
 4th of March, and was royally received by the king 
 and queen and principal people of the country ; 
 but in spite of every effort he found it utterly im- 
 possible to procure a satisfactory settlement of the 
 claim. The shuffling Danish Government seized 
 upon the flimsy pretext that he was not a plenipo- 
 tentiary, since his powers were limited by the clause 
 referred to above, and that since Congress had re- 
 quired that everything be referred to Paris, and final 
 action should be taken at that point, there was 
 no use negotiating with an agent. Completely 
 thwarted in his attempts by this unfortunate clause, 
 and having received a definite summons through 
 Baron Krudner, the Russian ambassador at Copen- 
 hagen, to repair to Russia, Jones transferred the 
 negotiations to Jefferson at Paris, which was, in 
 fact, all he could do under the circumstances, and
 
 336 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 prepared to assume his new command.* On the 
 8th of April, 1788, he wrote to Jefferson as follows : 
 
 " SIR : By my letters to the Count de Bernstorf, 
 and his excellency's answer, you see that my busi- 
 ness here is at an end. If I have not finally con- 
 cluded the object of my mission, it is neither your 
 fault nor mine ; the powers I received are found in- 
 sufficient, and you could not act otherwise than was 
 prescribed in your instructions. Thus it frequently 
 happens that good opportunities are lost when the 
 supreme power does not place a sufficient confi- 
 dence in the distant operations of public officers, 
 whether civil or military. I have, however, the 
 melancholy satisfaction to reflect that I have been 
 received and treated here with a distinction far 
 above the pretensions of my public mission, and 
 I felicitate myself sincerely on being, at my own 
 expense (and even at the peril of my life, for my 
 sufferings from the inclemency of the weather, and 
 my want of proper means to guard against it on 
 the journey, were inexpressible ; and I believe, from 
 what I yet feel, will continue to affect my constitu- 
 tion), the instrument to renew the negotiation be- 
 tween this country and the United States ; the more 
 so as the honour is now reserved for you to display 
 your great abilities and integrity by the completion 
 
 * Negotiations on this claim were protracted for over sixty 
 years. In June, 1847, the Danish Government formally and 
 finally denied the validity of the claim, and it has not been 
 paid. Congress, however, on March 21, 1848, provided for the 
 payment of the prize money involved, to the heirs of Paul 
 Jones and other persons entitled to share in the distribution 
 of the fund.
 
 LETTER TO JEFFERSON. 337 
 
 and improvement of what Dr. Franklin had wisely 
 begun. I have done, then, what perhaps no other 
 person would have undertaken under the same cir- 
 cumstances ; and while I have the consolation to 
 hope that the United States will derive solid ad- 
 vantages from my journey and efforts here, I rest 
 perfectly satisfied that the interests of the brave men 
 I commanded will experience in you parental atten- 
 tion, and that the American flag can lose none of its 
 lustre, but the contrary, while its honour is confided 
 to you. America being a young nation, with an 
 increasing commerce, which will naturally produce 
 a navy, I please myself with the hope that in the 
 treaty you are about to conclude with Denmark 
 you will find it easy and highly advantageous to in- 
 clude certain articles for admitting America into the 
 armed neutrality. I persuade myself beforehand 
 that this would afford pleasure to the Empress of 
 Russia, who is at the head of that noble and humane 
 combination ; and as I shall now set out immediately 
 for St. Petersburg, I will mention the idea to her 
 Imperial Majesty and let you know her answer. 
 
 " If Congress should think I deserve the promo- 
 tion that was proposed when I was last in America, 
 and should condescend to confer on me the grade 
 of rear admiral from the day I took the Serapis (23d 
 of September, 1/79), I am persuaded it would be 
 very agreeable to the empress, who now deigns to 
 offer me an equal rank in her service, although I 
 never yet had the honour to draw my sword in her 
 cause, nor to do any other act that could directly 
 merit her imperial benevolence. While I express, 
 in the warm effusion of a grateful heart, the deep 
 "3
 
 338 COMMODORE PAUL JONtS. 
 
 sense I feel of my eternal obligation to you as the 
 author of the honourable prospect that is now be- 
 fore me, I must rely on your friendship to justify to 
 the United States the important step I now take, 
 conformable to your advice. You know I had no 
 idea of this new fortune when I found that you had 
 put it in train, before my last return to Paris from 
 America. I have not forsaken a country that has 
 had many disinterested and difficult proofs of my 
 steady affection, and I can never renounce the glori- 
 ous title of a citizen of the United States! 
 
 " It is true I have not the express permission of 
 the sovereignty to accept the offer of her Imperial 
 Majesty; yet America is independent, is in perfect 
 peace, has no public employment for my military 
 talents ; but why should I excuse a conduct which I 
 should rather hope would meet with general appro- 
 bation? In the latter part of the year 1782 Con- 
 gress passed an act for my embarkation in the fleet 
 of his most Christian Majesty ; and when, a few 
 months ago, I left America to return to Europe, I 
 was made the bearer of a letter to his most Christian 
 Majesty requesting me to be permitted to embark 
 in the fleets of evolution. Why did Congress pass 
 those acts? To facilitate my improvement in the 
 art of conducting fleets and military operations. I 
 am, then, conforming myself to the views of Con- 
 gress ; but the role allotted me is infinitely more high 
 and difficult than Congress intended. Instead of re- 
 ceiving lessons from able masters in the theory of 
 war; I am called to immediate practice, where I must 
 command in chief, conduct the most difficult opera- 
 tions, be my own preceptor, and instruct others.
 
 LETTER TO JEFFERSON. 339 
 
 Congress will allow me some merit in daring to en- 
 counter such multiplied difficulties. The mark I men- 
 tioned of the approbation of that honourable body 
 would be extremely flattering to me in the career I 
 am now to pursue, and would stimulate all my am- 
 bition to acquire the necessary talents to merit that, 
 and even greater favours, at a future day. I pray 
 you, sir, to explain the circumstances of my situa- 
 tion, and be the interpreter of my sentiments to the 
 United States in Congress. I ask for nothing; and 
 beg leave to be understood only as having hinted, 
 what is natural to conceive, that the mark of appro- 
 bation I mentioned could not fail to be infinitely 
 serviceable to my views and success in the country 
 where I am going. 
 
 " The prince royal sent me a messenger, re- 
 questing me to come to his apartment. His royal 
 highness said a great many civil things to me 
 told me the king thanked me for my attention and 
 civil behaviour to the Danish flag while I com- 
 manded in the European seas, and that his Majesty 
 wished for occasions to testify to me his personal 
 esteem, etc. I was alone with the prince half an 
 hour. I am, with perfect esteem, etc." 
 
 It is a quaint letter, but not conspicuous for 
 modesty on the part of the writer. But it is mem- 
 orable for its passionate and determined assertion 
 of citizenship, and evidence that his entry into the 
 Russian service, temporarily, was due not to his 
 own motion, but to the suggestion of Thomas Jef- 
 ferson, who highly approved of his acceptance of 
 the offer of Catherine. Inasmuch as his action has
 
 340 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 been called in question, such approbation as that of 
 Jefferson is of great value. Congress did not confer 
 upon him the desired rank, as should have been 
 done, and, besides, his statement was not quite cor- 
 rect. 
 
 Krudner had offered him the rank of captain 
 commandant, equal to that of major general in the 
 army, and placed at his disposal one thousand ducats 
 for the expenses of his journey. He promptly de- 
 murred at the proposed rank of captain comman- 
 dant, or major general, and refused to accept the 
 sum offered for his traveling expenses. It was 
 forced upon him by the insistence of Krudner, how- 
 ever, and he finally received it. He made no use 
 of it at that time, keeping the money intact, and in- 
 tending to return it in case he should find it neces- 
 sary on his arrival in Russia to decline the prof- 
 fered station. He made but few stipulations with 
 her Majesty's agent before entering upon the 
 journey to St. Petersburg, and these were that in 
 the service of the empress he should never be com- 
 pelled to bear arms against either the United States 
 or France ; that he should be at all times subject to 
 recall by Congress ; and, as we have seen in his 
 letter to Jefferson, he was particular to assert that 
 under no circumstances would he renounce " the 
 glorious title of a citizen of the United States." The 
 man of the world and the disinterested lover of 
 human liberty had long since come to a local habi- 
 tation and name, and henceforth he never failed to 
 assert his citizenship in America. 
 
 As he left the court of Denmark and entered 
 upon his journey to Russia he carried in his pocket
 
 A SERIOUS MISTAKE. 341 
 
 a patent for a pension issued to him by the Danish 
 Government for the sum of fifteen hundred crowns 
 a year, which was presented to him as an acknowl- 
 edgment of the " respect he had shown to the Dan- 
 ish flag while he commanded in the North Sea," 
 etc. ! Curiously enough, the pension is dated the 
 day it was decided to transfer to Paris the negotia- 
 tions which he had come to further. The transac- 
 tion is a most peculiar one. The coincidence of 
 dates is, to say the least, unfortunate. The reasons 
 assigned are inadequate, and the statement of cause 
 is puerile. For a negotiator to accept pecuniary re- 
 ward from the person against whom he presses a 
 claim is a very remarkable thing to do. 
 
 It has been urged in justification of his accept- 
 ance : First, that he never received any money from 
 it, for the pension was never paid ; that, however, 
 was a fact which, while it was potential, was not 
 then actual, and has no bearing upon his accept- 
 ance. Second, it has also been claimed that the 
 pension was given because the Danish Government 
 supposed such an evidence of appreciation of the 
 qualities of her appointee would be acceptable to 
 the empress; but if a nice sense of honor would 
 dictate a refusal of the pension, the bestowal could 
 not be considered a compliment, therefore the ac- 
 ceptance could not enhance his reputation. Third, 
 it has been ingeniously surmised that his accept- 
 ance of the pension was for the purpose of com- 
 mitting the Danish Government to the payment of 
 the claim ; but if that were true, he should have 
 communicated his acceptance and his reasons to 
 Jefferson at once. The fact that the government
 
 342 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 absolutely refused to conclude negotiations with 
 him, and that he was of necessity obliged to per- 
 mit the transfer of the negotiations to Paris, takes 
 away some of the odium which attaches to his 
 action, yet it does not completely clear him. As 
 the Russian prospect had matured he was more 
 and more desirous of quitting Denmark, and the 
 transfer of the claim to Paris quite accorded with 
 his wishes. 
 
 This is the most painful incident in his career, 
 and I am extremely sorry that it occurred. I do not 
 suppose that he realized the situation quite as it is 
 presented in these pages, or that he imagined it 
 would have so damaging an effect upon his reputa- 
 tion when it became known. His valuation of his 
 own services was so high that it was not difficult to 
 persuade him or for him to persuade himself that 
 he was entitled to a pension, or at least that it was 
 not out of keeping with his merits. Though how 
 he had ever shown any particular respect for the 
 Danish flag when he commanded the Bon Homme 
 Richard is a question. 
 
 Two circumstances incline me to believe that he 
 was ashamed of it, however, and that he had no 
 primary intention of making use of it. His vanity 
 might lead him to treasure it as an evidence of 
 appreciation, where his sense of honor would re- 
 strain him from enjoying it. Of these two circum- 
 stances, the first is that he never mentioned it to 
 anybody for three years, and he was never chary 
 of letting the news of evidences of appreciation be 
 disseminated ; the second is that he made no attempt 
 to draw anything on it until he was a sick, worn-
 
 AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION. 
 
 343 
 
 out, broken man, some years after, when he looked 
 at life under different circumstances and with differ- 
 ent eyes. His letter to Jefferson, when he finally did 
 communicate the news to him three years after, is 
 as follows : 
 
 " The day before I left Copenhagen the Prince 
 Royal had desired to speak with me in his apart- 
 ment. His Royal Highness was extremely polite, 
 and after saying many civil things remarked he 
 hoped I was satisfied with the attention that had 
 been shown to me since my arrival, and that the 
 king would wish to give me some mark of his 
 esteem. ' I have never had the happiness to render 
 any service to his Majesty ! ' ' That is nothing ; a 
 man like you ought to be excepted from ordinary 
 rules. You could not have shown yourself more 
 delicate as regards our flag, and every person here 
 loves you.' I took leave without further explana- 
 tion. I have felt myself in an embarrassing situa- 
 tion with regard to the king's patent, and I have not 
 yet made use of it, though three years have nearly 
 elapsed since I received it." 
 
 It is all that he could say for himself. I am glad 
 he had the grace at last to be ashamed. That is the 
 best defense that I can make for him, and I can 
 only close the reference to this unpleasant incident 
 by saying again that I am very sorry indeed that it 
 occurred. 
 
 About the middle of April, 1788, he set forth for 
 Stockholm, where, on account of his desire to reach 
 St. Petersburg without delay, he remained but a few 
 hours, and then pressed on to Grislehamn (Gres-
 
 344 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 holm), Sweden, the nearest port to the Aland 
 Islands, via which he hoped to cross the Gulf of 
 Bothnia and reach Russia. The ice, however, was 
 so thick that he found it impossible to cross the 
 gulf or even to reach the islands, so he determined 
 to pass through the open Baltic Sea to the south- 
 ward. He hired an open boat about thirty feet long, 
 and, taking a smaller boat in tow, to be used in case 
 of emergency, he started upon a journey which 
 proved to be one of the most romantic and adven- 
 turous of his whole career. Realizing that in the 
 severe winter weather prevailing it would be im- 
 possible to get boatmen to attempt the passage, he 
 carefully concealed his destination from the men 
 whom he had employed to ferry him over. 
 
 Having first attempted once more to reach the 
 Aland Islands, and thence proceed to the Gulf of 
 Finland, and being balked as before by heavy 
 masses of drifting ice, he started to the southward 
 between the Swedish shore and the ice floes, which, 
 being driven toward Sweden by a strong east wind, 
 scarcely left him a sufficient channel to pass in 
 safety. By nightfall he was nearly opposite Stock- 
 holm, and the water seemed clear enough to sea- 
 ward for him to attempt to cross. The men, by 
 this time alarmed for their safety, determined, in 
 defiance of his orders, to put into Stockholm ; but 
 Jones, seizing the helm himself and drawing his 
 pistols, resolutely commanded them to beat out to 
 sea and obey his orders under pain of instant death. 
 He was not a man to be trifled with by a few Swe- 
 dish boatmen, and by his directions the terrified men 
 headed the boat offshore, The wind fortunately
 
 CffiSAR AND HIS FORTUNES. 345 
 
 shifted to the westward, and during the whole of 
 the long night, in the midst of a driving snowstorm, 
 they threaded their way through the floating ice, 
 steering for the Gulf of Finland. 
 
 Jones had a pocket compass, and the lantern 
 from his traveling carriage enabled him to choose 
 the course. He naturally took command of the 
 boats himself. The next day, baffled again by the 
 ice in an attempt to land on the north shore of the 
 Gulf of Finland, they continued to the westward 
 and southward under circumstances of extreme 
 danger and hardship. The second night was worse 
 than the first. The wind came in violent squalls, 
 and the cold was intense. The second boat was 
 crushed in the ice floes, and the men in it rescued 
 with great difficulty. Their own boat narrowly 
 escaped being crushed between the huge pieces of 
 ice or swamped in the squalls on several occasions. 
 Only by Jones' seamanship and rare skill did they 
 avoid one or the other danger. The men were so 
 terrified as to be helpless between the storm, the 
 cold, and the thought of the incarnate little demon 
 who sat grimly in the stern sheets, pistol in hand, 
 and neither slept nor took rest apparently, and who 
 handled the boat with as much dexterity as if it 
 had been a toy. One thinks instinctively of the 
 little bark which could not sink because it carried 
 Caesar and his fortunes. 
 
 At any rate, after four days of incredible diffi- 
 culties the passage was made, and the boat landed at 
 Reval, a Russian port on the southern shore of the 
 Gulf of Finland. They had sailed in one way and 
 another about five hundred miles. Those who had
 
 346 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 known of his departure from Sweden had no 
 thought but that he and all with him had perished 
 in the attempt. He was, as he stated to Jefferson, 
 in wretched health, and the exposure alone might 
 have killed him. That he went on is highly char- 
 acteristic of him, and exhibits his entire indifference 
 to personal hardships. The passage presents a fine 
 evidence of his audacity. When he determined to 
 do a thing, he never allowed anything to stop him. 
 Having paid the boatmen for the loss of their boat, 
 and remunerated them handsomely for their labors, 
 he dismissed them to return at their leisure, and 
 proceeded to the Russian court, where he arrived on 
 the fourth day of May. His great reputation, his 
 adventurous passage, his strange and attractive 
 personality, and the fact that he stood high in the 
 good graces and enjoyed the favor of the empress, 
 rendered him an object of universal interest and 
 attraction. 
 
 On the 6th of May he was presented to the 
 empress, who immediately conferred upon him 
 the rank he coveted, of rear admiral. Catherine 
 treated him with such distinction that he states 
 in his journal that " I \vas overcome by her cour- 
 tesies (je me laissai seduirc), and put myself into 
 her hands without making any stipulation for my 
 personal advantage. I demanded but one favor, 
 that I should never be condemned unheard." Poor 
 fellow ! It was the one right not favor, but rights 
 went by favor then in Russia which was not ac- 
 corded him. He little knew what the future that 
 looked so promising had in store for him, but for 
 the present everything w ; as most delightful. He
 
 AT CATHERINE'S COURT. 
 
 347 
 
 remained, recuperating and preparing for his com- 
 mand, for two weeks, during which period he was 
 magnificently entertained by the highest nobility of 
 Russia and the distinguished foreigners in attend- 
 ance at the court. Among his papers the cards of 
 many of them are still preserved. There was one 
 exception to his welcome. The English officers in 
 the service of Catherine, and they were many in 
 number and high in quality, affected to describe 
 him as a pirate and a smuggler, and are said to have 
 threatened to resign in a body rather than serve 
 under his command. While I have no doubt as to 
 their feelings, I think it improbable that the threat 
 was ever seriously meant, or that it reached the ears 
 of the empress, for two reasons : first, it was appar- 
 ently never contemplated that Jones should com- 
 mand the Cronstadt fleet, in which those English- 
 men who were highest in rank and reputation were 
 stationed he had been designated for the Black 
 Sea fleet, and specifically called into service to war 
 against the Turks ; and second, it is extremely un- 
 likely that they should have carried such a threat 
 to the throne, for Catherine was not one whom it 
 was safe to threaten for a moment. Such an action 
 in all probability would have resulted in an apology 
 and retraction, or a call for a resignation. It is most 
 improbable that the English protesters would have 
 relinquished the honorable and lucrative positions 
 to which they had attained in the Russian service, 
 with the great opportunities of advancement and 
 pecuniary reward presented, for such a cause. As 
 a matter of fact, Englishmen did serve with credit 
 under Jones' command in the Black Sea, and we
 
 348 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 hear of no resignations from his squadron there. 
 The story may have gained currency by the gossipy 
 repetition of indiscreet remarks about the court, and 
 from the fact that thirty of the English-Russian 
 officers signed a memorial addressed to Admiral 
 Grieg, their senior in rank, threatening various 
 things if they were associated with Jones. It is 
 hardly possible, however, that Catherine ever saw 
 or heard the petition. At any rate, nothing came of 
 it. Jones enjoyed the anger of the English he 
 would not have been human if he had not but as 
 for the rest, he snapped his fingers at them. He 
 could afford to defy them at that hour. He was 
 then in the " high topgallant of his fortunes." In 
 a letter to Lafayette he writes, apropos of this 
 feeling : 
 
 " The empress received me with a distinction 
 the most flattering that perhaps any stranger can 
 boast of. On entering into the Russian service her 
 Majesty conferred on me immediately the grade of 
 rear admiral. I was detained against my will a fort- 
 night, and continually feasted at court, and in the 
 first society. This was a cruel grief to the English, 
 and I own that their vexation, which I believe was 
 general in and about St. Petersburg, gave me no 
 pain." 
 
 As I have said, I have no doubt as to the 
 feelings of the English officers. 
 
 On the 1 8th of May the admiral left St. Peters- 
 burg for Elizabethgrad, the headquarters of Pa- 
 tiomkine. In addition to the sum recently re- 
 ceived from Krudner, he was provided with an-
 
 CATHERINE'S LETTER. 349 
 
 other purse of two thousand ducats for the expenses 
 of his journey, and his salary was fixed at eighteen 
 hundred roubles a year.* As he started for the 
 Black Sea, Catherine handed him this letter : 
 
 " SIR : A courier from Paris has just brought 
 from my envoy in France, M. de Simolin, the in- 
 closed letter to Count Besborodko. As I believe 
 that this letter may help to confirm to you what I 
 have already told you verbally, I have sent it, and 
 beg you to return it, as I have not even had it 
 copied, so anxious am I that you should see it. I 
 hope that it will efface all doubts from your mind, 
 and prove to you that you are to be connected only 
 with those who are most favorably disposed toward 
 you. I have no doubt that, on your side, you will 
 fully justify the opinion which we have formed of 
 you, and apply yourself with zeal to support the 
 reputation you have acquired, for valor and skill, on 
 the element on which you are to serve. 
 
 " Adieu ! I wish you happiness and health. 
 
 " CATHERINE." 
 
 The letter to Besborodko referred to by Cath- 
 erine was a request from Patiomkine that Jones 
 might be induced to come immediately to his head- 
 quarters, that his talents might be employed in the 
 approaching campaign. Patiomkine promised to 
 to do all in his power to give him an opportunity for 
 displaying his ability and courage, f Jones had pro- 
 
 * The rouble was then worth about one dollar, and, as 
 has been mentioned, a dollar was greater then than now. 
 
 f In after years Jones indorsed upon this letter a grim 
 comment : " Has he kept his word ? "
 
 350 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 tested against being under anybody ; Catherine re- 
 fused to consider his protest, hence the reason for 
 her farewell epistle and her inclosure of Patiom- 
 kine's promise to be all that he should be to Jones. 
 He arrived at Elizabethgrad on the 3Oth of May 
 and was most kindly received. But before enter- 
 ing upon the story of his campaign it will be well 
 to consider the situation of the country in which 
 he found himself, and the characters of those with 
 whom he was to be associated in service. 
 
 A'ote with reference to the Danish pension. 
 
 The most recent biographer of Paul Jones, whose book 
 was issued simultaneously with this one, makes no mention 
 of the Danish pension, and states that his reasons for omit- 
 ting any reference to it were " because it was never accepted, 
 never paid, and never was intended to be paid." I am forced 
 to disagree with this statement. Certainly, it never was paid, 
 though what the Danish government may have intended it 
 is impossible to say. Probably if Jones had continued in 
 favor in Russia the pension would have been paid. Cer- 
 tainly the commodore accepted the pension, and he endeav- 
 ored to procure its payment, and estimated it as an asset in 
 the schedule of property which accompanied his will. See 
 Appendix V, page 473.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 IN THE RUSSIAN SERVICE OTCHAKOFF AND THE 
 
 CAMPAIGN IN THE LIMAN. 
 
 FAR to the north is Russia. Extending through 
 no less than one hundred and seventy-three degrees 
 of longitude, and covering forty parallels of latitude, 
 from the Baltic to the Pacific, and from the Black 
 Sea to the Arctic Ocean, with an area of eight and 
 a half million square miles, lies this great lone land. 
 This gigantic empire, touching on the one hand the 
 ice-bound shores of Nova Zembla, and on the other 
 the caravan trails of Bokhara, stretches from the 
 Gulf of Finland in* the west to Kamtchatka on the 
 east. Within its boundaries are comprised bleak 
 deserts and fertile plains. Verdant valleys, unscala- 
 ble mountains, and vast steppes break the monotony 
 of the landscape, and diversify a surface watered by 
 great rivers from the arctic Yenisei to the Oriental 
 Oxus. Great among the powers is this mysterious 
 Colossus, her head white with the snows of eternal 
 winter and her feet laved in the sunlight of tropic 
 streams. The land of the seafarers so its name 
 indicates developing enormously and steadily- in 
 power, wealth, and civilization, in the nine hundred 
 years which have elapsed since Rurik the Viking 
 first stepped upon its shores, has not yet reached its
 
 352 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 zenith. It is to-day the home of more diverse 
 nationalities than any other existent country, and 
 foreshadowings of unlimited predominance are 
 apparent. Its sway extends over more races and 
 peoples than any other power has governed since 
 the days of Augustus Caesar, and the end is not yet. 
 Well do its rulers arrogate to themselves the im- 
 perial title of the ancient head of the Roman Em- 
 pire. Holy Russia, the home of the Orthodox 
 Church, the country of the White Czar, the land of 
 the once despised Slav, yet contains within its bor- 
 ders, in Lithuania, the focal point of that Aryan 
 race which has filled Europe with its splendor. 
 This Russia, the land of the Tartar, the Mongol, the 
 Samoyede, the Cossack, the Finn, and the Pole ; this 
 Russia, the land of Ivan the Terrible, of Peter the 
 Great, was now in the hands of a woman of Cath- 
 erine II. 
 
 The little maiden, born on the 2d of May, 1729, 
 in the quaint old town of Stettin, and of the insig- 
 nificant house of Anhalt-Zerbst, christened Sophia, 
 was received into the Greek Church on her mar- 
 riage with Peter of Holstein, grandson of the Ro- 
 manoff Peter the Great, under the name of Cath- 
 erine. She had assumed the reins of government 
 after the-murder of her wretched impotent husband, 
 against whom she had conspired in conjunction 
 with the Orloffs. When she had deposed and im- 
 prisoned him, unable to strike a blow for himself, 
 he had stipulated that in his confinement he might 
 have the undisputed enjoyment of his mistress, his 
 monkey, and his violin ! Even these kingly pleas- 
 ures were soon of little use to him, for on the i8th
 
 CATHERINE II. 
 
 353 
 
 of July, 1762, but a few days after the revolution 
 which had hurled him from his throne, Peter lay 
 dead in the palace with some ominous and inefface- 
 able black marks around his throat, telling of the 
 manner of his death from the giant hands of the 
 terrible Orloffs and his wife was privy to the mur- 
 der and consenting to it! That her husband had 
 been a knave and a fool almost a madman does 
 not excuse her. Catherine was then immediately 
 proclaimed empress in her own right. As the Nea- 
 politan Caraccioli said, the Russian throne was 
 neither hereditary nor elective, but occupative! 
 Catherine occupied it, and as long as she lived Rus- 
 sia knew no other master. The world marveled at 
 her audacity, and trembled for the consequences of 
 her usurpation, but men soon found that, gigantic 
 as had been her assurance, and tremendous as was 
 her task, she was entirely equal to the undertaking. 
 She had a genius for reigning as great as had been 
 exhibited by Elizabeth Tudor good Queen Bess ! 
 In spite of her bad qualities and evil beginning, 
 Russia never progressed more than while under her 
 sway. She fairly divides honor as a sovereign, in 
 Slavonic history, with Peter the Great. True it is 
 that Catherine had " woven out of the bloody vest- 
 ments of Peter III the most magnificent imperial 
 mantle that a woman had ever worn." 
 
 Some one wrote to Madame Vigee le Brun, who 
 essayed to paint her picture : 
 
 " Take the map of the empire of Russia for can- 
 vas, the darkness of ignorance for background, the 
 spoils of Poland for drapery, human blood for col- 
 24
 
 354 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 oring, the monuments of her reign for the car- 
 toon, and for the shadow six months of her son's 
 reign." 
 
 A singular and complex character was that of 
 this famous despot, this " Semiramis of the North." 
 Never more than a half-educated woman and in 
 that she corresponded with her empire she learned 
 her politics from Montesquieu, drew her philosophy 
 of life from Voltaire, and shaped her morals after 
 Brantome ! A creature of singular contradictions, 
 she loved liberty, favored the struggle of the United 
 States, and ruled an absolute despot; she wrote 
 charming fairy tales for children and rode horse- 
 back astride like a man ; she was one of the greatest 
 sticklers for morals in other people the world 
 has ever known, and yet was herself one of the most 
 colossal examples of unblushing and shameless pro- 
 fessional sensuality that ever sat upon a throne. 
 Other rulers and sovereigns have had their favor- 
 ites, she alone made favoritism a state institution. 
 " What has ruined the country," she naively writes, 
 " is that the people fall into vice and drunkenness, 
 and the comic opera has corrupted the whole na- 
 tion ! " As a corrupter by example she surpassed 
 all the comic operas ever written. The morals of 
 Russia, in her day, were rotten from the head down- 
 ward. Yet in spite of all this she was a great 
 princess. She was allowed to occupy that throne 
 because she made Russia greater with each succes- 
 sive year ; not alone by force of arms either, and the 
 Russian destiny makers loved her. Education, the 
 arts, and sciences, all felt the stimulus of her in-
 
 PATIOMKINE. 
 
 355 
 
 terest and responded to her efforts. Progress was 
 the word of this imperious woman. She had a 
 faculty for ruling as remarkable as her exploitation 
 of favoritism. Yet she governed her empire with 
 a sublime indifference to public opinion, and squan- 
 dered its revenues in a shameless prostitution of her 
 own person, which ceased only with her death, in 
 1794, at the age of sixty-five ! The fact that Cather- 
 ine made an official business out of favoritism, and 
 that she was so utterly oblivious to the moral in- 
 consistency of it for she was a faithful member of 
 the Holy Orthodox Church seems to lift it upon a 
 plane of its own, so simple and brazen was it. 
 
 Upon the chief of her favorites alone she had 
 bestowed more than fifty million roubles, vast 
 estates carrying with them nearly one hundred 
 thousand serfs, and in addition orders, titles, privi- 
 leges, and decorations innumerable. The name 
 of this favorite was Gregory Alexandrovitch Pati- 
 omkine, commonly called Potemkin. He was the 
 second of the gre^t Vrcmicnchtchick, as the favorites 
 were called, the word meaning " men of the mo- 
 ment ! " He succeeded the gigantic Orloff, whose 
 term as the favorite was longer than that of any 
 successor, for he had enjoyed a tenure of almost ten 
 years the usual period being about two. Patiom- 
 kine's personal association with the empress was 
 only for that short time, when he was supplanted by 
 another object of royal regard. Unlike all the other 
 favorites, Patiomkine was not relegated to prompt 
 obscurity, and he continued to be the power be- 
 hind the throne for practically the remainder of his 
 life. He was greater than all the others too great
 
 356 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 to be done away with, in fact. If he could not be 
 the favorite, he would, like Warwick the king- 
 maker, make the favorite, and for fifteen years he 
 continued to do so. During this period he swayed 
 the destinies of the empire as a sort of mayor of the 
 palace. 
 
 The analogy is not altogether accurate, for 
 Catherine was no supine Merovingian to commit 
 the administration of the state to others while she 
 passed hours of dalliance in the secret chambers of 
 the palace; she was too strong and too great for 
 that, and she always retained her grasp upon the 
 helm ; but it is certain that none of her favorites had 
 ever enjoyed such power and wielded it so openly as 
 this princely pander. 
 
 As to Patiomkine himself, the world did not 
 know whether he was a genius or a madman. At 
 times he seems to have passed over that slender 
 line which divides these two antitheses of character, 
 and appears now on one side, now on the other. 
 Personally he was a man of huge bulk and great 
 strength, with the natural instincts of an animal and 
 a veneer, more or less strong on occasion, of re- 
 finement. He, too, typified Russia, a giant rising 
 through barbarism into the civilization of the cen- 
 tury and not yet arrived, either now inclining 
 to the one side or the other. Catherine usually chose 
 her favorites among men of great physical vigor. 
 Patiomkine was a giant in size. His vast frame was 
 capable of sustaining the most tremendous hard- 
 ships. He was a black-haired, swarthy, hot-tem- 
 pered man, not pleasant to look upon, for he had 
 lost an eye in a fist fight after a % drunken revel with
 
 PATIOMKINE. 
 
 357 
 
 the Orloffs. He squinted with the other, and even 
 had not a figure to redeem him, for he was mark- 
 edly knock-kneed. He, like his mistress and his 
 country, was a creature of contradictions. In his 
 palace in St. Petersburg we find him trifling with 
 the most delicate creations of the most skilled chef, 
 and on his journeys eating rapaciously of anything 
 that came to hand. He sent his adjutants thousands 
 of miles for perfumes which caught his fancy, and 
 galloped madly himself across half Europe without 
 rest or sleep for days in pursuance of duty, and 
 then spent weeks in dalliance with his harem. 
 
 With the one hand he wrote poetic letters that 
 quiver and thrill with tenderness and beauty, pathos 
 and passion, and with the other he calmly consigned 
 thousands of people to death. One day we find 
 him raging because his soldiers are not better cared 
 for, and on the next day remarking cynically, when 
 the absence of ambulances was brought to his 
 notice, that so much the better they would not have 
 to bother with the wounded ! Sometimes cowardly, 
 sometimes bold to the point of recklessness ; atheist 
 and devotee, debauchee and ascetic, coarse and re- 
 fined, imperious and cringing, brutal and gentle, 
 king and slave, Christian and pagan his life re- 
 mains a mystery. 
 
 After he died of a frightful attack of indigestion, 
 brought on by gorging himself with coarse food, 
 Catherine's son, upon succeeding to the throne, 
 treated his body with great indignity ; and it was not 
 until seventy years later that his remains were dis- 
 covered and interred in the Cathedral of Kherson. 
 Prince of Taurida, the conqueror of the Crimea, and
 
 358 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 under Catherine the originator of that tremendous 
 and irresistible Russian policy which will some day 
 replace the Greek cross upon the temple of Justinian 
 in Constantinople, Patiomkine is one of the most 
 remarkable figures in the history of the world. 
 
 In the service of the first of these two person- 
 ages, and under the specific orders of the last, Paul 
 Jones was to make a campaign. It w r as foredoomed 
 to failure. Jones was not a good subordinate to 
 any one. His temper, his lack of self-control, his 
 pride, and his vanity rendered any ultimate suc- 
 cessful association with a man like Patiomkine im- 
 possible. Patiomkine had all Jones' faults and a 
 thousand more. They harmonized like flint and 
 steel. To further complicate matters, Jones was to 
 be associated in his command, with the limits of 
 authority not clearly defined between them always 
 a prolific source of trouble, and certain to cause 
 failure with Prince Otto of Nassau-Siegen, of 
 whom we have heard before. He had asked 
 to serve under Jones in the Indien, and when 
 that project fell through he had failed to an- 
 swer Jones' letters, and had treated him with dis- 
 courtesy and indifference. In Catherine's army and 
 navy thousands of soldiers of fortune found a con- 
 genial atmosphere and a golden opportunity. They 
 were all made welcome, and, with anything like suc- 
 cess to warrant them, they generally achieved a 
 handsome reward in her generous service. The 
 most noted among them, and one of the most worth- 
 less, is this man, whom Waliszewski calls " the last 
 notable condotticrre of Europe ; a soldier without 
 country, without home, and almost without family,
 
 NASSAU-SIEGEN. 
 
 359 
 
 his very name is the first of his conquests." His 
 father was the illegitimate son of a princeling, but 
 the Parliament of Paris, in 1756, gave the young 
 Otto, then eleven years of age, the right, so far as 
 they had the power, to bear the name of his ances- 
 tors, to which he had no legitimate claim. They 
 could not, however, do anything for his patrimony. 
 He had been a lieutenant of infantry, a captain of 
 dragoons, and finally a sailor under Bougainville 
 when he made his famous voyage around the world. 
 Later he appears as an unsuccessful explorer in 
 Africa. In fact, he was not successful at anything. 
 Unlike Crichton, he did everything equally ill. 
 
 In 1779, as a colonel of French infantry, he made 
 an unsuccessful attempt upon the island of Jersey. 
 The next year, in the Spanish service, he com- 
 manded, unsuccessfully as usual, some floating 
 batteries before Gibraltar. Among other exploits 
 and it was his one triumph he seduced the Queen 
 of Tahiti, so he said, and the reputation of the un- 
 fortunate lady found no defenders in Europe. He 
 married a homely Polish countess with a great for- 
 tune, and after meddling (unsuccessfully) with all 
 sorts of things got himself appointed to the com- 
 mand of a flotilla of Russian gunboats operating 
 against the Turks. 
 
 But to return to the story; the long distance 
 seven hundred and fifty miles as the crow flies and 
 probably twice that by road between St. Peters- 
 burg and Elizabethgrad, was covered by Jones in 
 twelve days. He was in a hurry, as always, to get 
 to sea. The object of the Prince Marshal's attack 
 was the fortified town of Otchakoff, commonly
 
 360 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 spelled in contemporary manuscripts Oczakow. 
 This important place was situated on the Russo- 
 Turkish frontier of that day, on the Black Sea, not 
 far from the present city of Odessa, and occupied a 
 commanding position at the confluence of the great 
 river Dnieper and the smaller river Bug. South- 
 ward of the mainland the peninsula of Kinburn, a 
 narrow, indented point of land, projects for perhaps 
 twenty miles to the westward, forming a narrow 
 estuary of the Black Sea about fifty miles long and 
 from five to ten miles wide, into which the two 
 rivers pour their vast floods. This estuary is some- 
 times called the Dnieper Bay, but more commonly 
 the Liman, and the undertaking hereafter described 
 is referred to as the campaign in the Liman. The 
 bay or inlet is very shallow. Sand banks and shoals 
 leave but a narrow, tortuous channel, which is of no 
 great depth at best. The end of the peninsula of 
 Kinburn terminates in a long and very narrow strip 
 of land, a point which reaches up toward the north- 
 ward and almost closes the opening of the estuary ; 
 the distance between the point and Fort Hassan, the 
 southernmost fortification of Otchakoff, is possi- 
 bly two miles. This narrow entrance is further 
 diminished by a long shoal which extends south 
 from Fort Hassan toward the point, so that, except 
 for one contracted channel, the passage is prac- 
 ticable for vessels of very light draught only. 
 
 Otchakoff lies between the Bug and a smaller 
 river called the Beresan, deep enough near its 
 mouth for navigation by small vessels. It was 
 strongly fortified and garrisoned by ten thousand 
 men. While it remained in the hands of the Turks
 
 OTCHAKOFF. 361 
 
 it menaced the Russian communications and ren- 
 dered it difficult for them to hold the great penin- 
 sula of Taurida, now known as the Crimea, which 
 Patiomkine had conquered previously, and from 
 which he had taken the name of Taurichevsky, or 
 Tauricien, or Taurida, with his dukedom. Patiom- 
 kine, therefore, decided to besiege and capture this 
 place. 
 
 To prevent this, the Turks had re-enforced it by 
 one hundred and twenty armed vessels, ranging 
 from ships of the line to gunboats, under the com- 
 mand of one of the ablest of their admirals, a dis- 
 tinguished old sailor, who had been recalled from 
 service in Egypt, which had been brilliantly success- 
 ful, to conduct this operation. So long as they 
 could keep open communication by sea with Otcha- 
 koff its power of resistance would be prolonged 
 and its capture a matter of extreme difficulty. The 
 object of Jones' campaign was to hold the Liman 
 till Patiomkine could invest Otchakoff, then to de- 
 feat the Turkish naval forces in the bay, and to 
 blockade the town. Incidentally he was required to 
 cover the Russian towns on the Dnieper and pre- 
 vent any descent upon them by the Turks ; a hard 
 task for any man with the force available and likely 
 to be placed under his command. 
 
 Having stayed but one day at Elizabethgrad, 
 Jones, accompanied by one of the staff officers of 
 Patiomkine, set out for Kherson, which is located 
 near the point where the Dnieper enters the Liman, 
 and is the principal Russian naval depot in that 
 section of the country. The two officers spent but 
 one day at Kherson, but the time was sufficient to
 
 ^62 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 develop the fact, as Jones said, that he had entered 
 " on a delicate and disagreeable service." 
 
 Mordwinoff, the Russian Chief of Admiralty, 
 treated him with the utmost coolness and indiffer- 
 ence, and, though he had been ordered by Patiom- 
 kine to give Jones full information as to the situa- 
 tion, he told him nothing of importance, and even 
 failed to provide him with a rear admiral's flag, to 
 which he was entitled. However, the day after his 
 arrival at Kherson, Jones repaired to the town of 
 Gluboca, off which, in one of the deeps of the river 
 between the Dnieper and the mouth of the Bug 
 called Schiroque Roads, his command was anchored. 
 It comprised a single line of battle ship, the Wolodi- 
 mer which, on account of its great draught and the 
 shoal water of the Liman, could only mount twenty- 
 six guns five frigates, five sloops of war, and fodr 
 smaller vessels, making a total of fifteen sail.* The 
 ships were badly constructed, " drew too much 
 water for the navigation of the Black Sea, were too 
 crank to carry the heavy guns that were mounted 
 on them, and sailed badly." They were makeshift 
 craft constructed by people who since Rurik's ad- 
 vent have exhibited surprisingly little aptitude for 
 the sea. I can imagine Jones' disgust and disap- 
 pointment as he inspected his squadron with a sea- 
 man's quick and comprehensive glance. In addi- 
 tion to this force, there was a large flotilla of light- 
 draught gunboats, each carrying a single heavy 
 gun, and sometimes smaller pieces, manned by 
 
 * Some authorities say fourteen ; the difference is imma- 
 terial.
 
 SQUADRON AND FLOTILLA. 363 
 
 from thirty to forty men each, and propelled mainly 
 by oars. 
 
 The command of the flotilla had been committed 
 to the Prince of Nassau-Siegen, and, although 
 Jones had been repeatedly assured that he was to 
 have supreme charge of all naval operations in the 
 Liman, he found that Nassau exercised an inde- 
 pendent command, and instead of being subordinate 
 to him, had only been requested to co-operate with 
 him. Jones' command will be called the squadron, 
 Nassau's the flotilla, hereafter in these pages, to 
 prevent confusion. The squadron had been hith- 
 erto under the command of a cowardly Greek cor- 
 sair named Alexiano, reputed a Turkish subject, 
 who had attained the rank of captain commandant, 
 or brigadier, equivalent to commodore. He was a 
 man of little capacity, great timidity, and was tricky 
 and unreliable in his disposition. 
 
 Jones immediately proceeded on board the Wolo- 
 dimer and exhibited his orders. He found that 
 Alexiano had assembled all the commanders of the 
 ships, and endeavored to persuade them to rebel 
 against his authority. The attempted cabal came to 
 nothing, however, and on receiving a letter from 
 Patiomkine Alexiano relinquished the command to 
 Jones, and with a very ill grace consented to serve 
 as his subordinate he had to. On the same day in 
 which he arrived, in order to ascertain the topog- 
 raphy of the situation, Jones left the Wolodimer and 
 rode over to Kinburn Point, opposite Otchakoff. 
 After a careful examination of the water which he 
 was to defend and the town he was to blockade, so 
 far as he could make it from the shore, he returned
 
 364 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 to the Wolodimer, and finding, as he says, " all the 
 officers contented," he hoisted his rear admiral's 
 flag on that ship on the evening of the 6th of June, 
 1788.* The Prince of Nassau-Siegen called upon 
 him promptly, and apparently recognized his supe- 
 riority in rank, if not his right to command. He 
 had an immediate foretaste of the character of his 
 new associates when the prince informed him that 
 if they gained any advantage over the Turks it 
 would be necessary to exaggerate it to the utmost ! 
 Jones replied that he had never adopted that method 
 of heightening his personal merits. He might have 
 added that a true recital of his exploits was suf- 
 ficiently dazzling to need no embellishment by the 
 wildest imagination. 
 
 The celebrated General Stivorof was in com- 
 mand of the strong fortress of Kinburn, which was 
 supposed to command the entrance of the Liman, 
 but it was too far inland to menace Otchakoff, or, 
 indeed, to command anything effectively. It is an 
 evidence of Jones' quick perception and fine mili- 
 tary instinct that as soon as he inspected the posi- 
 tion he discovered the advantage of placing a 
 battery on Kinburn Point, opposite the shoal to 
 which I have referred : and his first act upon 
 assuming the command was to point out to 
 Suvorof, who was perhaps the greatest of all 
 Russian soldiers, the absolute necessity for a bat- 
 tery there. Realizing the fact, Suvorof immedi- 
 ately mounted a formidable battery on the point, 
 
 * All dates given, except in letters, are new style, eleven 
 days in advance of Russian dates.
 
 A STRATEGIC POINT. 365 
 
 and he magnanimously credited Jones with the idea, 
 in spite of the fact that the previous neglect to for-- 
 tify the point was a reflection on his military skill. 
 Before the guns were in position the capitan pasha 
 as the Turkish admiral was styled, with twenty-one 
 frigates and sloops of war, and several smaller ves- 
 sels, entered the Liman and anchored before Otcha- 
 koff. He was followed by a flotilla of gunboats 
 about equal in number and individual efficiency to 
 the Russian flotilla. The ships of the line and 
 heavier frigates of the Turks, unable to approach 
 near the town, remained at anchor in the open roads 
 to the westward, and as they took no part in the 
 subsequent actions they may be dismissed from 
 further notice. Even as it was, however, the Turk- 
 ish force greatly overmatched the Russian. 
 
 Jones had fifteen ships, the Turks twenty-one, 
 and ship for ship the advantage was entirely in 
 favor of the Turks. In number the two flotillas 
 of gunboats were about the same,. and there was not 
 much choice in their quality. The poor quality of 
 Nassau's leadership could hardly be surpassed by 
 any Turk, however incompetent, but the capitan 
 pasha in critical moments led his own flotilla, and, 
 as Jones practically did the same for the Russian 
 gunboats, Nassau's incompetency did not matter so 
 much as it might. 
 
 On the Qth of June, having meanwhile received 
 re-enforcements of soldiers to complete the crews, 
 the squadron, followed by the flotilla, got under 
 way and stood toward the entrance of the Liman. 
 The combined force anchored in two lines, the 
 squadron forming an obtuse angle in the channel
 
 366 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 "with the opening toward Otchakoff, so as to be able 
 to pour a cross fire upon any approaching ships. 
 On the right and left flanks in the shallow water 
 divisions of gunboats were stationed, with another 
 division immediately in the rear of the squadron, 
 and a reserve division at hand to re-enforce any 
 threatened point of the line. The station was just 
 in front of the mouth of the Bug, and commanded 
 the entrance to that river and the Dnieper as well, 
 thus protecting Kherson from any attack by the 
 Turks, and affording Patiomkine's troops a free and 
 unimpeded passage of the Bug when they marched 
 to invest the town. The position was most advan- 
 tageously chosen by Jones. His force was too 
 weak to attack the Turks with any hope of success 
 at present, and he had been ordered by Patiomkine 
 not to enter upon any operation until the Russian 
 army arrived. Absolutely no fault can be found 
 either with his location or his dispositions. 
 
 The Turks made no movement to attack them, 
 and Nassau, who was good at proposing aggressive 
 movements when no dangers threatened, suggested 
 that they abandon their position and move forward 
 nearer the town. Nothing would be gained by this 
 maneuver, and opportunities for a successful attack 
 by the Turks would have been greater than in their 
 present position. Jones realized that the Turks 
 must of necessity attack them sooner or later ; that 
 no commander could afford to throw away such 
 'advantage in force as the Turks enjoyed, when any 
 hour might bring re-enforcements to the Russians, 
 and the battery which Suvofof had completed would 
 prevent further re-enforcements being received by
 
 THE FIRST ATTACK. 
 
 367 
 
 the Turks. So Jones grimly held to his position in 
 spite of Nassau's remonstrances, which were sec- 
 onded by those of Alexiano, and waited. To wait 
 is sometimes braver than to advance. 
 
 Finally one of the reasons for Nassau's desire to 
 advance transpired. He wished to remove from 
 his position near the Turkish shore, upon which bat- 
 teries were being erected in the absence of any 
 Russian land force to prevent them, which would 
 subject the right wing of his flotilla to a land fire ; 
 and he desired to take a position where he would 
 be protected by the new fort at Kinburn Point and 
 by the ships of the squadron. Suvorof had made 
 Jones responsible for the safety of the fort on Kin- 
 burn Point, by the way, while awaiting the advance 
 of the army. Having received no orders from Pati- 
 omkine, Jones assembled a council of war on the 
 Wolodimer, at which Nassau was present. Jones' 
 supremacy was fully recognized by Nassau. The 
 council approved of the position in which Jones had 
 placed his squadron, and commended his resolution 
 to maintain that position, and in obedience to urgent 
 pleadings from Jones the officers of the flotilla and 
 squadron agreed to co-operate and work together 
 for the common good in the event of being attacked. 
 They did not have long to wait for the inevitable 
 encounter. 
 
 On the afternoon of the i8th of June, the Turk- 
 ish flotilla in two divisions made a dash at the Rus- 
 sian gunboats on the right flank, and a sharp en- 
 gagement began. The Russians, greatly outnum- 
 bered, began to give ground, and, though the reserve 
 was immediately sent to support the right wing, be-
 
 368 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 fore the dashing attacks of the Turkish gunboats the 
 retreat was not stayed. A battery of artillery which 
 had been unmasked on the adjacent shore also seri- 
 ously annoyed the extreme flank of the Russians. 
 On account of the shoal water the ships of the 
 squadron could not enter the engagement. Jones, 
 therefore, with his instinctive desire to get into a 
 fight, left the Wolodimer and embarked in Nassau's 
 galley. That commander had entirely lost his head. 
 He could think of nothing to do of value, but im- 
 plored Jones to send him a frigate which was im- 
 -possible, for all the frigates drew too much water; 
 failing this, he threatened to withdraw his right 
 wing, in which case the Turkish gunboats probably 
 would have taken the squadron in reverse, and 
 might have inflicted serious damage. Jones con- 
 vinced him that a return attack was not only neces- 
 sary but inevitable, and, as Nassau made no 
 objection, he assumed the direction of the vessels 
 himself. Summoning the unengaged center and 
 left divisions, he brought them up through the 
 squadron to attack the approaching Turkish galleys 
 on the flank. The diversion they caused so in- 
 spirited the broken right and reserve divisions that 
 they made a determined stand and stopped their 
 retreat. The capitan pasha, seeing himself in dan- 
 ger of being taken between two fires and his retreat 
 cut off, withdrew precipitately before the center and 
 the left fairly came into action. Had Jones been in 
 command of the flotilla from the beginning, a most 
 disastrous defeat would have been inflicted upon 
 the Turks. As it was, they retreated in confusion, 
 leaving two gunboats in the hands of the enemy.
 
 ACTION OF JUNE i8TH. 369 
 
 As the affair had been conducted entirely be- 
 tween the different flotillas, Nassau claimed all the 
 credit for the brilliant maneuvers of the Russians. 
 Jones contemptuously allowed him to make any 
 claims he pleased in his report to Patiomkine, and 
 gave Nassau credit for at least having taken his ad- 
 vice. It would have been better for Nassau's fame 
 if he had continued to take Jones' advice. Having 
 obtained this slight success, Nassau, who knew how 
 well his urgency would look in the reports, again 
 proposed to Jones that they should advance and at- 
 tack. The Russian army had not yet invested the 
 place, and the success they had gained was so slight 
 that circumstances had not changed. Jones still re- 
 fused to be moved from the position he had as- 
 sumed, which the experience of the i8th of June 
 had justified, and calmly awaited the further pleas- 
 ure of the enemy. It takes a high quality of moral 
 courage for a stranger, who has a reputation for 
 audacity and intrepidity, absolutely to refuse to 
 do that thing to which a subordinate urges him, 
 and which has the appearance of courage and dar- 
 ing; and I count this refusal, in the interests of 
 sound strategic principles, not an unimportant 
 manifestation of Jones' qualities as an officer. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Russian army, having passed 
 the Bug, invested the city on the 28th of June, and 
 the Turkish fleet was forced to attack or withdraw. 
 The capitan pasha elected to do the former. Hav- 
 ing re-enforced his crews by some two thousand 
 picked men from the great fleet outside the Liman, 
 he advanced down the bay to attack the Russians. 
 
 The wind was free, and the Turkish fleet came on 
 25
 
 370 COMMODORE PAUL JON 7 ES. 
 
 in grand style, the capitan pasha leading in the 
 largest ship, with the flotilla of gunboats massed 
 on his left flank, making a brilliant showing. Nas- 
 sau's desire to advance suddenly vanished, and he 
 clamored for a retreat. Jones paid no attention to 
 him, but weighed anchor, and, as it was impossible 
 for him to advance on account of the wind, he 
 waited for the enemy. Fortunately for the Russians, 
 at one o'clock in the afternoon the Turkish flagship, 
 which had been headed for the Wolodimer, took 
 ground on the shoals near the south shore of 
 the Liman. The advance of the fleet was immedi- 
 ately stopped, and the Turkish vessels came to an- 
 chor about the flagship. 
 
 A council of war was at once convened on the 
 Wolodimer, and Jones at last persuaded the Rus- 
 sians, although inferior in force, to attack the Turks 
 as soon as the wind permitted. During the night 
 the wind fortunately shifted to the north-northeast, 
 and at daylight on the 2Qth the squadron stood for 
 the Turkish fleet. The Wolodimer led the advance. 
 By hard work the Turkish admiral had succeeded 
 in floating his flagship, but his ships were huddled 
 together without order. Jones immediately dashed 
 at him, opening fire from his bow guns as he came 
 within range. The squadron was formed in echelon 
 by bringing the van forward on the center, making 
 another obtuse angle, with the opening toward the 
 crowd of Turkish ships in fact, Jones was attempt- 
 ing with his smaller force to surround them. In 
 the confusion caused by the bold attack, the Turks, 
 who seem to have been taken completely by sur- 
 prise, again permitted the ships of the admiral and
 
 BATTLE OF JUNE 28x11 AND 2 9 TH. 37 [ 
 
 of his second in command to take ground. Jones' 
 prompt approach and the heavy fire poured upon 
 them made it impossible to float the stranded ships. 
 They both of them keeled over on the shoal and 
 could make no defense. Their flags were struck, 
 and they were abandoned by their crews. The 
 other Turkish ships were so discouraged by this 
 mishap that they withdrew toward Otchakoff, their 
 flight being accelerated by the tremendous fire 
 poured upon them by the Wolodimer and the other 
 Russian ships. Just as the Wolodimer reached the 
 stranded ship of the capitan pasha, Alexiano, who 
 found himself sufficiently near to the enemy, 
 ordered the anchor of the Wolodimer to be let go 
 without informing Jones. As the order was given 
 in Russian, Jones knew nothing about it until the 
 motion of the ship was stopped. 
 
 There was plenty of fight in the Turkish admiral, 
 who seems to have i^een a very gallant old fellow, 
 for after the loss of the flagship he hoisted his flag 
 on one of the gunboats and brought up the flotilla, 
 which poured a furious fire from its heavy guns 
 upon the right division of Jones' squadron, to which 
 the lighter guns of the ships could make but little 
 reply. The situation became dangerous for the 
 squadron. One of the Russian frigates, the Little 
 Alexander, was set on fire and blown up by the 
 Turkish shot, and the fortune of the day trembled 
 in the balance. 
 
 The light-draught gunboats each carried a large 
 .gun, heavier, and therefore of greater range, than 
 any on the ships. The shallow water would not 
 permit the ships to draw near enough to the flotilla
 
 372 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 to make effective use of their greater number of 
 guns. Hence, under the circumstances, the squad- 
 ron was always at the mercy of the flotilla unless by 
 some means they could get into close action, in 
 which case the ships would have made short work 
 of the gunboats. Jones' position was therefore one 
 of extreme peril untenable, in fact, without the 
 help of his own flotilla. The Russian flotilla had 
 followed the squadron in a very leisurely and dis- 
 orderly manner, so slowly that Jones had twice 
 checked the way of his ships to allow them to come 
 within hailing distance. He now dispatched a re- 
 quest to Nassau to bring up his gunboats on the 
 right flank and drive off the Turkish gunboats, 
 thus enabling him to take possession of the two 
 frigates, which had been abandoned by their crews, 
 and continue the pursuit of the flying Turkish 
 ships. 
 
 No attention was paid to this and repeated re- 
 quests, and Jones finallytook his boat and went him- 
 self in search of Nassau's galley to entreat him to 
 attack the Turkish flotilla. He found Nassau in the 
 rear of the left flank, far from the scene of action, 
 and bent only upon attacking the two ships which 
 were incapable of defense. Unable to persuade him 
 to act, Jones at last appealed to Nassau's second, 
 Brigadier Corsacoff, who finally moved against the 
 Turks and drove them off with great loss after a 
 hard fight. Jones meanwhile returned to the Wolo- 
 dimer both journeys having been made under a 
 furious fire, in the midst of a general action, in 
 which upward of thirty-six ships of considerable 
 size and possibly a hundred gunboats were partici-
 
 NASSAU'S FOLLY. 
 
 373 
 
 pating but before he could get under way Nassau, 
 with some of his flotilla, surrounded the two aban- 
 doned ships and set fire to them by means of a 
 peculiar kind of a bomb shell called brandkugcls 
 (hollow spheres, filled with combustibles and per- 
 forated with holes, which were fired from a piece 
 called a I iconic). The Turkish fleet and flotilla, 
 very much shattered, retreated to a safe position 
 under the walls of Otchakoff, thus ending the fight- 
 ing for that day. Nassau's action was inexcusable. 
 The two ships he so wantonly destroyed would have 
 been a valuable addition to the Russian navy, and, as 
 they were commanded by the Wolodimer and the 
 rest of the squadron, they could not have been re- 
 captured, and could easily have been removed from 
 the shoals. 
 
 The Turkish defeat had been a severe one, but 
 the only trophy which remained in the hands of the 
 Russians was the flag of the capitan pasha. A shot 
 from one of the gunboats having carried* it away, it 
 fell into the water, whence it was picked up by some 
 Zaporojian boatmen, who brought it to the Prince 
 of Nassau's boat. Jones happened to be on board 
 of it at the time. The flag certainly belonged to 
 him, but he magnanimously yielded it to Nassau 
 in the hope of pacifying that worthless individual. 
 It was by this time late in the afternoon, but Jones 
 gave orders to get under way toward Otchakoff. 
 Now was the proper time to advance and deliver 
 a return blow upon the broken enemy, but now 
 Nassau desired to remain where he was. Jones was 
 inflexible as usual, and determined to finish the job 
 so auspiciously begun. Accordingly, the anchor of
 
 374 
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the Wolodimer was lifted and she got under way, 
 followed by the remaining ships of the squadron. 
 Having approached as near to Otchakoff as the 
 shoal water permitted, Jones anchored his vessels 
 across the channel in such a position as to cover the 
 
 JTu.6i.rn fl>inS, I** 1 -''''"' ,''' "^J^S 
 
 BtW\ ., .' ~~ *- 
 
 MAP OF THE 
 
 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LIMAN 
 
 II Central Action June 28-29. 
 
 III Dettruftim of Turkieh Fleet 
 after the battle . 
 
 IV Attack an Turtitlt yalleft 
 
 Iff Jona and theHuainn FotUla 
 
 passage to the sea. If the Turkish vessels attempted 
 to escape, they would have to pass under the guns 
 of the squadron, and would find themselves within 
 easy range of the formidable battery at Kinburn 
 Point. Nassau's flotilla at last following, the squad- 
 ron was massed on the right flank. 
 
 The Turkish fleet and flotilla were drawn up in 
 line parallel to the Russians, under cover of the
 
 A BOLD RECONNOISANCE. 
 
 375 
 
 Otchakoff batteries ; they still presented a threat- 
 ening appearance, but the severe handling they had 
 received during the day had taken much of the fight 
 out of them. Having disposed his squadron and 
 flotilla to the best advantage, and being unable to 
 proceed further without coming under the fire of 
 the heavy Otchakoff batteries, there was nothing 
 left for Jones but to hold his position and wait 
 another attack. 
 
 In order, however, to familiarize himself with the 
 field of future operations, and see if he had properly 
 placed his force, just before sunset he took sound- 
 ings in a small boat all along the Turkish line within 
 range of case shot from the Otchakoff batteries, and 
 from the Turkish ships as well. His action was a 
 part of his impudent hardihood. His dashing at- 
 tack had so discouraged the Turks, and his success 
 of the morning had so disheartened them, that not 
 a single gun was fired upon him. Having com- 
 pleted his investigations to his satisfaction, he re- 
 turned to the flagship. 
 
 That night the Turkish admiral attempted to 
 escape with his remaining ships and rejoin his main 
 fleet on the Black Sea outside of Kinburn Point. 
 In an endeavor to avoid Jones' squadron on the one 
 hand, and the battery on the point on the other, nine 
 of his largest ships ran on a shoal. The attempt to 
 escape was made under the fire of the fort and 
 ships, in which the flotillas and Fort Hassan joined. 
 A few of the ships succeeded in getting to sea ; the 
 rest were forced to return to their position of safety 
 under the walls of Otchakoff. 
 
 When morning came, the plight of the nine ships
 
 376 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 aground was plainly visible. Suvorof, who had 
 commanded the Kinburn battery in person that 
 night, immediately signaled Jones to send vessels 
 to take possession of the Turkish ships. Jones de- 
 cided to send the light frigates of his squadron, but 
 it being represented to him by Brigadier Alexiano 
 that the place where the Turks had grounded was 
 dangerous and the current running like a mill 
 stream with the ebb tide, upon the advice of his 
 captains he turned over the duty of taking posses- 
 sion of the Turkish ships to the flotilla. Alexiano, 
 having received permission, went with the Prince of 
 Nassau. 
 
 The boats of the flotilla soon reached the Turkish 
 ships. When they came within range of them they 
 opened a furious fire, to which the latter made no 
 reply. In their helpless position, heeling every way 
 upon the shoal, it was impossible for them to make 
 any defense. They struck their flags and surren- 
 dered their ships. The Russian gunboats paid no 
 attention whatever to this circumstance, but con- 
 tinued to fire upon them, drawing nearer and nearer 
 as they realized the helplessness of the Turks. Re- 
 sorting to brandkugcls again, they at last set the 
 ships on fire. The hapless Turks in vain implored 
 mercy, kneeling upon the decks and even making 
 the sign of the cross in the hope of touching the 
 hearts of their ruthless and bloodthirsty antagonists. 
 Seven frigates and corvettes were burned to the 
 water's edge with all their crews. It is estimated 
 that about three thousand Turks perished in this 
 brutal and frightful butchery. Nassau and Alexiano 
 enjoyed the situation from a galley at a safe dis,-
 
 RUSSIAN CRUELTY. 377 
 
 tance in the rear of the attacking force. By chance 
 two of the vessels were not consumed, and were 
 hauled off later and added to the squadron. 
 
 ' Jones viewed the dreadful slaughter of the Turks 
 with unmitigated horror and surprise. A man of 
 merciful disposition and kindly heart, who never in- 
 flicted unnecessary suffering, he was shocked and 
 revolted at the ferocity of his new associates. He 
 protested against their action with all his energy, 
 and laid the foundation thereby of an utter break- 
 down of the relations between Nassau and himself. 
 Besides being horribly cruel, the whole perform- 
 ance was unnecessary. Like the two ships burned 
 the day before, it was possible to have saved them, 
 and they could have been added to Jones' command 
 and would have doubled his effective force. After 
 the destruction of the Turkish vessels Nassau and 
 Alexiano immediately dispatched a report of the 
 operations to Patiomkine. They claimed that the 
 flotilla had captured two and burned nine ships of 
 the line ! 
 
 Patiomkine, who was at this time extremely fond 
 of Nassau, forwarded this preposterous statement to 
 the empress, with strong expressions of approbation 
 of Nassau's conduct. He gave him the whole credit 
 of the victory, which was entirely due to Jones, and 
 suppressed the fact of his ruthless and reckless de- 
 struction of the surrendered ships, which would 
 have been so valuable a re-enforcement to the gov- 
 ernment. In this report Patiomkine also spoke fa- 
 vorably of the rear admiral, saying that he had done 
 his duty, but that the particular glory of and credit 
 for the success was due to the princeling who had
 
 378 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 hung on the outskirts and lagged behind when there 
 was any real fighting to be done. 
 
 For some ten days the naval force remained in- 
 active, waiting for Patiomkine to complete his in- 
 vestment of the town. On the night of the 8th of 
 July the marshal sent orders to Nassau to advance 
 with his flotilla and destroy the Turkish flotilla un- 
 der the walls of Otchakoff. Jones was commanded 
 to give him every assistance possible. The weather 
 prevented the carrying out of the orders for a few 
 days. On the night of the I2th of July, however, 
 at one o'clock in the morning, the advance began. 
 The plan of attack had been arranged by the mar- 
 shal himself, but circumstances prevented its being 
 followed. But that did not matter ; Patiomkine was 
 not a military genius, and Jones knew very much 
 better than he what could or should be done in a 
 naval engagement. As it was impossible to use 
 the ships of the squadron, Jones manned all his 
 boats, and led them to tow the gunboats. 
 
 As day broke on the I2th of July, the flotilla, 
 having advanced within gunshot distance of the 
 walls, began firing upon the Turkish boats and on 
 Otchakoff itself. After assisting in placing the Rus- 
 sian gunboats in an advantageous position, Jones, 
 with the boats of the Wolodimer, made for five of 
 the enemy's galleys which lay within easy range of 
 the heavy guns of Fort Hassan. These galleys were 
 subjected to a cross fise from the Russian flotilla on 
 one side and Fort Hassan on the other. They were 
 also covered by the guns of the Turkish flotilla and 
 the citadel of Otchakoff. Their position made the 
 attack a most hazardous one. Jones was far in ad-
 
 HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING. 
 
 379 
 
 vance of the gunboats, which, under the supine 
 leadership of Nassau, did not manifest a burning 
 anxiety to get into close action. In spite of a furi- 
 ous fire which was poured upon them, Jones dashed 
 gallantly at the nearest galley. It was taken by 
 boarding after a fierce hand-to-hand fight. Turn- 
 ing the command of the galley over to Lieutenant 
 Fabricien with instructions for him to tow her out 
 of action, Jones then assaulted the next galley, which 
 happened to be that of the capitan pasha. This boat 
 lay nearer the fort and was much better defended, 
 but the Russians, under the inspiring leadership of 
 their admiral, would not be denied, and the galley 
 was presently his prize. The cable of this boat was 
 cut without order, and she immediately drifted to- 
 ward the shore and took ground near Fort Hassan, 
 where she was subjected to a smashing fire from the 
 Turkish batteries close at hand. Jones was deter- 
 mined to bring out the boat as a prize if possible. 
 He caused the galley to be lightened by throwing 
 everything movable overboard, and meanwhile dis- 
 patched Lieutenant Fox to the Wolodimer to fetch 
 a kedge and line, by which he could warp her into 
 the channel. 
 
 While waiting for the return of this officer he 
 again manned his boats and endeavored to bring 
 up the Russian flotilla. He was partially successful 
 in this attempt, for they succeeded in compelling the 
 three other galleys of the group with which he had 
 been engaged to strike their flags and in forcing the 
 other gunboats to retreat with severe loss. When 
 Fox returned from the Wolodimer a line was run 
 from the galley to the burned wreck of a Turkish
 
 380 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ship, but, before the galley could be moved, Jones, 
 who had re-entered his barge, was intensely sur- 
 prised and annoyed to see fire break out on the two 
 vessels he had captured. They had been deliber- 
 ately set on fire by the orders of Alexiano. The 
 other three Turkish galleys were also burned by the 
 use of the deadly brandkugcls. Tt was brutal cruelty 
 again. Not one was saved from the five galleys ex- 
 cept fifty-two prisoners whom Jones personally 
 brought off in his boats from the two which he had 
 captured by hard hand-to-hand fighting. These 
 galleys appear to have been propelled by oars which 
 were driven by slaves on benches, in the well-known 
 manner of the middle ages. As they were Turkish 
 galleys, the slaves were probably captive Christians. 
 They perished with the Turks left on board. Two 
 more ships belonging to the squadron which had 
 endeavored to escape the w r eek previous, were set 
 on fire and burned under the w-alls of Fort Hassan. 
 The rest of the flotilla effected nothing, and under 
 the orders of Nassau withdrew to their former posi- 
 tion. 
 
 This action ended the general naval maneuvers 
 which were undertaken. In this short and brilliant 
 campaign of three weeks Jones had fought four 
 general actions, all of which he personally directed. 
 With fifteen vessels against twenty-one he had so 
 maneuvered that the enemy lost many galleys and 
 no less than thirteen of his ships ; a few had escaped, 
 and a few were locked up in the harbor, so that the 
 Turkish naval force in the Liman was not only de- 
 feated but practically annihilated by Jones' brilliant 
 and successful leadership and fighting. Eleven
 
 A BRILLIANT CAMPAIGN. 381 
 
 ships might have been prizes had it not been for 
 the cruelty and criminal folly of Nassau. Jones had 
 captured by hand-to-hand righting two of the 
 largest of the enemy's galleys. He had shown him- 
 self a strategist in his disposition of the fleet at the 
 mouth of the Bug, and later, when he had placed it 
 to command the mouth of the Liman. He had 
 demonstrated his qualities as a tactician in the two 
 boat attacks, and had shown his usual impetuous 
 courage at all times. Nassau had done nothing that 
 was wise or that was gallant. When Jones was not 
 with him his tendency was always to retreat. The 
 orders which brought the flotilla into action which 
 made the brilliant combination on the first day's 
 fight, by which the Turks were outflanked, were 
 issued by Jones himself. 
 
 Nassau, like Landais, was " skilled in keeping out 
 of harm's way," and he did not personally get into 
 action at any time. His services consisted in the 
 useless burning of the nine ships and the five gal- 
 leys, but he had a ready tongue, and he still enjoyed 
 the full favor .and confidence of Patiomkine. As 
 soon as the flotilla had retired from the last conflict, 
 he and Alexfano hastened to the army headquarters 
 to report their conquests and exploits. They lost 
 nothing in the telling. In accordance with Nassau's 
 previous statement to Jones, they were very much 
 exaggerated, and the actions of the rear admiral 
 were accorded scant notice. 
 
 Patiomkine received the two cowards graciously, 
 and, as usual, forwarded their reports. Jones was 
 not accustomed to this performance, and in igno- 
 rance of their actions took no steps to establish the
 
 382 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 value of his services beyond making a report of what 
 he had done in the usual way a report quietly 
 suppressed. Two days after Alexiano returned on 
 board the Wolodimer in the throes of a malignant 
 fever, of which he died on the iQth of July. It had 
 been asserted that every Greek in the squadron 
 would immediately resign upon the death of Alexi- 
 ano, but nothing of the kind took place. The 
 Greeks, like the English and the Russians, remained 
 contentedly under the command of the rear admiral. 
 On the day he died Catherine granted Alexiano a 
 fine estate in White Russia. At the same time Nas- 
 sau received a valuable estate with several thousand 
 serfs in White Russia, and the military order of St. 
 George. The empress also directed him to hoist 
 the flag of a vice admiral when Otchakoff surren- 
 dered. Jones received the minor order of St. Anne, 
 an- order with which he would have been perfectly 
 satisfied if the other officers had been awarded noth- 
 ing more. 
 
 All the officers of the flotilla were promoted one 
 step, and received a year's pay with a gold-mounted 
 sword. They were most of them soldiers. The offi- 
 cers of the squadron, who were all sailors, and who 
 had conducted themselves gallantly and well, ob- 
 tained no promotion, received no pecuniary reward, 
 and no mark of distinction was conferred upon 
 them. They were naturally indignant at being so 
 slighted, but when Jones promised them that he 
 would demand justice for them at the close of the 
 campaign, they stifled their vexation and continued 
 their service. 
 
 It is evident that the failure to ascribe the vie-
 
 RUPTURE WITH NASSAU. 383 
 
 tory to Jones was due to Patiomkine, and his action 
 in giving the credit to Nassau was deliberate. Jones 
 and Nassau had seriously disagreed. The scorn 
 which ability and courage feel for inefficiency and 
 cowardice had not been concealed by the admiral ; 
 he had been outspoken in his censure, and not re- 
 served in his strictures upon Nassau's conduct. He 
 had treated the ideas and suggestions of that foolish 
 commander with the indifference they merited, and 
 had allowed no opportunity to pass of exhibiting 
 his contempt which was natural, but impolitic. 
 
 He seems to have made the effort in the begin- 
 ning to get along pleasantly with Nassau, and to 
 work with him for the good of the service ; but, after 
 the demonstration of Nassau's lack of character and 
 capacity in the first action, and after the repeated 
 failure of the prince to maneuver the flotilla in the 
 most ordinary manner, Jones lost all patience with 
 him. Patiomkine had endeavored to establish har- 
 mony and good feeling between the two, not only by 
 letters, but by a personal visit which he paid the rear 
 admiral on the Wolodimer on the 29th of June. He 
 did everything on that occasion to persuade Nassau 
 to' make an apology for some remarks he had ad- 
 dressed to Jones previously, and, having done so, 
 effected some kind of a reconciliation, but the dif- 
 ferences between them were so wide Nassau was 
 so worthless and Jones so capable, while both were 
 hot-tempered that the breach between them was 
 greater than before. 
 
 Between the two Patiomkine, while not at first 
 unfriendly to Jones, much preferred Nassau. 
 Hence his action. Not only did Patiomkine enjoin
 
 384 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 harmony, but Littlepage, the American, whom we 
 have seen before as the chamberlain of the King 
 of Poland, who had accepted the command of one 
 of the ships under Jones, also wrote him to the 
 same effect. 
 
 Jones received his letter in the spirit in which it 
 was written, and assured the writer that he had 
 borne more from Nassau than he would have done 
 from any other than a madman, and he promised to 
 continue to try to do so. The effort was a failure. 
 Littlepage himself, unable to endure the animosities 
 engendered between the squadron and the flotilla, 
 threw up his command and returned to Warsaw. 
 His parting counsel to Jones showed that he well 
 understood the situation. 
 
 " Farewell, my dear admiral ; take care of your- 
 self, and look to whom you trust. Remember that 
 you have rather to play the part of a politician than 
 a warrior more of a courtier than a soldier." 
 
 Jones indorsed upon this note the following re- 
 mark : 
 
 " I was not skilled in playing such a part. I 
 never neglected my duty." 
 
 To resume the narrative : After the defeat in the 
 Liman, the grand Turkish fleet sailed away from 
 Otchakoff, which was then strictly blockaded by 
 Jones' squadron, assisted by thirty-five armed boats 
 which had been placed under his command. At 
 the end of July the Turkish fleet, having had an 
 indecisive engagement with the Russians at Sebas- 
 topol, returned to Otchakoff. Preparations were
 
 BLOCKADING OTCHAKOFF. 385 
 
 made by Jones to receive an attack, but none was 
 delivered. Three ships attempted to run the block- 
 ade : one was sunk, and the others got in with dif- 
 ficulty. Nothing of importance happened during 
 the months of August and September, in which 
 Jones continued an effective blockade, although he 
 undertook some minor operations at the request of 
 the marshal. 
 
 Patiomkine carried on the siege in a very des- 
 ultory manner. In accordance with his contradic- 
 tory nature he sometimes pressed operations vigor- 
 ously, and then for weeks did nothing. He seems to 
 have had a harem in his camp, which perhaps ac- 
 counts for his dawdling. Nassau, with his usual 
 boastfulness, sent word to Patiomkine that if he had 
 permission he would take the boats of the flotilla 
 and knock a breach in the walls of Otchakoff big 
 enough to admit two regiments ; whereupon Pati- 
 omkine asked him wittily how many breaches he 
 had made in Gibraltar, and removed him from his 
 command. He was sent northward, where he still 
 managed to hold the favor of the empress. This 
 did not greatly improve Jones' situation, however, 
 for the relations between him and Patiomkine had 
 become so strained as to be impossible. 
 
 On the 24th of October Patiomkine sent him 
 the following order : 
 
 " As it is seen that the capitan pasha comes in 
 his kirlangich from the grand fleet to the smaller 
 vessels, and as before quitting this he may attempt 
 something, I request your excellence, the capitan 
 pasha having actually a greater number of vessels, 
 26
 
 386 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 to hold yourself in readiness to receive him cour- 
 ageously, and drive him back. I require that this 
 be done without loss of time ; if not, you will be 
 made answerable for every neglect." 
 
 Indorsing this insulting document as follows : 
 " A warrior is always ready, and I had not come 
 there an apprentice," Jones immediately returned a 
 spirited answer, part of which is quoted : 
 
 " MONSEIGNEUR : I have the honour to transmit 
 to your highness a plan of the position in which I 
 placed the squadron under my command this morn- 
 ing, in conformity to your orders of yesterday. . . . 
 I have always conformed myself immediately, with- 
 out murmuring, and most exactly, to the commands 
 of your highness ; and on occasions when you have 
 deigned to leave anything to my own discretion I 
 have been exceedingly flattered, and believe you 
 have had no occasion to repent. At present, in case 
 the capitan pacha does resolve on attempting any- 
 thing before his departure, I can give assurance be- 
 forehand that the brave officers and crews I have 
 the honour to command will do their duty ' cour- 
 ageously,' though they have not yet been rewarded 
 for the important services they have already per- 
 formed for the empire under my eyes. I answer 
 with my honour to explain myself fairly on this deli- 
 cate point at the end of the campaign. In the 
 meantime I may merely say that it is upon the 
 sacred promise I have given them of demanding 
 justice from your highness in their behalf that they 
 have consented to stifle their grievances and keep 
 silent."
 
 QUARREL WITH PATIOMKINE. 387 
 
 This provoked a reply from Patiomkine and an- 
 other tart rejoinder from Jones. The correspond- 
 ence, in which on one occasion Jones had stated 
 that " every man who thinks is master of his own 
 opinion, and this is mine " good doctrine for the 
 United States, impossible in Russia terminated by 
 another order from Patiomkine, which closed as 
 follows : 
 
 " Should the enemy attempt to pass Oczakow, 
 prevent him by every means and defend yourself 
 courageously." 
 
 Jones' indorsement on this document was as 
 follows : 
 
 " It will be hard to believe that Prince Potem- 
 kin addressed such words to Paul Jones ! " 
 
 But the patience of the prince had reached its 
 limit, and on the 28th he summarily relieved Jones 
 of his command, and replaced him by Vice-Admiral 
 Mordwinoff, who had received him so coldly when 
 he arrived at Kherson six months before. 
 
 The order relieving him is as follows : 
 
 " According to the special desire of her Imperial 
 Majesty, your service is fixed in the northern seas ; 
 and as this squadron and the flotilla are placed by 
 me under the orders of the vice admiral and the 
 Chevalier de Mordwinoff, your excellency may in 
 consequence proceed on the voyage directed ; prin- 
 cipally, as the squadron in the Liman, on account of 
 the season being so far advanced, can not now be 
 united with that of Sevastopol."
 
 388 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 The northern sea service was only a pretext, but 
 on the 3Oth Jones replied with the following brief 
 note : 
 
 " I am much flattered that her Majesty yet 
 deigns to interest herself about me ; but what I shall 
 ever regret is the loss of your regard. I will not 
 say that it is not difficult to find more skilful sea 
 officers than myself I know well that it is a very 
 possible thing; but I feel emboldened to say that 
 you will never find a man more susceptible of a 
 faithful attachment or more zealous in the discharge 
 of his duty. I forgive my enemies who are near 
 you for the painful blow aimed at me ; but if there 
 is a just God, it will be difficult for Him to do as 
 much." 
 
 Patiomkine was intensely angered by this note, 
 and he took serious exception to the implication 
 that he had been influenced against Jones by any 
 one. Jones states in one of his letters that when he 
 took leave of Patiomkine a few days afterward, the 
 prince remarked with much anger : 
 
 " Don't believe that anyone leads me. No one 
 leads me ! " he shouted, rising and stamping his 
 foot, " not even the Empress ! " which was correct. 
 The jesting interrogation with which Catherine 
 closes one of her letters to Patiomkine by saying, 
 " Have I done well, -my master ? " contained much 
 truth. However, he moderated his tone somewhat 
 in the face of the sturdy dignity of Jones, and, before 
 the admiral started for St. Petersburg, Patiomkine 
 gave him the following letter to the empress :
 
 RETURNS TO ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 389 
 
 " MADAM : In sending to the high throne of your 
 Imperial Majesty Rear-Admiral M. Paul Jones, I 
 take, with submission, the liberty of certifying the 
 eagerness and zeal which he has ever shown for the 
 service of your Imperial Majesty, and to render 
 himself worthy of the high favour of your Imperial 
 Majesty." 
 
 Having given the officers he commanded, who 
 seem to have become much attached to him, testi- 
 monials as to the high value of their services, Jones 
 embarked in a small open galley on the ist of De- 
 cember for Kherson. He was three days and three 
 nights on the way, and suffered greatly from the 
 extreme cold. He arrived at Kherson dangerously 
 ill, and was unable to proceed upon his journey until 
 the i /th of December. When he reached Eliza- 
 bethgrad he received word that Otchakoft" had been 
 taken by storm the day he had departed from Kher- 
 son ; over twenty thousand Turks were put to the 
 sword on that occasion. He arrived at St. Peters- 
 burg on the 8th of January, 1789, and was ordered 
 to appear at court on the nth, when the empress 
 awarded him a private interview, at which he pre- 
 sented the letter of Patiomkine. A few days after- 
 ward Catherine sent him word that she would wait 
 the arrival of the prince before deciding what to do 
 with him.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SLANDERED IN RUSSIA A SLAVONIC REWARD FOR 
 FAITHFUL SERVICES. 
 
 PATIOMKINE did not reach St. Petersburg until 
 the middle of February, and while waiting for him 
 Jones busied himself with formulating suggestions 
 for a political and commercial alliance between 
 Russia and the United States, one feature of which 
 involved an attack upon Algiers. In addition to 
 holding a large number of American prisoners in 
 captivity, the Algerines had made common cause 
 with the Turks, and had been present in large num- 
 bers before Otchakoff. When Patiomkine did ar- 
 rive, the project was submitted to him, but it was 
 not thought expedient to attempt it at the time, lest 
 it should result in the irritation of England. Dur- 
 ing this time the commodore wrote to Jefferson and 
 learned for the first time that all the letters he had 
 written since he entered the Russian service had been 
 intercepted. When he examined the official reports 
 concerning his actions, which had been forwarded 
 from the Liman, he found that he had been grossly 
 misrepresented, and the reports were false even to 
 the most trifling details. 
 
 His situation was very different from what it 
 had been when he entered St. Petersburg before. 
 390
 
 AN AWFUL CHARGE. 
 
 391 
 
 Antagonized secretly by Patiomkine, and openly by 
 Nassau and the English at court, his favor appre- 
 ciably waned. The old story about the insubordi- 
 nate carpenter whom he had punished in the West 
 Indies was revived, and in its new version the car- 
 penter became his nephew, and it was stated that he 
 had flogged him to death. This was the precursor 
 of a more deadly scandal. His occasional invita- 
 tions to court functions became less and less fre- 
 quent, and the coldness in official circles more 
 and more marked. Finally, in the month of April, 
 when he appeared at the palace to pay his respects 
 to the empress, he was refused admittance, and 
 unceremoniously ordered to leave the precincts. 
 
 This deadly insult, this public disgrace, which 
 of course at once became a matter of general knowl- 
 edge, was due to a most degrading accusation 
 made against his character. To discover the origin 
 of this slander is difficult indeed. In the first flush 
 of his anger Jones specifically charged that his Eng- 
 lish enemies, whose animosities were not softened 
 by time, were the authors of the calumny. It is im- 
 possible to believe that any English officer could 
 descend to such depths, nor is it necessary to credit 
 the report that his disgrace was due to them. The 
 Russian court was as full of intrigue as that of an 
 Oriental despot. Jones was out of favor. He had 
 succeeded in creating powerful enemies for himself 
 in Nassau and Patiomkine. The latter gentleman 
 had negatived a promising plan in the hope of there- 
 by pleasing England, with whom Russia was now 
 coquetting. If he were the instigator of the cabal 
 against Jones, he might have thought the disgrace
 
 392 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 of the man they hated would gratify the English 
 people. If he could bring this about without com- 
 promising himself he would not hesitate to take the 
 required action. Nassau had very strong reasons 
 for hating Jones, who made no secret of his con- 
 tempt for that pseudo princeling. At any rate, 
 whatever the source or origin, there is no doubt 
 as to the situation. 
 
 Jones was accused of having outraged a young 
 girl of menial station, who was only ten years old ! 
 The charge was false from beginning to end. It 
 had absolutely no foundation, but with the peculiar 
 methods in vogue in Russia, it was not easy to estab- 
 lish his innocence. He was not only presumed, but 
 was declared guilty, without investigation. The 
 advocate he employed was ordered to abandon his 
 case, and he found himself in the position of one 
 condemned beyond hope with no opportunity for 
 justification. He- was ever jealous on the point 
 of his personal honor, and to see himself thus 
 cruelly stigmatized at the close of a long, honor- 
 able, and brilliant career nearly drove him frantic. 
 After exhausting unavailingly every means to force 
 a consideration of his case and an examination 
 of evidence which he succeeded in securing with 
 great difficulty, he fell into despair and seriously 
 contemplated suicide. He was not the man that 
 he had been. Already within a few years of his 
 death, although only forty-one, his constitution 
 was so broken that his strength was seriously 
 undermined. 
 
 Providence raised up for him a friend in the 
 person of de Segur, the French ambassador at
 
 APPEAL TO PATIOMKINE. 
 
 393 
 
 Catherine's court. This man should be held in eter- 
 nal gratitude by all Americans nay, by all who 
 love honor and fair play for he did not permit him- 
 self to be influenced, as is the wont of courtiers, 
 by the withdrawal of royal favor from the chevalier, 
 whom he had known in happier days and under 
 more favorable circumstances. He had been Jones' 
 friend when he had been in the zenith of his ca- 
 reer, and he remained his friend in this nadir of 
 his misfortunes. The part that he played in the 
 transaction can be best understood by his own 
 statement, confirmed by 'two letters written by 
 Jones. The first letter is addressed to Patiomkine. 
 It had been written before the visit of de Segur: 
 
 " ST. PETERSBURG, April 13, 1789. 
 
 " MY LORD : Having had the advantage to serve 
 under your orders and in your sight, I remember, 
 with particular satisfaction, the kind promises and 
 testimonies of your friendship with which you have 
 honoured me. As I served all my life for honour, 
 I had no other motive for accepting the flattering 
 invitation of her Imperial Majesty than a laudable 
 ambition to distinguish myself in the service of a 
 sovereign so magnanimous and illustrious ; for I 
 never yet have bent the knee to self-interest, nor 
 drawn my sword for hire. . . . 
 
 " A bad woman has accused me of violating her 
 daughter ! If she had told the truth I should have 
 had candour enough to own it, and would trust my 
 honour, which is a thousand times dearer to me than 
 my life, to the mercy of the empress. I declare, 
 with an assurance becoming a military character,
 
 3Q4 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 that I am innocent. Till, that unhappy moment I 
 have enjoyed the public esteem, and the affection of 
 all who knew me. Shall it be said that in Russia a 
 wretched woman, who eloped from her husband and 
 family in the country, stole azi'av her daughter, lives 
 here in a house of bad fame, and leads a debauched 
 and adulterous life, has found credit enough on a 
 simple complaint, unsupported by any proof, to 
 affect the honour of a general officer of reputation, 
 who has merited and received the decorations of 
 America, of France, and of this empire ? 
 
 " If I had been favoured with the least intima- 
 tion of a complaint of that nature having found its 
 way "to the sovereign, I know too well what belongs 
 to delicacy to have presented myself in the presence 
 of the empress before my justification. 
 
 " My servant was kept prisoner by the officers of 
 police for several hours, two days successively, and 
 threatened with the, knout. 
 
 " After the examination of my people before the 
 police, I sent for and employed Monsieur Crimpin 
 as my advocate. As the mother had addressed her- 
 self to him before to plead her cause, she naturally 
 spoke to him without reserve, and he learned from 
 her a number of important facts, among others, that 
 she was counselled and supported by a distinguished 
 man of the court. 
 
 " By the certificate of the father, attested by the 
 pastor of the colony, the daughter is several years 
 older than is expressed in the complaint. And the 
 complaint contains various other points equally false 
 and easy to be refuted. For instance, there is a con- 
 versation I am said to have held with the daughter
 
 APPEAL TO PATIOMKINE. 
 
 395 
 
 in the Russian language, of which no person ever 
 heard me pronounce two words together; it is 
 unknown to me. 
 
 " I thought that in every country a man accused 
 had a right to employ advocates, and to avail him- 
 self of his friends for his justification. Judge, my 
 prince, of my astonishment and distress of mind, 
 when I yesterday was informed that the day before 
 the governor of the city had sent for my advocate, 
 and forbidden him, at his peril, or any other person, 
 to meddle with my cause! 
 
 " I am innocent before God, and my conscience 
 knows no reproach. The complaint brought 
 against me is an infamous lie, and there is no cir- 
 cumstance that gives it even an air of probability. 
 
 " I address myself to you with confidence, my 
 prince, and am assured that the friendship you have 
 so kindly promised me will be immediately exerted 
 in my favour ; and that you will not suffer the illus- 
 trious sovereign of this great empire to be misled 
 by the false insinuations and secret cabals of my 
 hidden enemies. Your mind will find more true 
 pleasure in pleading the cause of an innocent man 
 whom you honour with your friendship than can 
 result from other victories equally glorious with 
 that of Oczakow, which will always rank among the 
 most brilliant of military achievements. If your 
 highness will condescend to question Monsieur 
 Crimpin (for he dare not now even speak to me), he 
 can tell you many circumstances which will eluci- 
 date my innocence. .1 am, with profound respect, 
 my lord, your highness's devoted and most obedient 
 servant," etc.
 
 396 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 This letter was accompanied by certificates 
 which fully established the character of the wretched 
 woman by whose agency his ruin had been sought. 
 The letter is dignified and touching. It is the pas- 
 sionate protest of an innocent man against an ac- 
 cusation concerning that which he had ever held 
 dearer than life his honor. It carries conviction 
 with it. Incidentally it throws much light upon the 
 Russian legal methods of that day. Never does 
 Jones appear in a better light. But it was sent to an 
 utterly unresponsive man. Honor, justice, inno- 
 cence, were idle words to Patiomkine. No reply 
 was made to the note, and Jones abandoned him- 
 self to despair. The narrative of de Segur is taken 
 from his memoirs, and, excepting in some minor 
 details, is substantially correct : 
 
 " The American rear admiral was favourably 
 welcomed at court ; often invited to dinner by the 
 empress, and received with distinction into the best 
 society in the city; on a sudden Catherine com- 
 manded him to appear no more in her presence. 
 
 " He was informed that he was accused of an 
 infamous crime : of assaulting a young girl of four- 
 teen, of grossly violating her; and that probably, 
 after some preliminary information, he would be 
 tried by the courts of admiralty, in which there were 
 many English officers, who were strongly preju- 
 diced against him. 
 
 " As soon as this order was known every one 
 abandoned the unhappy American ; no one spoke 
 to him, people avoided saluting him, and every 
 door was shut against him. All those by whom
 
 DE SEGUR'S FRIENDSHIP. 397 
 
 but yesterday he had been eagerly welcomed now 
 fled from him as if he had been infected with a 
 plague ; besides, no advocate would take charge of 
 his cause, and no public man would consent to listen 
 to him ; at last even his servants would not con- 
 tinue in his service ; and Paul Jones, whose exploits 
 every one had so recently been ready to proclaim, 
 and whose friendship had been sought after, found 
 himself alone in the midst of an immense popula- 
 tion ; Petersburg, a great capital, became to him a 
 desert. 
 
 " I went to see him ; he was moved even to tears 
 by my visit. ' I was unwilling,' he said to me, shak- 
 ing me by the hand, ' to knock at your door and 
 to expose myself to a fresh affront, which would 
 have been more cutting than all the rest. I have 
 braved death a thousand times now I wish for it.' 
 His appearance, his arms being laid upon the table, 
 made me suspect some desperate intention. . 
 
 " ' Resume,' I said to him, ' your composure and 
 your courage. Do you not know that human life, 
 like the sea, has its storms, and that fortune is even 
 more capricious than the winds ? If, as I hope, you 
 are innocent, brave this sudden tempest ; if, unhap- 
 pily, you are guilty, confess it to me with unreserved 
 frankness, and I will do everything I can to snatch 
 you, by a sudden flight, from the danger which 
 threatens you.' 
 
 " ' I swear to you upon my honour,' said he, 
 ' that I am innocent, and a victim of the most in- 
 famous calumny. This is the truth. Some days 
 since a young girl came to me in the morning, to 
 ask me if I could give her some linen or lace to
 
 398 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 mend. She then indulged in some rather earnest 
 and indecent allurements. Astonished at so much 
 boldness in one of such few years, I felt compassion 
 for her; I advised her not to enter upon so vile a 
 career, gave her some money, and dismissed her; 
 but she was determined to remain. 
 
 " ' Impatient at this resistance, I took her by the 
 hand and led her to the door; but, at the instant 
 when the door was opened, the little profligate tore 
 her sleeves and her neck-kerchief, raised great cries, 
 complained that I had assaulted her, and threw her- 
 self into the arms of an old woman, whom she called 
 her mother, and who certainly \vas not brought 
 there by chance. The mother and the daughter 
 raised the house with their cries, went out, and de- 
 nounced me ; and now you know all.' 
 
 ' Very well/ said I, ' but can not you learn the 
 names of those adventurers ? ' ' The porter knows 
 them,' he replied. ' Here are their names written 
 down, but I do not know w r here they live. I was 
 desirous of immediately presenting a memorial 
 about this ridiculous affair, first to the minister and 
 then to the empress ; but I have been interdicted 
 from access to both of them.' ' Give me the paper,' 
 I said ; ' resume your accustomed firmness ; be com- 
 forted ; let me undertake it ; in a short time we shall 
 meet again.' 
 
 " As soon as I returned home I directed some 
 sharp and intelligent agents, who were devoted to 
 me, to get information respecting these suspected 
 females, and to find out what was their mode of 
 life. I was not long in learning that the old 
 woman was in the habit of carrying on a vile
 
 DE SEGUK'S ADVICE. 
 
 traffic in young girls, whom she passed off as 
 her daughters. 
 
 " When I was furnished with all the documents 
 and attestations for which I had occasion, I hastened 
 to show them to Paul Jones. ' You have nothing 
 more to fear/ said I ; ' the wretches are unmasked. 
 It is only necessary to open the eyes of the empress, 
 and let her see how unworthily she has been de- 
 ceived ; but this is not so very easy ; truth encoun- 
 ters a multitude of people at the doors of a palace, 
 who are very clever in arresting its progress ; and 
 sealed letters are, of all others, those which are in- 
 tercepted with the greatest art and care. Never- 
 theless, I know that the empress, who is not igno- 
 rant of this, has directed under very heavy penalties 
 that no one shall detain on the way any letters which 
 are addressed to her personally, and which may be 
 sent to her by post ; therefore, here is a very long 
 letter which I have written to her in your name ; 
 nothing of the detail is omitted, although it contains 
 some rough expressions. I am sorry for the em- 
 press ; but since she heard and gave credit to a 
 calumny, it is but right that she should read the 
 justification with patience. Copy this letter, sign 
 it, and I will take charge of it ; I will send some 
 one to put it in the post at the nearest town. Take 
 courage ; believe me, your triumph is not doubt- 
 ful.' " 
 
 The contents of the letter which Jones was ad- 
 vised to copy and send are not now ascertainable, 
 but the following letter was written to the empress ; 
 and, while it is so evidently in Jones' own peculiar
 
 400 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 and characteristic style as to admit of no doubt as 
 to its authorship, he probably embodied in it the 
 suggestions of de Segur and substituted it for the 
 copy proposed : 
 
 " ST. PETERSBURG, May 17, ijSg. 
 
 " MADAM : I have never served but for honour ; 
 I have never sought but glory ; and I believed I was 
 in the way of obtaining both when I accepted the 
 offers made me on the part of your Majesty, of en- 
 tering into your service. ... I sacrificed my dear- 
 est interests to accept an invitation so flattering, and 
 I would have reached you instantly if the United 
 States had not entrusted me with a special com- 
 mission to Denmark. Of this I acquitted myself 
 faithfully and promptly. . . . The distinguished re- 
 ception which your Majesty deigned to grant me, 
 the kindness with which you loaded me, indemni- 
 fied me for the dangers to which I had exposed my- 
 self for your service, and inspired me with the most 
 ardent desire to encounter more. ... I besought 
 your Majesty never to condemn me unheard. You 
 condescended to give me that promise, and I set 
 out with a mind as tranquil as my heart was satis- 
 fied. . . . 
 
 " At the close of the campaign I received orders 
 to return to court, as your Majesty intended to em- 
 ploy me in the North Seas, and M. le Comte de 
 Besborodko acquainted me that a command of 
 greater importance than that of the Black Sea . . . 
 was intended for me. Such was my situation, when, 
 upon the mere accusation of a crime, the very idea 
 of which wounds my delicacy, I found myself driven 
 from court, deprived of the good opinion of your
 
 A SOLDIER'S WORD. 
 
 401 
 
 Majesty, and forced to employ the time which I 
 wish to devote to the defence of your empire in 
 cleansing from myself the stains with which cal- 
 umny has covered me. 
 
 " Condescend to believe, madam, that if I had 
 received the slightest hint that a complaint of such 
 a nature had been made against me, and still more, 
 that it had come to your Majesty's knowledge, I 
 know too well what is owing to delicacy to have 
 ventured before you till I was completely excul- 
 pated. 
 
 " Understanding neither the laws, the language, 
 nor the forms of justice in this country, I needed an 
 advocate, and obtained one ; but, whether from ter- 
 ror or intimidation, he stopped short all at once, and 
 durst not undertake my defence, though convinced 
 of the justice of my cause. But truth may always 
 venture to show itself alone and unsupported at the 
 foot of the throne of your Majesty. I have not hesi- 
 tated to labour unaided for my own vindication ; I 
 have collected proofs ; and if such details might ap- 
 pear under the eyes of your Majesty I would pre- 
 sent them ; but if your Majesty will deign to order 
 some person to examine them, it will be seen by 
 the report which will be made that my crime is a 
 fiction, invented by the cupidity of a wretched 
 woman, whose avarice has been countenanced, per- 
 haps incited, by the malice of my numerous enemies. 
 Her husband has himself certified and attested to 
 her infamous conduct. His signature is in my 
 hands, and the pastor, Braun, of the district, has as- 
 sured me that if the College of Justice will give him 
 an order to this effect he will obtain an attestation
 
 402 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 from the country people that the mother of the girl 
 referred to is known among them as a wretch ab- 
 solutely unworthy of belief. 
 
 " Take a soldier's word, madam ; believe an offi- 
 cer whom two great nations esteem, and who has 
 been honoured with flattering marks of their appro- 
 bation. ... I am innocent ; and if I were guilty I 
 would not hesitate to make a candid avowal of my 
 fault, and to commit my honour, which is a thou- 
 sand times dearer to me than my life, to the hands 
 of your Majesty. 
 
 " If you deign, madam, to give heed to this 
 declaration, proceeding from a heart the most frank 
 and loyal, I venture from, your justice to expect that 
 my zeal will not remain longer in shameful and 
 humiliating inaction. It has been useful to your 
 Majesty, and may again be so, especially in the 
 Mediterranean, where, with insignificant means, I 
 will undertake to execute most important opera- 
 tions, the plans for which I have meditated long and 
 deeply. But if circumstances, of which I am igno- 
 rant, do not admit the possibility of my being em- 
 ployed during the campaign, I hope your Majesty 
 will give me permission to return to France or 
 America, granting, as the sole reward of the services 
 I have had the happiness to render, the hope of re- 
 newing them at some future day. . . ." 
 
 Catherine, to her credit be it stated, took the 
 " soldier's word," examined the convincing proofs, 
 and, being satisfied of his innocence, publicly re- 
 ceived him at court again and thus openly vindi- 
 cated him. New projects immediately began to take
 
 VINDICATED. 
 
 403 
 
 shape in his fertile brain. No bodily weakness could 
 apparently impair his mental activity. With a half 
 dozen East Indiamen armed for warlike purposes he 
 offered to cut off the food traffic between Egypt and 
 Constantinople ; an idea as old as the days of the 
 Caesars, when upon the arrival of the corn ships from 
 Alexandria depended the control of the Roman 
 plebeians ; but the idea was as good now as it was 
 then, and if he had been intrusted with the meager 
 force he requested he would have compelled the 
 Turks to detach ships from the Black Sea fleet, and 
 thus relieve the pressure on the Crimea. 
 
 Count Besboroclko was pleased with the project, 
 and promised to submit it to the empress, propos- 
 ing, af the same time, if this plan fell through, to 
 give him another command in the Black Sea, with 
 an adequate fleet, by which he might force his way 
 into the Mediterranean. About the middle of June, 
 on his applying to this minister again, he was prom- 
 ised an answer in two days as to the pleasure of the 
 empress concerning him. Besborodko stated that 
 Catherine would either give him a command or 
 grant the leave of absence w^hich he had asked in his 
 letter of the i/th. The minister had a court mem- 
 ory, however, and not two days, but many, passed 
 without the information. On the 5th of July Jones 
 wrote again to the minister in the usual direct way 
 he employed when he was irritated, and asked for 
 an immediate declaration of intentions regarding 
 him. It was a high-handed way to address the Rus- 
 sian court, but it brought an immediate reply. On 
 the 8th of July he was officially informed that his re- 
 quest for a leave of absence was granted for two
 
 404 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 years, with permission to go outside the limits of 
 the empire. His salary was to be continued during 
 that time. 
 
 On the 1 8th of July he had a farewell audience 
 with the empress, who treated him very nicely on 
 this occasion. As he kissed her hand in good-by 
 she wished him bon voyage, which was politic but 
 unsubstantial. He did not leave St. Petersburg im- 
 mediately, and it was not until the last of August 
 that he took his final leave of the Russian capital. 
 During this interval he was detained partly by the 
 difficulty in collecting his arrears in pay and al- 
 lowances, and partly for the reason that he un- 
 dertook, in spite of the rebuffs he had received, again 
 to lay before Besborodko and others a project for 
 a war against the Barbary States, which, of course, 
 came to nothing. He left Russia a bitterly disap- 
 pointed man. 
 
 The disinterested friendship of de Segur had 
 not been exhausted by his previous actions, and he 
 gave additional proofs of his affection by supplying 
 Jones with letters of introduction to the representa- 
 tives of the French Government at the different 
 courts of Europe which he proposed to visit, and 
 the two following statements addressed to the 
 French Minister of Foreign Affairs : 
 
 " ST. PETERSBURG, July 21, 1789. 
 " The enemies of the Vice-Admiral * Paul Jones 
 having caused to be circulated reports entirely desti- 
 tute of foundation concerning the journey which 
 this general officer is about to undertake, I would 
 
 * This is a mistake, he was never a vice admiral.
 
 LEAVES RUSSIA. 
 
 405 
 
 wish the inclosed article, the authenticity of which 
 I guarantee, should be inserted in the Gazette de 
 France, and in the other public papers which are 
 submitted to the inspection of your department. 
 This article will undeceive those who have believed 
 the calumny, and will prove to the friends and to 
 the compatriots of the vice admiral that he has sus- 
 tained the reputation acquired by his bravery and 
 his talents during the last war ; that the empress de- 
 sires to retain him in her service; and that if he ab- 
 sents himself at this moment it is with his own free 
 will, and for particular reasons, which can not leave 
 any stain on his honour. 
 
 " The glorious marks of the satisfaction and 
 bounty of the king toward M. Paul Jones, his at- 
 tachment to France, which he has served so usefully 
 in the common cause, his rights as a subject, and as 
 an admiral of the United States, the protection of 
 the ministers of the king, and my personal friend- 
 ship for this distinguished officer, with whom I 
 made a campaign in America, are so many reasons 
 which appear to me to justify the interest which I 
 took in all that concerned him during his stay in 
 Russia. 
 
 "Article to be inserted in the Public Prints, and particularly in 
 the Gazette de France. 
 
 "Sr. PETERSBURG, July .?/, 1789. 
 
 11 The Vice-Admiral Paul Jones, being at the 
 
 point of returning to France, where private affairs 
 
 require his presence, had the honour to take leave 
 
 of the empress, the 7th * of this month, and to be 
 
 * Old style.
 
 406 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 admitted to kiss the hand- of her Imperial Majesty, 
 who confided to him the command of her vessels of 
 war stationed on the Liman during.the campaign of 
 1788. As a mark of favour for his conduct during 
 this campaign the empress has decorated him with 
 the insignia of the order of St. Anne ; and her Im- 
 perial Majesty, satisfied with his services, only 
 grants him permission to absent himself for a lim- 
 ited time, and still preserves for him his emoluments 
 and his rank." 
 
 Jones did not lack other friends either, for 
 M. Genet, Secretary of the French Legation at St. 
 Petersburg, and subsequently Minister from France 
 to the United States his extraordinary conduct 
 while he enjoyed that office will be remembered 
 whose father had been an old friend of the com- 
 modore's, gave him a most cordial and gratifying 
 letter of introduction to the celebrated Madame 
 Campan, in which he specifically states the un- 
 founded nature of the charges which had been 
 made, and, describing the circumstances in which 
 Jones left Russia, authorized her to correct any 
 rumors to his disadvantage which might be put in 
 circulation at Versailles. He also consented to act 
 as Jones' financial representative, and transmitted to 
 him from time to time such amounts on his' pay as 
 he could wrest from the Russian Government.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 
 
 THE next year of his life the commodore passed 
 in travel. His destination when he left Russia was 
 Copenhagen ; perhaps he had in mind the possibility 
 of resuming the negotiations with the Danish Gov- 
 ernment on the old claim, and it is possible that his 
 deferred pension may have had something to do 
 with this intention. He had no especial place to 
 go ; one city was as good as another to him. In his 
 busy wandering life he had never made a home for 
 himself, and, while his mind and heart turned with 
 ever more intensity of affection to the United States, 
 yet he loved America in an abstract rather than a 
 concrete way. The principles for which the United 
 States stood, and upon which they were constituted 
 and organized, appealed to him, but those personal 
 ties which he had formed in his brief sojourn be- 
 fore the Revolution were weakened by absence or 
 had been sundered by death. There was no em- 
 ployment for him there, for his country had abso- 
 lutely no navy. Besides, he needed rest. He who 
 had fought throughout a long life for liberty and 
 freedom, for honor and fame, was doomed to strug- 
 gle for that last desire for the few remaining years 
 left him. 
 
 407
 
 4 o8 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 He traveled leisurely, from St. Petersburg to 
 Warsaw, where he was kindly received at the court 
 of Poland, and where he busied himself preparing 
 journals of his American service and of the Liman 
 campaign, copies of which he sent to Catherine. 
 There, too, he met the great Pole, Kosciusko, and 
 the acquaintance between the veteran sailor and the 
 old soldier of the Revolution speedily ripened into 
 intimacy. 'Sweden had declared war against Rus- 
 sia. Kosciusko, who was the inveterate enemy of 
 this gigantic empire, which finally wrote finis Polonicc 
 across the story of his country, would have been 
 most happy if he could have seen the fleets of 
 Sweden led by so redoubtable a warrior as Jones. 
 But of course such a proposition was not, and could 
 not be, entertained by Jones.* 
 
 * Nassau was then in command of the Russian fleet in 
 the Baltic, and an encounter with him had a Swedish com- 
 mand been tendered Jones, and if he could have accepted it 
 would have been interesting. There would have been a final 
 demonstration, which probably would have convinced even 
 Nassau, as to the merits of the rival commanders in the 
 Liman. Nassau, by accepting the advice of the English and 
 other foreign officers associated with him, succeeded with a 
 superior force in beating the Swedes, whereupon honors 
 were showered upon him more land, more peasants, more 
 roubles, more rank. His favor was higher than ever; but 
 he was magnificently beaten a short time after by a very in- 
 ferior Swedish fleet, and his defeat was as decisive as it was 
 disgraceful. He lost fifty-three vessels, fourteen hundred 
 guns, and six thousand men. He had refused to take any- 
 body's advice on this occasion and had conducted the battle 
 himself. His cowardice and incapacity therefore were en- 
 tirely apparent. He tried to attribute this defeat, which 
 compelled Catherine to make peace upon terms not advan- 
 tageous to her, to the cowardice of the Russians whom he
 
 KOSCIUSKO'S DESIRE. 
 
 409 
 
 On leaving Warsaw for Vienna, it is suggested 
 that he made the detour necessitated by visiting that 
 point, rather than proceeding directly to Copen- 
 hagen via Berlin, at the instigation of Catherine, 
 who desired to remove him from the vicinity of the 
 Swedes. She might not use him herself, but she 
 could not contemplate with any degree of equanim- 
 ity the possibility of his serving against her. There 
 is not the slightest evidence that he ever thought of 
 entering the service of Sweden. He repels the idea 
 with indignation, and the sole foundation for it arose 
 from Kosciusko's ardent desire. Jones' conduct in 
 the affair is beyond criticism ; indeed, he was too ill 
 at that time, although he did not realize it, to be 
 employed by any one. In his papers the following 
 declaration is found. It is undated, and the docu- 
 ments to which it was attached give no clew as to 
 when it was written, or whether it was ever pub- 
 lished, but from its contents it must have been pre- 
 pared while he was on this leave of absence from 
 Russia. It is a notable little document, for it re- 
 peats his assertion of American citizenship, ex- 
 presses his intention of never warring against the 
 United States or France, -and clearly defines the 
 tenure of his connection with the Russians : 
 
 commanded. The Russians were not cowards. He fell from 
 favor, left the court, and passed the remainder of his life 
 on his estate in Poland in the society of his homely but de- 
 voted wife. It is to be hoped that she made things interest- 
 ing for him, but it is hardly likely. He died in obscurity 
 and poverty in 1809, unregretted and forgotten.
 
 410 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 " NOTICE. 
 
 " The Rear-Admiral Paul Jones, desirous of 
 making known unequivocally his manner of think- 
 ing in relation to his military connection with Rus- 
 sia, declares : 
 
 " i st. That he has at all times expressed to her 
 Imperial Majesty of Russia his vow to preserve the 
 condition of an American citizen and officer. 
 
 " 2d. That, having been honoured by his most 
 Christian Majesty with a gold sword, he has made a 
 like vow never to draw it on any occasion \vhere war 
 might be waged against his Majesty's interest. 
 
 " 3d. That circumstances which the rear ad- 
 miral could not foresee when he wrote on the last 
 occasion make him feel a presentiment that, in spite 
 of his attachment and gratitude to her Imperial 
 Majesty, and notwithstanding the advantageous 
 propositions which may be made to him, he will 
 probably renounce the service of that power, even 
 before the expiration of the leave of absence which 
 he now enjoys." 
 
 To return to his trip.. After staying some time in 
 Vienna, where he seems to have been received with 
 favor in high social circles, though the illness of the 
 emperor prevented his being presented, he w-ent to 
 Amsterdam ria Hamburg. Here he remained for 
 some time, engaged, as usual, in correspondence. 
 He still seems to have cherished the sailor's dream 
 of buying a farm and passing his remaining years 
 thereon, for we find among his letters an inquiry 
 addressed to Mr. Charles Thompson, the Secretary
 
 RKTURNS TO PARIS. 
 
 411 
 
 of Congress, about an estate near Lancaster, Penn- 
 sylvania, which he thought of purchasing from 
 funds invested in the United States. But in view 
 of his anomalous connection with Russia he thought 
 it well to remain in Europe until it had either 
 ceased or been renewed. This was the time, being 
 in need of funds, that he wrote to his old friend 
 Krudner to endeavor to secure payment of the 
 Danish pension. 
 
 Krudner readily undertook Jones' commission, 
 and the Danish Government promised to pay the 
 pension at Copenhagen to any one whom Jones 
 would authorize to receive it. They never paid it. 
 Krudner always retained his friendship for Jones, 
 and one of his letters closes with these words : 
 
 " At all events, I flatter myself, as a good Rus- 
 sian, that your arm is still reserved for us." 
 
 At the end of April, 1790, he crossed over to 
 London on some financial business, which he set- 
 tled to his satisfaction. He remained but a brief 
 time in England his visits there were always brief 
 and devoid of publicity ; he seems to have felt keen- 
 ly the hatred with which the English regarded him, 
 and under such circumstances his action was wise. 
 
 Toward the close of May he returned to Paris, 
 which was perhaps the place where his happiest 
 hours had been spent, and at Paris he continued to 
 reside until the last scene in his eventful history. 
 It was no longer the gay and pleasure-seeking re- 
 sort of his earlier and happier years. The grim 
 shadow of the Revolution, as yet no larger than a 
 man's hand, was already lowering on the horizon.
 
 412 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 A year before his arrival the States-General had 
 been summoned for the first time in a hundred and 
 seventy-five years. On the I4th of July, eight 
 months before his coming, the drums of the sections 
 rolled the knell of the Bastile, and a little later still 
 the old feudal constitution, which had endured the 
 vicissitudes of a thousand years of change, was 
 abrogated, and the rule of the people began. Louis 
 XVI, poor puppet of fortune, " imponderous rag of 
 circumstance," was driven hither and thither by the 
 furious blasts of liberated passion charged with cen- 
 turies of animosity, for a few aimless, pitiful years, 
 and then the guillotine ! 
 
 For two years Jones lived in quiet retirement. 
 He made but one other public appearance, in July, 
 1790, in connection with the first anniversary of the 
 taking of the Bastile. Paris, inspirited with the first 
 breath of freedom, drawn from the first labor pains 
 of the Revolution, determined to celebrate in fitting 
 style this grand anniversary. Different groups of 
 foreigners residing in France sent delegates to 
 appear before the National Assembly and ask per- 
 mission to take part in the national fete. Paul Jones 
 headed the Americans, and made an address to the 
 Assembly. Thenceforward he did nothing of a 
 public character. 
 
 His traveling had brought him neither surcease 
 of care nor restoration to health. His hardy con- 
 stitution, shattered by constant exposure in all 
 weathers and every climate, and worn out by the 
 chafings of his ardent and impatient temperament 
 throughout the course of a career checkered by pe- 
 riods of alternate exaltation and depression, and
 
 AN ARISTOCRATIC REPUBLICAN. 
 
 413 
 
 filled with hopes and disappointments in equal 
 measure, was rapidly yielding to the pains and ail- 
 ments which were ushering in the fatal moment 
 which should put an end to all his dreams and 
 aspirations. His time, however, was not passed un- 
 happily, and returns from investments provided him 
 with enough for his simple needs. During the stir- 
 ring hours of the beginning of the Revolution he 
 busied himself in writing his journals, arranging the 
 great mass of papers he had accumulated, and in 
 his never-failing correspondence. Sometimes he 
 attended the Sorbonne, and held discussion with 
 philosophers. Madame de Telison was with him. 
 
 He was drawn in two ways by the condition of 
 France. His sympathies were ever with humanity 
 struggling for freedom ; but he had received so 
 many marks of favor from the French king, to 
 whom he owed his great opportunities for achieve- 
 ment and advancement, that he could scarcely view 
 with equanimity the dangers and harassments of 
 that unhappy monarch. He was a republican 
 through and through in principle, but by instinct 
 and association, if not by birth, he was one of the 
 proudest and most thoroughgoing of aristocrats 
 as Washington was n aristocrat. Like many other 
 people, his theory of life and government was dif- 
 ferent from his practice. Besides, the liberty which 
 the French were striving to establish was already 
 perilously verging on that unbounded license into 
 which it soon degenerated, and that his disciplined 
 soul abhorred. His associates in France were main- 
 ly among the Girondists, with whom he was more 
 nearly affiliated than with other political parties.
 
 414 COMMODORE PAUL' JONES. 
 
 He did not realize that he was so broken in 
 health, for he still clung to his tenuous connection 
 with Russia, sending repeated letters to Catherine 
 and Patiomkine, with demands, requests, and sug- 
 gestions of various plans for service. Patiomkine, 
 as usual, took no notice, but the last letter to Cather- 
 ine having been forwarded through Baron Grimm, 
 she directed him, rather curtly by the way, to in- 
 form Jones that jf she had service for him she would 
 let him know. After that Jones seems to have dis- 
 continued his letters to Russia. He found, how- 
 ever, two new outlets for his restless zeal. Early in 
 1792, chancing to meet an Algerian corsair, who had 
 captured many Americans now held for ransom in 
 Algiers, he learned much of the unfortunate con- 
 dition of those unhappy sailors, to whose fate their 
 country was apparently oblivious. The corsair in- 
 formed him that if these captives were not ransomed 
 promptly they would be sold into slavery. Jones 
 wrote immediately to Jefferson, then Secretary of 
 State, and with all his power urged that something 
 be done for them, either by sending a force to com- 
 pel restitution or by means of ransom. The letter, 
 as we shall see, was not without result. 
 
 The second object of interest was a claim which 
 he entertained against the French Government for 
 salary due him while in command of the Bon 
 Homme Richard and the squadron. The United 
 States had paid him his salary as an officer during 
 that period, but he felt that since his services had 
 been asked by France, and the squadron had been 
 at the charge of the French Government, a further 
 amount \vas due him from the French, and he wrote
 
 CLAIM AGAINST FRANCE. 
 
 415 
 
 to de Bertram!, Minister of Marine, demanding the 
 balance due. The claim was the subject of acrid 
 correspondence, and the matter was pending when 
 he died.* From the letters written during the last 
 years of his life I quote portions of three the first 
 two to his sister, Mrs. Taylor, and the last one to 
 Lafayette : 
 
 " AMSTERDAM, March 26, fjgo. 
 
 " I wrote you, my dear friend, from Paris, by 
 Mr. Kennedy, who delivered me the kind letter you 
 wrote me by him. Circumstances obliged me to 
 return soon afterward to America, and on my arrival 
 at New York Mr. Thomson delivered me a letter 
 that had been intrusted to his care by Mrs. London. 
 It would be superfluous to mention the great satis- 
 faction I received in hearing from two persons I so 
 much love and esteem, and whose worthy conduct 
 as wives and mothers is so respectable in my eyes. 
 Since my return to Europe a train of circumstances 
 and changes of residence have combined to keep me 
 silent. This has given me more pain than I can ex- 
 press ; for I have a tender regard for you both, and 
 nothing can be indifferent to me that regards your 
 happiness and the welfare of your children. I wish 
 for a particular detail of their age, respective talents, 
 characters, and education. I do not desire this in- 
 formation merely from curiosity. It w r ould afford 
 me real satisfaction to be useful to their establish- 
 ment in life. We must study the genius and inclina- 
 tion of the boys, and try to fit them, by a suitable 
 
 * A portion was subsequently paid to his heirs by the 
 French Government.
 
 416 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 education, for the pursuits, we may be able to adopt 
 for their advantage. When their education shall be 
 advanced to a proper stage, at the school of Dum- 
 fries for instance, it must then be determined 
 whether it may be most economical and advantage- 
 ous for them to go to Edinburgh or France to finish 
 their studies. All this is supposing them to have 
 great natural genius and goodness of disposition; 
 for without these they can never become eminent. 
 For the females, they require an education suited to 
 the delicacy of character that is becoming in their 
 sex. I wish I had a fortune to offer to each of them ; 
 but though this is not the case, I may yet be useful 
 to them. And I desire particularly to be useful to 
 the two young women, who have a double claim to 
 my regard, as they have lost their father. Present 
 my kind compliments to Mrs. London, her hus- 
 band, to Mr. Taylor, and your two families, and de- 
 pend on my affectionate attachment. . . ." 
 
 " PARIS, December 27, ijgo. 
 
 " I duly received, my dear Mrs. Taylor, your 
 letter of the i6th August, but ever since that time I 
 have been unable to answer it, not having been 
 capable to go out of my chamber, and having been 
 for the most part obliged to keep my bed. I have 
 now no doubt but that I am in a fair way to perfect 
 recovery, though it will require time and patience. 
 
 " I shall not conceal from you that your family 
 discord aggravates infinitely all my pains. My grief 
 is inexpressible that two sisters, whose happiness 
 is so interesting to me, do not live together in that 
 mutual tenderness and affection which would do so
 
 IN A NOBLE LIGHT. 
 
 417 
 
 much honour to themselves and to the memory of 
 their worthy relations. Permit me to recommend 
 to your serious study and application Pope's Univer- 
 sal Prayer. You will find more morality in that 
 little piece than in many volumes that have been 
 written by great divines : 
 
 " ' Teach me to feel another's woe, 
 
 To hide the fault I see ; 
 That mercy I to others show, 
 Such mercy show to we.' 
 
 " This is not the language of a weak, supersti- 
 tious mind, but the spontaneous offspring of true 
 religion, springing from a heart sincerely inspired 
 by charity, and deeply impressed with a sense of 
 the calamities and frailties of human nature. If the 
 sphere in which Providence has placed us as mem- 
 bers of society requires the exercise of brotherly 
 kindness and charity toward our neighbour in gen- 
 eral, how much more is this our duty with respect 
 to individuals with whom we are connected by the 
 near and tender ties of nature as well as moral obli- 
 gation. Every lesser virtue may pass away, but 
 charity comes from Heaven, and is immortal. 
 Though I wish to be the instrument of making 
 family peace, which I flatter myself would tend to 
 promote the happiness of you all, yet I by no means 
 desire you to do violence to your own feelings by 
 taking any step that is contrary to your own judg- 
 ment and inclination. Your reconciliation must 
 come free from your heart, otherwise it will not 
 last, and therefore it will be better not to attempt it. 
 
 Should a reconciliation take place, I recommend 
 28
 
 4 i 8 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 it of all things, that you never mention past griev- 
 ances, nor show, by zvord, look, or action, that you 
 have not forgot them." 
 
 " PARIS, December 7, /7<?/. 
 
 " DEAR GENERAL : My ill health for some time 
 past has prevented me from the pleasure of paying 
 you my personal respects, but I hope shortly to 
 indulge myself with that satisfaction. 
 
 " I hope you approve the quality of the fur lin- 
 ings I brought from Russia for the King and your- 
 self. I flatter myself that his Majesty will accept 
 from your hand that little mark of the sincere attach- 
 ment I feel for his person ; and be assured that I 
 shall be always ready to draw the sword with which 
 he honoured me for the service of the virtuous and 
 illustrious ' PROTECTOR OF THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN 
 NATURE.' 
 
 " When my health shall be established, M. 
 Simolin will do me the honour to present me to his 
 Majesty as a Russian admiral. Afterward it will be 
 my duty, as an American officer, to wait on his 
 Majesty with the letter which I am directed to pre- 
 sent to him from the United States." 
 
 Jones appears in a very pleasant light in all of 
 these letters, and I am glad to read the evidences of 
 gentleness and of affection and kindly feeling which 
 they present. In March, 1792, his disease, which 
 had developed into a lingering form of dropsy, be- 
 came complicated with a disorder of the liver. He 
 grew much worse, lost his appetite, became very 
 jaundiced, and was confined to his bedroom for two 
 months. Under treatment he grew temporarily bet-
 
 THE APPROACHING END. 
 
 419 
 
 ter, until the beginning of July, when he became sud- 
 denly worse again and the dropsy began to manifest 
 itself once more. The disease attacked his chest. 
 His legs became much swollen, and the enlargement 
 extended upward so that he could not button his 
 waistcoat and had great difficulty in breathing. 
 
 He was not, as has been asserted, in poverty and 
 want, deserted by his friends. He lived in a com- 
 fortable apartment in the second story of No. 42 
 Tournon Street, and enjoyed the services of one of 
 the best physicians in France, who was, in fact, 
 physician to the queen. Gouverneur Morris, the 
 American Minister, was a warm friend of his, and 
 paid him many visits during his dying hours. He 
 had no lack of other friends either, for he was at- 
 tended by two gentlemen, ex-American army offi- 
 cers, Colonels Swan and Blackden, and by a French 
 officer, M. Beaupoil. They all seem to have been 
 fond of the little commodore, and to have visited 
 him constantly. They did everything possible to 
 lighten his dying hours. His symptoms became so 
 alarming about the middle of July that Colonel 
 Blackden took upon himself the duty of advising 
 him to make his will and settle his affairs. He put 
 off this action until the i8th of the month. On the 
 afternoon of that day Morris drew up a schedule of 
 his property from Jones' own dictation, and his 
 friends having sent for a notary, he made his will, 
 which was drawn in English by Morris, and tran- 
 scribed in French by the notary. The will was wit- 
 nessed by Swan, Blackden, and Beaupoil.* In this 
 
 * See Appendix No. V.
 
 420 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 document the last of all .his writings dictated in 
 those solemn hours when he looked Death in the 
 face in final glance, the real value of earthly honors 
 and titles became apparent to him ; he describes him- 
 self with touching simplicity, not as Commodore, 
 Chevalier, or Admiral titles he had loved but in 
 greater words as " John Paid Jones, a citizen of the 
 United States." 
 
 At eight o'clock in the evening his friends bade 
 him good by, and perhaps " Good night " were the 
 last words any one heard him speak. They left him 
 seated in his armchair in his parlor in the second 
 story. A short time after their departure the physi- 
 cian arrived to pay his regular evening visit. The 
 armchair was empty, and the door of the chamber 
 adjoining the parlor was open. He walked over to- 
 ward it and stopped in the entrance, and this is what 
 he saw : the figure of the great commodore lying 
 prone upon the bed, his feet touching the floor and 
 his hands outstretched before him. There was no 
 sound in the still room. The physician stepped 
 softly to the bedside, turned him over, and laid his 
 hand upon his heart. He felt no responsive throb. 
 The little captain of the Bon Homme Richard was 
 dead, worn out, fretted away, broken down, at the 
 age of forty-five ! " The hand of a conqueror whom 
 no human power can resist had been laid upon his 
 shoulder, and for the first time in his life the face of 
 Paul Jones was turned away from the enemy." * 
 Fitting, indeed, would it have been if from the deck 
 of the war ship the soul of the sea king had taken 
 
 * From my book, American Fights and Fighters.
 
 LAST SCENE OF ALL. 
 
 421 
 
 its flight ; but, after all, he was at rest at last " in 
 peace after so many storms, in honor after so much 
 obloquy." 
 
 The peculiar position in which he was found, as 
 I have thought upon it, has suggested to me the 
 possibility that, when he felt the last crisis coming 
 upon him, he may have attempted to sink down by 
 his bedside, that the call of his Maker might find 
 him as years after it found David Livingstone in 
 the heart of dark Africa on his knees in prayer. 
 And then sometimes I think and this is perhaps 
 more likely that he may have risen to his feet to 
 face death, as was his wont, and have fallen forward 
 when it came. No one can tell. A century has fled 
 away since they found him there, but the sorrow of 
 it all is still present with me as I write. An exile 
 from his native land, far from the country of his 
 adoption, in the prime of life, he dies. There was 
 not a woman with him to whisper words of comfort, 
 to give him that last touch of tenderness that comes 
 from a woman's hand. Alone he had lived alone 
 he died. Oh, the pity of it ! The man of the world, 
 become the citizen of the hew republic, had found 
 another country let us hope a heavenly one. He 
 did much and he suffered much, and for such we 
 may be sure there is much charity, much forgive- 
 ness. 
 
 By the terms of his will all his property, 
 amounting to some thirty thousand dollars, was left 
 to his two surviving sisters and their children the 
 same to whom he had sent those sweet words coun- 
 seling forbearance and consideration. The fact that 
 he had shown but little of the one and had re-
 
 422 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 ceived but little of the other in his life only accen- 
 tuates his sense of their need. One other honor his 
 country had in store for him, but it arrived too 
 late. He had been long buried when a commis- 
 sion appointing him to negotiate the release of 
 the prisoners in Algiers arrived in France. It 
 was an honor he would have appreciated, and 
 in carrying it out he would have found a con- 
 genial task. 
 
 The National Assembly honored his memory by 
 sending a deputation, headed by its president, to 
 represent them at his funeral, which took place on 
 the second day after his death, at eight o'clock in 
 the evening. All his friends, including the Ameri- 
 cans, were there as well. A French Protestant 
 clergyman named Marron conducted the services 
 and delivered a eulogy, but one sentence of which 
 is worthy of quotation : " The fame of the brave 
 outlives him ; his portion is immortality." 
 
 It has been determined recently that the inter- 
 ment was made in the little cemetery reserved for 
 those who died in the Protestant faith, situated at the 
 corner of the Rue de la Grange aux Belles and Rue 
 des Ecluses Saint Martin then in the suburbs, now 
 in the heart of the city. The cemetery was officially 
 closed on January i, 1/93. A canal was afterward 
 cut through it and buildings erected upon the other, 
 lots. The exact location of Jones' grave is un- 
 known, and, as there were at least ten thousand 
 people buried there, it would probably be a matter 
 of great difficulty to find it, should the effort be 
 made ; and the expense would be considerable. The 
 body, clad in an American uniform, was incased in a
 
 FORGOTTEN. 
 
 423 
 
 leaden coffin, with sword,* etc., and unless all 
 the elements have been dissipated by the action of 
 the water it might be possible to identify his re- 
 mains. Certainly there is no question, if satisfactory 
 settlement could be had, that his remains should be 
 brought to the United States, with all naval honors, 
 here to be suitably interred and his grave marked by 
 an appropriate monument. So far as I know, there 
 has not even been so much as a memorial tablet 
 erected to his memory in any part of the great coun- 
 try toward whose independence he contributed so 
 much. A serious and ungrateful omission this, and, 
 whether his remains be found or not, it is to be 
 hoped that it may be soon rectified, f 
 
 * This sword was, of course, not that presented to him by 
 the King of France. After Jones' death his heirs gave this 
 famous sword to Robert Morris. Morris, in turn, presented 
 it to Commodore John Barry, at that time senior officer of 
 the United States Navy. By him it was bequeathed to his 
 friend Commodore Richard Dale, once of the Bon Homme 
 Richard, and it now remains in the possession of his great- 
 grandson, Mr. Richard Dale, of Philadelphia. 
 
 f Why a monument has not been erected to Jones I can 
 not understand, it would be a noteworthy object for indi- 
 vidual and national effort, and in no better way could we 
 commit ourselves to the fame and achievements of the great 
 captain, and forever stamp with disapproval those calumnies 
 with which envy seeks to sully the name of our first great 
 sailor.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PERSONAL APPEARANCE CHARACTERISTICS WAS 
 
 HE A PIRATE? FAREWELL. 
 
 PAUL JONES was a small, slender man, some- 
 what under the middle stature, or about five feet 
 five inches in height. As is frequently the custom 
 with seamen, who pass much of their lives between 
 decks, his shoulders were slightly rounded, and at 
 first glance he seemed smaller than he was. In 
 physique he was active and graceful, well propor- 
 tioned and strong. Many portraits of him exist, 
 some of them gross caricatures, representing him as 
 the proverbial pirate of early days clad in fantastic 
 costurhe, his belt bristling with pistols and knives, 
 and depicting him in the act of slaying some terrified 
 and helpless sailor; but it is from such representa- 
 tions as the painting by Peale,* the bust by Hou- 
 don, the naval medal, and the miniature by the 
 Countess de Lavendahl, that we get a correct idea 
 of his appearance. His features were regular; his 
 nose was straight, prominent, and slightly enlarged 
 at the tip ; his lips were elegantly curved. His head 
 was well proportioned, and set firmly upon his 
 shoulders ; in spite of his stoop he held it erect, 
 
 * The frontispiece of this volume. 
 424
 
 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 423 
 
 which gave him an intent, eager expression. His 
 large black eyes were set deep in their sockets 
 under heavy, arched eyebrows ; in moments of ac- 
 tion they sparkled with fire and passion. His hair 
 was black and plentiful, and the darkness of his 
 complexion had been intensified by years of ex- 
 posure to wind and weather. His hands and feet 
 were small and of good shape. He was always par- 
 ticular in his dress, which was of material as rich 
 and in cut as elegant as his means permitted. With- 
 out being handsome, therefore, he was a man of dis- 
 tinctly striking and notable appearance in any so- 
 ciety. 
 
 His habitual expression was thoughtful and 
 meditative. His face was the face of a student 
 rather than that of a fighter. As it looks out at us 
 from the canvas of the past in Peale's portrait, there 
 is a little touch of wonder and surprise in the soft, 
 reflective 'eyes. The mystery of life is there. We 
 feel that the man is speculating upon us, measuring 
 us, wondering who and what we are. There is a 
 gentle gravity about the face which is most attrac- 
 tive. In the profile on the medal and in the Hou- 
 don bust other qualities predominate. You catch a 
 glimpse of the proud, imperious, dashing sailor in 
 the uplifted poise of the head, the tense, straight 
 line of the lips, and the firm, resolute chin ; and 
 there is a suggestion of humor, grim enough, in the 
 whole face. The Countess de Lavendahl apparently 
 depicts him in the role of a lover, fashionably attired 
 and arrayed for conquest. In each of these repre- 
 sentations we have the broad, splendid brow which 
 typifies the mind that was in him. It is probable
 
 426 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 that these different portraits were each good like- 
 nesses, and that each artist, in accordance with his 
 insight, wrought into his presentment what he saw 
 in the man. 
 
 A man of abundant self-confidence, he was not 
 easily embarrassed, and we find him at home as 
 well in the refined and cultivated colonial society of 
 North Carolina as upon the decks of a ship manned 
 by the rudest and roughest of men. He bears him- 
 self with easy dignity at the courts of Russia and 
 France, and is not discomfited in the presence of 
 king, queen, or empress. His manners were easy 
 and polite. There was a touch of the directness of 
 the sailor and the fighter in his address, I doubt 
 not, but his behavior was certainly that of a gen- 
 tleman quiet, dignified, somewhat haughty, but 
 pleasing. This is established by the testimony of 
 those who knew him, including the Englishwoman 
 mentioned above; by traditions which have come 
 down to us ; by the fact that he was admitted into 
 the most exclusive circles in various courts of Eu- 
 rope, and that he retained the place which had been 
 accorded him through years of acquaintanceship. 
 He has been called low, brutal, common, and vul- 
 gar, but such accusations are incompatible with the 
 position he occupied. He might have been received, 
 of course, but he never would have been not merely 
 tolerated, but admired and sought after, if the 
 charges were correct. 
 
 In saying this, I do not wish to be understood 
 as being oblivious of his faults. As occasion has 
 demanded, I have not hesitated to call attention to 
 them. He was irritable and impatient, captious
 
 INTELLECTUAL ACQUIREMENTS. 427 
 
 and quarrelsome, at times variable and inconsistent. 
 We find him addressing a superior at one time in 
 terms that are almost too respectful, and in his next 
 communication writing with a blunt frankness of 
 a superior to an inferior. This frequently caused 
 him trouble, inasmuch as he usually had to deal 
 with men who were his superiors in birth and sta- 
 tion, though not to be compared with him in talents 
 and education. The limitations of his humble ori- 
 gin account for this variant attitude to the world's 
 so-called great. 
 
 His great fault was his vanity. It was a weak- 
 ness, like some of his other qualities, colossal. It 
 manifested itself in every way that vanity can 
 manifest itself. No defense can be uttered. We 
 recognize the fact and note it with pain, but in 
 the presence of his great qualities pass it by, after 
 calling attention to the strange fact that other and 
 more famous sailors, including the greatest man 
 who ever fought a ship or squadron, Lord Nelson, 
 were under the spell of the same weakness and 
 other greater weaknesses. No character in history 
 is without weakness. There was but One who 
 manifested no weakness, not even on a cross. 
 
 His mind was a w'ell-furnished one. From boy- 
 hood he had cultivated the studious habit with 
 which he was endowed in large degree, with the 
 assiduity and perseverance of a Scotsman. He was 
 thoroughness itself ; whatever he attempted he did so 
 well that he usually left nothing further to be de- 
 sired. His brain was alert and active. He was 
 quick-witted, and not devoid of humor, although 
 there is always a touch of sternness in his persiflage.
 
 428 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 His letters fall into two classes. When he wrote 
 under pressure of strong emotion or excitement, he 
 expressed his personality with his pen as adequately 
 as he did in his actions ; his remarks were short, 
 sharp, direct, logical, and in good taste ; his style 
 was vigorous and perspicuous. On the other hand, 
 he frequently descended, especially when address- 
 ing women, into verbosity, and verbosity of that 
 most intolerable species known as fine writing 
 witness his letter to Lady Selkirk. As a phrase 
 maker many of his sentences ring with his spirit. 
 " I do not wish to have command of any ship that 
 does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way " ; 
 "I have not yet begun to fight"; "I have ever 
 looked out for the honor of the American flag " ; 
 " I can never renounce the glorious title of a citizen 
 of the United States," are some of his sayings which 
 have passed into history, and might appropriately 
 serve for inscriptions on the four sides of his monu- 
 ment, when a too tardy people pay him the honor of 
 erecting one.* 
 
 He spoke French well and wrote it better. He 
 found no difficulty in making himself understood in 
 France, and that language was used entirely in his 
 Russian campaign. In an age when everybody 
 scribbled verse he wrote poetry which is creditable 
 to him. It has been remarked that it was much 
 better verse than Nelson wrote. Like many other 
 naval officers of that day, he played the flute 
 and had a taste for music. He was undoubtedly a 
 
 * Some of his phrases in his Russian letters remind me 
 of Shakespeare's Henry V.
 
 RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 
 
 429 
 
 member of the Presbyterian Church by baptism in 
 infancy, and although, so far as is known, he was 
 not actively in communion with any religious or- 
 ganization during his life, he was in no sense an 
 irreligious man. " They that go down to the sea in 
 ships that do business in great waters," who see 
 " the works of the Lord, and his wonders in 
 the deep," are rarely ultimately indifferent to re- 
 ligion. They are superficially careless, perhaps, but 
 they are neither skeptics nor atheists.* Nothing 
 could be sweeter and more gentle than his letters to 
 his sisters with their unequivocal recognition of the 
 Power above which shapes our ends. 
 
 In a day when seamen and no less the naval 
 officer than the merchantman considered a capa- 
 city for picturesque and plentiful profanity a mark 
 of professional aptitude, he was distinguished by re- 
 fraining from oaths and curses. Mark the words : 
 " Do not swear, Mr. Stacy in another moment we 
 may all be in eternity but let us do our duty." Ut- 
 tered in the heat of action, and in a critical moment, 
 the sentence is as rare as it is beautiful, and it some- 
 how reminds me of the dying words of Nelson in 
 the cockpit of the Victory. He was clean-mouthed 
 and clean-hearted. I do not wish to say that he was 
 immaculate, a saint, or anything of that sort, but 
 there is no man of similar upbringing, who lived in 
 his day, and under such circumstances, whose life 
 appears to be cleaner. There is a total absence of 
 sensuality in his career. In over thirteen hundred 
 
 * I have known hundreds of sailors more or less inti- 
 mately, and I have never met one who might be included in 
 either of those melancholy classes.
 
 43O COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 letters which have been examined, there is not a 
 coarse or indelicate allusion ; no double entendre 
 ever sullies his pages, and the name of no woman is 
 mentioned save in terms of respect. It is probable 
 that his amour with Madame de Telison passed the 
 bounds of Platonic friendship or romantic admira- 
 tion, and it is possible that they did have a child ; 
 but even this is by no means certain, and the con- 
 clusion may do him an injustice. 
 
 When one remembers that from a tender age 
 he was deprived of those gentle restraints imposed 
 by pious and loving family ties, his character is re- 
 markable. I have observed in much experience 
 with men that when the check put upon humanity 
 by the Church, by association with good women, 
 and by keeping in touch with law-abiding society 
 is removed, and men are assembled far from these 
 things in camps or ships, where the principal re- 
 quirement is a stern obedience to law, and the at- 
 mosphere strictly masculine, they are apt to think, 
 say, and do things to which they would never de- 
 scend under ordinary circumstances. Jones had 
 been a sailor an .apprentice boy at that at twelve 
 years of age ; for sixteen years thereafter he had 
 never been off blue water for more than a few 
 months. Five years of that time he had been on 
 a slaver, beginning as third mate at sixteen and 
 quitting as chief mate at twenty-one, and of all the 
 degrading, brutal influences to which humanity 
 could be subjected there was nothing that equaled 
 the horrors of a ship in the slave trade. The tough 
 moral fiber of the Scotsman stood him in good stead 
 here, for the thing which with a boy's indifference
 
 LOVE OF LIBERTY. 
 
 431 
 
 he could countenance, he could not endure as a 
 man. 
 
 And this brings us to another of his qualities, 
 which awakens our interest his intense love of lib- 
 erty. Probably it began with the slave trade ; at any 
 rate, it was always and everywhere present with 
 him. Practically his first military effort was an at- 
 tempt to set free American prisoners, and his last 
 commission from the United States was the ap- 
 pointment to effect the release of the unfortunate 
 Americans held by the Barbary States. Thus he 
 fought not merely for the establishment of civil 
 liberty and national independence, but with an eye 
 single to the individual prisoner, and his spirit was 
 sufficiently catholic to make him kindly disposed 
 even when the prisoners were trophies of his 
 prowess. His pleading at L'Orient, when he was 
 left with the dishonored draft, mutinous crew, and 
 over one hundred prisoners, was as much for those 
 Englishmen whom the fortune of war had thrown 
 into his power as for his own people. 
 
 Like most men of fierce passions and quick tem- 
 per, he did not long cherish animosities. He was 
 not a good hater, and this very quality sometimes 
 led him into mistaken kindness. He was a humane 
 man, in no sense the cruel and bloodthirsty warrior 
 of popular imagination. He is thankful, for in- 
 stance, after the descent on Whitehaven, that there 
 was no loss of life on either side, and we have no 
 reason to doubt the genuineness of his outburst of 
 gratitude when peace was declared, although it left 
 him without occupation. 
 
 He had a good head for business also. In spite
 
 432 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 of his roving life he succeeded in amassing consid- 
 erable property, and his success as a trader before 
 he entered the naval service had been better than 
 the average. In fact, his merchant services resulted 
 in an unbrokn line of testimonials not only to his 
 capacity but to his probity and trustworthiness as 
 well. As a negotiator or diplomatist he was open, 
 straightforward, persistent, and unusually success- 
 ful. A solid foundation of good qualities must have 
 been laid by his homespun mother in those twelve 
 years in which she watched over and shaped the 
 future character of the boy. 
 
 While he was too much of a wanderer ever to 
 form those deep and abiding social ties which are 
 the delight of old age and reflection though to 
 youth matters of indifference yet his various 
 duties brought him into intimate association with 
 great men all over the world, and there is a uni- 
 versal testimony from them as to his worth. They 
 were not blind to his faults, but they saw the worthi- 
 ness of the man beneath them. Franklin, the keen 
 philosopher and diplomat, who knew him best, es- 
 teemed him most ; but Robert Morris, the incor- 
 ruptible financier; Thomas Jefferson, the great 
 Democrat ; Gouverneur Morris, the accomplished 
 man of the world ; John Adams, the shrewd states- 
 man ; and Washington, the first of them all, es- 
 teemed and admired him, and considered them- 
 selves honored in his friendship. Richard Dale, his 
 great subordinate, who had been with him in times 
 that tried men's souls, entertained the most devoted 
 feelings of attachment toward him, and Cooper, 
 who knew Dale personally, tells us that to the day
 
 HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 433 
 
 of his death he never lost his affectionate regard for 
 his old captain. The terms of their intimacy when 
 not on duty permitted Dale to address Jones by 
 the friendly name of Paul, and Cooper chronicles 
 the peculiar tenderness with which he uttered the 
 word in his old age. 
 
 Among the French who respected and admired 
 him, the gallant and impetuous Lafayette is pre- 
 eminent. That warm-hearted representative of the 
 haute noblesse of France sought opportunities for 
 service with the commodore, and never failed to ex- 
 press his affection for him in the most unequivocal 
 words. Among others were Rochambeau, the sol- 
 dier; Malesherbes, the great advocate, defender of 
 his king ; the Baron de Viomenil, who led the French 
 assaulting column at Yorktown ; and Admirals 
 d'Orvilliers, de Vaudreuil, and d'Estaing. Among 
 other foreign friends were van der Capellen, the 
 Dutch statesman and diplomat and friend of Amer- 
 ica ; of Russians, Krudner and Grimm ; and the im- 
 mortal Kosciusko, of Poland. His acquaintance 
 with these men was no mere passing contact, but 
 was intimate and personal ; and his relations in most 
 instances were not temporary and casual, but last- 
 ing and permanent. Langhton, the English au- 
 thority in naval history, in his famous sketch enti- 
 tled " Paul Jones, ' the Pirate,' " * says that Jones' 
 moral character may be summed up in one word 
 detestable! He calls him a renegade and a calcu- 
 
 * Studies in Naval History, by John Knox Laughton, M. A., 
 Professor of Modern History at King's College, London, and 
 Lecturer on Naval History at the Royal Naval College, 
 Greenwich, etc., 1887. 
 29
 
 434 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 lating liar, incapable of friendship or of love, and 
 says that, " Whenever his private actions can be 
 examined, they must be pronounced to be discredit- 
 able; and as to many others that appear to be so, 
 there is no evidence in favor except his own unsub- 
 stantial and worthless testimony." It is not an in- 
 dictment against Jones alone that Professor Laugh- 
 ton so lightly writes, but against the great men who, 
 with infinitely better opportunities for observation 
 than any of his biographers have enjoyed, have not 
 been slow to call him their friend. Is it to be con- 
 ceived for a single moment that Franklin, Jefferson, 
 Lafayette, the Morrises, or any of the others, would 
 have associated with, corresponded with, and pub- 
 licly praised a vulgar blackguard? Would such a 
 man, however successful, have been admitted to any 
 society whatsoever? Or, having in the first flush of 
 joy at the news of his tremendous victory been so 
 admitted, could such a man have retained his posi- 
 tion for thirteen years until he died, in fact ? Non- 
 sense! He looked like a gentleman; he wrote like 
 a gentleman; whenever his words have been re- 
 corded we find he spoke like a gentleman, and he 
 certainly fought like one. 
 
 Never was a man so calumniated. His actions 
 were so great that intense interest was felt in his 
 career from the day of his arrival in Europe, and 
 after his death quantities of sketches of him ap- 
 peared, many of which are still extant. They are 
 of the chap-book order the dime novel of the day 
 and usually contain an awe-inspiring picture, and 
 relate a tale in which smuggling, gambling, false- 
 hood, theft, rape, murder, and everything else that
 
 WAS HE A PIRATE? 
 
 435 
 
 is vile, are included. Laughton seems to have ar- 
 rived at his estimation of Jones by accepting these 
 scandalous tales as authentic, and building his biog- 
 raphy of material culled from these disgraceful and 
 discredited sources. No man can conceal his real 
 character for any great length of time, especially 
 a man in official station, who lives in the white light 
 of public criticism. If Jones were the creature that 
 Laughton describes him, it would appear some- 
 where in some serious page of his own. He was a 
 most voluminous correspondent Philip II was 
 not a more indefatigable letter writer than he 
 and he spoke of the subjects under discussion 
 with a sailor's frankness. Why is it that none of 
 these things are evident? He was foolish some- 
 times, but never base. It is too late to write down 
 in a few careless words the great men who enter- 
 tained so high an opinion of the commodore. But 
 Professor Laughton is not alone in his opinions. 
 Indeed, his conclusions appear to represent a general 
 English sentiment. So great a novelist as the 
 gentle Thackeray calls Jones a traitor, and the popu- 
 lar opinion even in this day does not seem to have 
 changed. In the current number of the London 
 Academy * he is again called a " pirate." Let us 
 settle this question at least. 
 
 What is a pirate? Says President Woolsey: 
 " Piracy is robbery on the sea, or by descent from 
 the sea upon the coast, committed by persons not 
 holding a commission from, or at the time pertain- 
 ing to, any established state. It is the act (i) of 
 
 * July 6, 1900.
 
 436 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 persons forming an organization for the purpose of 
 plunder, or with malicious intent ; but who, inas- 
 much as such a body is not constituted for political 
 purposes, can not be said to be a body politic; (2) 
 of persons who, having in defiance of law seized 
 possession of a chartered vessel, use it for the pur- 
 pose of robbery ; (3) of persons taking a commission 
 from two belligerent adversaries. The reason for 
 ranking these latter among pirates is that the 
 animus fnrandi is shown by acting under two re- 
 pugnant authorities. It has been held by some that 
 a vessel which takes commissions even from two 
 allies is guilty of piracy, but others regard such an 
 act only as illegal and irregular." * 
 
 Chancellor Kent calls piracy " robbery, forceful 
 plunder, or murder by marauders on the high seas 
 in the spirit and intent of universal hostility" The 
 Century Dictionary defines it as follows : " Specifi- 
 cally in the law of nations, the crime of depredations 
 or willful and aggressive destruction of life and 
 property, committed on the seas by persons having 
 no commission or authority from any established 
 state. As commonly used, it implies something 
 more than a simple theft with violence at sea, and 
 includes something of the idea of general hostility 
 to law." 
 
 By any of these definitions can Paul Jones be 
 called a pirate? It will be readily seen that the 
 charge hangs upon the question as to whether Jones 
 held a commission from an established state. In 
 fact, the determination of that point settles the mat- 
 
 * Woolsey, International Law, section 144, page 233.
 
 WAS HE A PIRATE? 
 
 437 
 
 ter. He was regularly commissioned a captain in 
 the navy of the United States, as we have seen.* 
 Was the United States an established power, a sov- 
 ereign state? The United States began to be with 
 the Declaration of Independence. To quote Wool- 
 sey again : " The sovereignty of a state dates from 
 its dc facto existence, and does not depend upon its 
 recognition by foreign powers. Thus the sover- 
 eignty of the United States was complete from July 
 4, 1776, not 1782, when the English Government 
 recognized, not granted, its independence." If the 
 United States had not a legal existence as a sover- 
 eign power competent to wage war, and therefore 
 to issue commissions to naval officers, until the 
 treaty of peace, England would have granted in- 
 dependence thereby, instead of which she recog- 
 nized a long-accomplished fact. Moreover, the 
 British Government, long before peace was declared, 
 had conceded belligerent rights to the revolted 
 colonies, after much protestation. But necessary 
 privileges of belligerency are those of raising forces 
 and commissioning officers whose status as indi- 
 vidual belligerents is determined by the recognition. 
 None of the American prisoners taken from time 
 to time were hanged as rebels or traitors, nor would 
 such action have been permitted by the British 
 people, if it had been seriously entertained by 
 the king. Even if they had captured Paul Jones, 
 the English, in all their fury, would not have dared 
 to treat him as a pirate. Upon the point of law 
 
 * And not a captain of a special ship, as was sometimes 
 the case, but a captain in the service, and therefore eligible 
 to command any ship. See page 75.
 
 438 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 there is no justification for -the charge. Paul Jones' 
 commission was as valid a document as any under 
 which a naval officer ever sailed. The sovereignty 
 of the United States had been recognized long be- 
 fore the termination of the war by France, Spain, 
 and Holland, and Frederick the Great, by opening 
 the port of Dantzic to American ships, had prac- 
 tically committed himself to that side ; although the 
 failure of any or all of these to do so would not 
 have abrogated our dc facto existence as a nation. 
 
 But, turning from the subject of the commission 
 as established, let us examine the other phases in- 
 'volved in the charge. Piracy consists of murder 
 and robbery in a spirit of universal hostility toward 
 humanity (the animus furandi of Woolsey's para- 
 graph). Jones directed his attacks at England 
 alone. There was no killing unless in open combat ; 
 no robbery except by taking ships and property 
 in open warfare, and surely Jones' conduct with re- 
 gard to Selkirk's plate was not that of a robber or 
 a pirate ! By the law of nations a pirate, whatever 
 his nationality, is subject to the jurisdiction of any 
 country. Thus, an English pirate caught by the 
 French Government, or a French pirate caught by 
 the English Government, would be summarily dealt 
 with without the slightest reference to the country 
 of his nationality. If Jones had been a pirate France 
 would either have made short work of him, or else 
 have incurred the odium of humanity as an abettor 
 of piracy. 
 
 His acts were not those of an irresponsible per- 
 son or a body of people who sent him forth with 
 malicious intent, but were undertaken for distinctly
 
 WAS HE A PIRATE? 439 
 
 political purposes at the instance of an undoubted 
 body politic. These purposes were : (i) The protec- 
 tion of our coasts by showing the vulnerability of 
 the coasts of England. (2) The stoppage of the 
 ravages on our seaboard, by demonstrating some of 
 their horrors in the land of the ravagers. (3) The 
 securing of prisoners by which the principle of ex- 
 change should be established, and thus our citizens 
 released from a captivity in which they were treated 
 with scant regard to the laws of humanity. (4) The 
 breaking up of the enemy's commerce and the im- 
 pairment of his material resources, so that the bur- 
 den of consequences would induce him to end the 
 war and recognize our independence. (5) The mak- 
 ing of a diversion in the north which would facilitate 
 the proposed grand operations of the French and 
 Spanish fleets in the south. These are legitimate 
 motives in the highest sense. They are of the deep- 
 est importance, and they constitute a brief catalogue 
 of his accomplishments. Add to the list the shat- 
 tering of British prestige by his hard and successful 
 fighting, and mention the way he contrived to force 
 the Netherlands finally to declare for the United 
 States, and we have a catalogue of achievements of 
 which any one might be proud.* 
 
 * The following interesting document was found in his 
 papers ; it enumerates a few of the things he did : " In 1775, 
 J. Paul Jones armed and embarked in the first American ship 
 of war. In the Revolution he had twenty-three battles and 
 solemn rencontres by sea; made seven descents in Britain 
 and her colonies ; took of her navy two ships of equal, and 
 two of superior force, many store ships, and others ; con- 
 strained her to fortify her ports ; suffer the Irish volunteers ; 
 desist from her cruel burnings in America, and exchange, as
 
 440 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 There was no thought in Jones' mind of private 
 gain. Prize money had accrued from captures from 
 time immemorial, but Jones was ambitious of dis- 
 tinction, and as anxious to worthily serve his coun- 
 try as Farragut or Sampson, and the question of 
 prize money was purely a minor one with him. If 
 gain had been his object, a privateering commission 
 which he was urged to accept in France and which 
 he could undoubtedly have received in America 
 but which he rejected with disdain, would have 
 given him greater opportunity than he ever enjoyed 
 of acquiring wealth. His whole career, in fact, 
 shows him to have been absolutely indifferent to 
 money. He never hoarded or amassed it, and, 
 though he received large sums from time to time, 
 he usually spent it in generous profusion as fast as 
 it came in. Had professional advancement been his 
 sole desire, he would have accepted the rank of 
 Capitaine de Vaisseau that is, a captain of a ship 
 pf the line which d'Orvilliers had offered to pro- 
 cure for him, from which he might have progressed 
 to the highest naval rank, instead of which he chose 
 to remain in command of the petty little Ranger. 
 How Laughton can deny his enthusiasm for Amer- 
 ica when, with but little hope of reward, he periled 
 his liberty and his life in her service, and absolutely 
 refused under any circumstances to withdraw from 
 that service, I fail to understand.* 
 
 prisoners of war, the American citizens taken on the ocean, 
 and cast into the prisons of England, as ' traitors, pirates, 
 and felons ! ' ' 
 
 * Notwithstanding this, he was as ambitious of glory,
 
 WAS HE A PIRATE? 441 
 
 He did not, in defiance of law, charter a vessel 
 for the purpose of waging private war. On the 
 contrary, his ship was provided by the French king, 
 and commissions for those officers who had not 
 been commissioned directly by Congress, as had 
 Jones himself, were issued by Franklin, who pos- 
 sessed the unquestioned ppwer to do this by the 
 specific action of Congress. Indeed, such was 
 Franklin's power, that when he displaced Landais 
 from his command he did not hesitate to overrule a 
 commission issued by Congress under circum- 
 stances of peculiar importance, and he was upheld 
 by that body when his action was called in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 Nor did Jones take a commission from two bel- 
 ligerent adversaries that is, he had no commission 
 from England which he threw up to accept that of 
 the United States. He had never served in the 
 English navy in any capacity. There were officers in 
 the United States land service who had held Eng- 
 lish commissions and yet accepted American com- 
 mands, but Jones was not one of them. He had 
 never, until he entered the Russian service, sailed 
 under any commission save that of the United 
 States, and one of the noblest acts of his life was his 
 indignant repudiation of a French letter of marque 
 when his acceptance of it was considered the only 
 way of saving his head. Nothing could induce 
 
 honor, and fame to himself in the service of his country as 
 Nelson was. They were both of them 
 
 " Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel. 
 Seeking the bubble reputation 
 Even in the cannon's mouth."
 
 442 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 him to declare the Alliance a French ship in those 
 hazardous moments in the Texel when he was men- 
 aced by the Dutch fleet on one side and the Eng- 
 lish fleet on the other, nor would he even tempora- 
 rily hoist the French flag on that ship. He did not 
 even commit the so-called illegal and irregular act 
 of accepting a commission from two allies, for he 
 refused a French commission again and again. 
 This certainly constitutes a clear and overwhelming 
 refutation of the charge of piracy. Indeed, on the 
 question of piracy, Jones' own ingenious comment 
 is not without interest. Laughton has called atten- 
 tion to it in the following words : 
 
 " Paul Jqnes strongly objected to the word as 
 applied to himself; he had, he said, looked in the 
 dictionary and found the definition of pirate to be 
 ' an enemy against mankind.' Now, he was not the 
 enemy of mankind, but only the enemy of England. 
 With a tu quoquc argument, not wanting in ingenu- 
 ity, he urged that, as England was then at war with 
 the whole of America, the greater part of Europe, 
 and much of Asia, not to speak of a part of Africa, 
 she, in point of fact, came as near being the enemy 
 of mankind as could well be conceived that Eng- 
 land was therefore the pirate, not Paul Jones." 
 
 Why was it that the English called him a pirate, 
 put a price on his head, and attempted to compass 
 his death or capture by private hands ? Why was it 
 that he evoked such widespread animosity, and be- 
 came the object of a hatred which has not exhausted 
 itself to this day ? Surely not because he had been 
 a British subject ! All who fought on the American 
 side had been British subjects. Jones had removed
 
 WHY THEY HATE HIM. 
 
 443 
 
 to America and had determined to settle there before 
 the war broke out. Why should any one attempt 
 to insinuate that the same feelings which actuated 
 Adams, Washington, and Patrick Henry did not 
 operate to make him espouse the colonial cause? 
 He was as fond of freedom as they, and as anxious 
 to promote it. 
 
 Many of the most distinguished colonists were 
 not only British subjects, but they had worn the 
 king's uniform, fought under the king's flag, and 
 eaten the king's bread ; as, for instance, the great 
 Washington. Richard Montgomery, an Irishman, 
 who laid down a life valuable to his adopted coun- 
 try when he fell in the assault on Quebec, had been 
 a British officer ; and there were many others, some 
 of whom, like the traitor Charles Lee and the worth- 
 less Gates, were actually half-pay officers in the Brit- 
 ish army when they entered the American service ! 
 
 Among the naval officers, the heroic Biddle, who 
 matched the little Randolph, of thirty-two small 
 guns, against the huge line of battle ship Yarmouth, 
 and fought until his ship was blown to pieces, and he 
 and all his crew were lost except four men, had been 
 a midshipman in the British navy with Nelson. 
 Stout old John Barry, who commanded the Alliance 
 when he captured the Atlanta and the Trepassy, 
 and fought the last action of the w y ar by beating the 
 frigate Sibylle, of superior force, was an Irishman.* 
 The most bigoted Englishmen to-day speak of those 
 men with respect which they will not accord to 
 Jones. Why is this? 
 
 * See my book, American Fights and Fighters.
 
 444 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 The reason for the strange exception lies in the 
 brilliant success with which he cruised and fought. 
 The English claimed and exercised an absolute and 
 practically undisputed supremacy on the high seas. 
 Their arrogant navy for more than a hundred years 
 had been invincible. In single ship actions they 
 had always conquered. No enemy had landed on 
 their shores for over a century. They could stand 
 being beaten on land they were accustomed to it. 
 With few notable exceptions England does not pro- 
 duce great soldiers Carlyle feelingly refers to the 
 average English commander as a " wooden hoop 
 pole wearing a cocked hat " * but such a line of 
 sailors as had sprung from their shores has never 
 been equaled in the history of the world. Such sea 
 leadership and such sea fighting has never been ex- 
 ceeded, or even equaled, by any nation, f 
 
 The capture of the Serapis was a trifling circum- 
 stance ; it did not impair the naval efficiency or 
 abridge the maritime supremacy of England an ap- 
 preciable degree; but it had a moral significance 
 
 * The recent war in South Africa demonstrates the accu- 
 . racy of Carlyle's perspicuous observation. 
 
 f The United States has shown that it possesses in full 
 measure the sea adaptability and capacity of the Anglo- 
 Saxon, but opportunity for demonstrating that capacity, ex- 
 cept upon a small scale, has never been afforded us. The 
 almost unbroken line of victories on the sea, however, which 
 we have won with anything like equality of force from Eng- 
 lish, French, and Spaniards, enables us to confidently await 
 the issue of any future naval action under conditions of equali- 
 ty ; and the names of Jones, Dale, Biddle, Barry, Preble, 
 Hull, Decatur, Bainbridge, Lawrence, Stewart, MacDonough, 
 Perry, Farragut, Dewey, and Sampson will not be outshone 
 by any galaxy.
 
 THE STATUS OF THE RICHARD. 
 
 445 
 
 that could not be misunderstood by the nations of 
 the world. They saw and approved.* English 
 ships had been beaten in fair fight, in one instance 
 by a ship of equal, and in the other instance of 
 inferior, force. The English coasts, in spite of 
 swarms of great ships of the line, had been shown 
 to be as vulnerable as any other, f The affront had 
 been to her pride, and never since the days that 
 brave old Tromp gallant Dutchman, for whose 
 character I have the greatest admiration swept the 
 narrow seas with a broom at his masthead, and actu- 
 ally entered the Thames under that same provoking 
 emblem, had England suffered such, naval humilia- 
 tion. The English cheek tingles still from the blow 
 dealt upon it by the hot-handed sailor. Naturally, 
 they did not love Paul Jones. The hatred, which 
 after a hundred years still rankles, is evidence of 
 what they feel and what he did ! As for us, we 
 love the bold little captain for the enemies he has 
 made. 
 
 It has been stated by unthinking people that the 
 Bon Homme Richard was a privateer or a letter of 
 marque : in one case an armed vessel owned by pri- 
 vate individuals and authorized, under certain re- 
 strictions, to cruise at private expense to prey upon 
 the commerce of the enemy ; in the other case, an 
 armed vessel engaged in trade, but possessing the 
 right to capture ships of the enemy should she hap- 
 
 * So careful and accurate an historian as John Fiske 
 makes the mistake of saying that Russia bestowed the order 
 of St. Anne on Jones for this action. 
 
 t Paul Jones and his men were the last foreign foemen 
 to land on the shores of England.
 
 446 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 pen to fall in with them.- There is nothing dis- 
 graceful about either of these commissions, though, 
 to be sure, their essence consists in making war for 
 individual gain. The Bon Homme Richard was 
 purchased and converted into a man-of-war by the 
 French Government, and then loaned to the Ameri- 
 can Government for the time being. De Chaumont 
 acted only as the representative of the king that, 
 is, of the Government. There was no question of 
 individual gain in the matter. The "money for the 
 sale of the prizes was received, and the share of 
 Jones was paid, by the French Government. 
 Therefore it was a Government ship, not a private 
 vessel. France and the United States were allies in 
 a war against England when she was commissioned, 
 and the transaction was customary and legitimate. 
 The Bon Homme Richard was as bona fide an 
 American man-of-war as the Constitution. Of 
 course, there could be no exception to the status of 
 the Ranger or any of the earlier ships in which Paul 
 Jones sailed. 
 
 I have considered the personal character and 
 professional status of Paul Jones, now let me say 
 a few words as to his qualities as an officer. Here 
 at last we reach a field in which there is practically 
 little disagreement. First of all, he was a thorough 
 and accomplished seaman. His experiences had 
 been many and varied. His handling of the Provi- 
 dence in the Gut of Canso, of the Alfred along the 
 coast of Cape Breton, his splendid seamanship in 
 the Ariel in the terrific gale off the Penmarques, his 
 daring passage of the Baltic amid the winter gales 
 and ice, not to speak of the way he maneuvered the
 
 AS A SEAMAN. 447 
 
 Richard in the battle with the Serapis, all tell the 
 same story of skill and address. Not only did he 
 understand the sailing of ships, but he acquired no 
 small familiarity with the principles of naval archi- 
 tecture. Witness his remodeling of the Alliance, 
 the improvements he introduced in the America, 
 and the skillful way he managed the launching of 
 that ship. Some of his suggestions were radical, 
 and some of the principles he laid down were em- 
 bodied in shipbuilding by naval architects until the 
 advent of the ironclad age. 
 
 He was a stern disciplinarian, and usually man- 
 aged to work his very indifferent crews into some- 
 thing like fair shape. In none of his commands did 
 he have a first-class crew of American seamen, such 
 as the 1812 frigates exhibited. His sway on his 
 ships was absolute. His officers were generally 
 creatures of his own making (Simpson being an 
 exception), and completely under his domination ; 
 with few exceptions, like Dale, whom he loved and 
 respected, they were poor enough. In his passion- 
 ate impatience with their stupidity or inefficiency, 
 he sometimes treated them with great indignity, 
 even going to the length of kicking them out of the 
 cabin when they displeased him.* He was a fierce 
 commander, who brooked no interference, needed 
 no suggestions, and had no tolerance for- ignorance 
 and incapacity. Notwithstanding all this, he was a 
 , merciful captain in an age in which the gospel of 
 
 * See Park Benjamin's History of the Naval Academy 
 for similar instances on the part of less famous captains. 
 Personal abuse was a custom of the service, apparently.
 
 448 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 force, punctuated by the .cat-o'-nine-tails, was the 
 only one in vogue on ships of war. He resorted but 
 rarely to the practice of flogging, and in comparison 
 with most commanders of the period his rule was 
 not intolerable. He did not, however, inspire affec- 
 tion in his crews ; they respected his talents, trusted 
 to his skill, and admired his courage, but nothing 
 more. His men were drilled and exercised inces- 
 santly, and target practice was had as frequently as 
 the poverty of his supplies permitted. His ships 
 were all notably clean and orderly. 
 
 As a commander we may consider his achieve- 
 ments from three points of view: as a strategist, 
 as a tactician, and as a fighter. Strategic operations 
 tend to bring you where sound policy dictates you 
 should be, while tactical maneuvers refer to the 
 manipulation of your force at the point of contact. 
 A man may be a brilliant strategist and a poor tac- 
 tician, or the reverse ; or he may be both, and yet not 
 be a hard, determined fighter. Jones was all three 
 in large measure. His strategic conceptions were 
 excellent. His successful destruction of the fishery 
 industry at Canso, and his attempt upon the coal 
 fleet in the Alfred ; the brilliant plan which would 
 have resulted in the capture of Lord Howe by 
 d'Estaing if it had been carried out in time ; the 
 project he conceived for taking the homeward- 
 bound East Indiamen by capturing St. Helena as a 
 base of attack, and the other enterprises he urged 
 upon the French Government indicate these things ; 
 but the conception which lifted him above the ordi- 
 nary sea officer was his acute realization of the great 
 principle that should regulate commerce destroying,
 
 AS A STRATEGIST. 
 
 449 
 
 which is one of the legitimate objects of warfare, and 
 merciful in that it tends to end the conflict, and is 
 aimed at property rather than life. 
 
 His idea was that, to be successfully accom- 
 plished, it could not be committed to the cruiser or 
 commerce destroyer, but that attacks on centers of 
 trade must be made by forces sufficiently mobile 
 to enable them to cover great distances rapidly, and 
 sufficiently strong to defeat any reasonable force, 
 and then crush the enemy's commerce at vital 
 points. A single ship may catch a single ship upon 
 the high seas, or from a fleet in convoy perhaps cut 
 out two or three ; but a descent upon a great body 
 of shipping in a harbor unprotected as were the 
 harbors of those days would result in an infinitely 
 greater loss to the enemy. Mahan has demon- 
 strated that the necessary preliminary to the destruc- 
 tion of the enemy's commerce is to batter his navy 
 to pieces then it is at one's mercy. So far as 
 I know, Jones is the only sailor of his day, or of 
 many subsequent days in any navy, who had a 
 glimmer of an idea in this direction ; and, without 
 detracting from Mahan's originality, in a limited 
 sense Jones forestalled him. Mahan, indeed, gives 
 him full credit for his genius on this very point. 
 
 The beginning of strategy is to determine the 
 vital point at which to aim, and Jones began well. 
 He tried to carry out his idea of commerce destroy- 
 ing with the Ranger in the Irish Channel, and he 
 came near enough to success to demonstrate the ab- 
 solute feasibility and value of his conception, given 
 adequate force to carry it out. He had a greater 
 force, of course, under his partial command in his 
 30
 
 450 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 famous cruise in the Bon H-omme Richard, but the 
 peculiar constitution of that squadron, which was an 
 assemblage of co-operative ships rather than a com- 
 pact body responsive and obedient to one will, also 
 prevented him from carrying out his plans. Sup- 
 pose, for instance, that the Alliance had obeyed his 
 orders, and that the Vengeance, the Cerf, and the 
 privateers had remained with the Pallas under his 
 command, and that all had been well officered and 
 manned ! He would have taken the Serapis in half 
 an hour or less, and the great Baltic fleet, worth mil- 
 lions of dollars, would have been at his mercy. 
 What he attempted at Leith he could have carried 
 out at Newcastle and Hull. 
 
 The largest force under his command was the 
 Russian squadron in the Liman. He chose his ad- 
 mirable position there with an eye to its strategic 
 possibilities, and it was due to him, and not to the 
 trained and veteran soldier Suvorof, that the fort 
 was placed on Kinburn Point, which practically de- 
 termined the fate of Otchakoff, since it prevented 
 the Turks from re-enforcing their fleet, and kept 
 them from escaping after Jones had defeated them. 
 Fortune never gave him an opportunity, but it can 
 not be doubted from what he did accomplish with 
 an inferior force that if he had been given a chance 
 he w r ould have made a name for himself as a sea 
 strategist not inferior to that of Nelson or Sampson. 
 
 As a tactician he was even more able perhaps 
 because he enjoyed better opportunities. It was 
 seamanship and tactics which enabled him to escape 
 from the Solebay, and it was seamanship and tactics 
 by which he diverted the Milford from the pursuit
 
 AS A TACTICIAN. 451 
 
 of his prizes and insured their safety. His tactics 
 when he fought the Drake were admirable. In his 
 famous battle with the Serapis they were even more 
 striking. One never ceases to wonder how he suc- 
 ceeded in maneuvering his slow, unwieldy ship so 
 as to nullify the greater speed and gun power of 
 the Serapis. His action in laying the Bon Homme 
 Richard aboard the English frigate was the one 
 chance that he had of success, "and he made that 
 chance himself. 
 
 His tactics in the Liman were even higher than 
 elsewhere. It was he who so maneuvered the boats 
 of the flotilla on June I7th as to precipitate the 
 flight of the Turks ; it was he who again, on June 
 28th and 29th, so placed his ships that he drove the 
 Turks from their stranded flagships. It was he who 
 dispatched the flotilla to clear the right flank, which 
 would have enabled the Russians to take possession 
 of the two frigates if Nassau had not foolishly 
 burned them. It was he who, by his splendid dis- 
 position of his ships and the battery on the point, 
 forced the Turkish ships to take ground upon the 
 shoals, in their attempt to escape, where Nassau de- 
 stroyed them. On the other hand, he was never 
 reckless. He coolly calculated chances and judi- 
 ciously chose the right course, and he was happy in 
 that the right course was usually the bold and dar- 
 ing one. 
 
 In the third capacity of an officer, there is no 
 question as to his willingness and ability to fight. 
 No one ever called him a coward. He certainly 
 exhibited the very highest reach of physical brav- 
 ery. It. was not the courage of the braggart, for he
 
 452 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 was not continually thrusting it in the face of people 
 on all occasions. Having established his reputa- 
 tion, he was content to rest upon it, and did not seek 
 opportunity which he did not need for further 
 demonstration. Nothing could surpass the per- 
 sonal courage and determination with which he 
 fought his ships. Unlike most commanders, who 
 confine their efforts to direction, he labored and 
 fought with his own hands. 
 
 We find him heading the boarders on the fore- 
 castle of the Richard, and, p : ke in hand, repelling 
 those from the Serapis ; he assists in lashing the two 
 ships together ; he takes personal command of the 
 quarter-deck guns, one of which, with the assistance 
 of a few resolute souls, he dragged across the deck 
 from the unengaged side. When the Ariel was 
 drifting in deadly peril upon the Penmarques, with 
 his own hand he heaves the lead. At Kinburn, 
 after repeated efforts to get the galley fleet to move, 
 he leads it forward himself. To ascertain the depth 
 of water, he goes in a small boat under the walls of 
 Otchakoff, within easy range of the cannon. He 
 takes his barge on the Liman in the midst of the 
 hottest engagement, and rows about through the 
 contestants. When the assault is made on the 
 flotilla under the walls of that town, he leads in 
 person, and captures two gunboats by boarding. 
 At Whitehaven, alone he confronts a mob and keeps 
 them in check until the fire which he started him- 
 self has gained sufficient headway. The bullying 
 of the Dutch admiral in the/Texel can not move him 
 a single foot. 
 
 While he did not alwavs exhibit the same
 
 AS A FIGHTER. 453 
 
 amount of moral courage, yet in some very interest- 
 ing situations he showed that he possessed it in 
 large measure. His physical courage was, of 
 course, natural. His moral courage seems to have 
 arisen in part from an absolute confidence in his 
 own ability and an habitual reliance upon the ac- 
 curacy of his own judgment. He showed this moral 
 courage when, at the peril of his commission, he 
 assumed the responsibility of piloting the Alfred to 
 her anchorage in the Bahama expedition. He 
 showed it particularly when, after assuming the 
 proper position demanded by good strategy in the 
 opening of the Liman campaign, he refused to be 
 moved from it by the representations of such fire 
 eaters as Nassau and Alexiano. His declining to 
 hoist the French flag, or to sail under a French 
 letter of marque, were evidences of this quality, and 
 he showed it again by sending a present to Louis 
 XVI in the dark days of the Revolution, when re- 
 spect to the king in his hours of humiliation marked 
 a man immediately. 
 
 On the other hand, he showed ? sad lack of 
 moral courage if de Segur's statement be true that 
 he found him, pistol in hand, in his apartments in 
 St. Petersburg, apparently contemplating suicide. 
 Moral courage is perhaps a more universal requisite 
 for true greatness of character than any other vir- 
 tue, and he did not rise in this sphere quite to the 
 height he attained in the others. In other words, 
 he was greater as a commander and as an officer 
 than as a man. 
 
 As a commander he made mistakes. What com- 
 mander did not? His quickness to imagine or to
 
 454 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 resent a slight was marred by too great a will- 
 ingness to forgive. His treatment of the mutinous 
 Simpson was entirely too gentle and forgiving for 
 the maintenance of that discipline necessary to the 
 welfare of the service. It was certainly a mistake 
 to yield to Landais' importunities and leave the 
 advantageous situation off Limerick, and, as I have 
 stated, the excuse was worse than the action. His 
 failure to keep his promise to his men after leaving 
 Corunna in the Alliance was a more serious blunder. 
 There are few professions in which the word of an 
 officer is so implicitly relied upon by his inferiors as 
 in the naval service. The lives of the crew are so 
 entirely in the hands of the officers that without 
 confidence the situation is impossible. His extrava- 
 gant outfitting of the Alliance was also a wrong to 
 Franklin under the circumstances. His method of 
 dealing with the mutiny on the Alliance and with 
 Landais' successful attempt to get command of her 
 was weak, and can only be explained by the postula- 
 tion that he did not really desire to get possession 
 of her ; but even the explanation leaves him in a bad 
 position. His dawdling at L'Orient is also censur- 
 able. This, however, is a small catalogue in view of 
 what he attempted and accomplished. Otherwise 
 in his campaigns and in his military life he made no 
 blunders. 
 
 He has been severely censured for choosing 
 localities with which he was familiar from childhood 
 as the scene of his military operations. The war 
 of the Revolution was practically a civil war, with 
 all the rancorous passions attendant thereon super- 
 added to those ordinarily engendered in conflict. In
 
 A CIVILIZED WARRIOR. 
 
 455 
 
 America, friend met friend in deadly hatred, and 
 not one royalist or rebel hesitated to use his local 
 knowledge for the advancement of his cause. In 
 accordance with his duty, by his oath as an officer, 
 Jones was bound to put all the information as well 
 as the ability he possessed at the services of the 
 country under whose flag he fought. He was not 
 born at Whitehaven, and, while he had sailed from 
 the port many times, he had no special attachment 
 for the place and people which comes from long 
 association in society and business. When he made 
 his famous descent upon the place it was seven 
 years since he had set foot in it. At any rate, he 
 was only doing in England what other people on 
 both sides were doing in America without censure, 
 and he was .doing it with so much more respect to 
 the laws of civilized warfare, and with so much 
 more mercy, that there is no comparison between 
 his forays and those, let us say, of Lord Dunmore, 
 for instance, or Mowatt at Portland. The journal 
 of an officer of the Serapis, who was killed in the 
 action, was found after the battle was over. He 
 had been under Dunmore's command in Virginia 
 at the outbreak of the Revolution, and such a tale 
 of maraudings, accompanied by destruction of 
 property, murdering, and outraging of women as 
 the volume contained would have been incredible 
 had it not been confirmed by the statement of 
 hundreds of witnesses in America. None of this 
 kind of warfare was waged where Jones com- 
 manded. 
 
 A century and a decade, lacking two years, have 
 elapsed since the lonely little commander entered
 
 456 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 upon his long, long rest ; and the country whose 
 first banner was hoisted by his hands at the mast- 
 head of the Alfred, whose permanent standard was 
 flung to the breeze by the same hands from the 
 truck of the Ranger, whose ensign was first saluted 
 by one of the greatest powers of the world through 
 his address and determination, whose flag was made 
 respectable in the eyes of the world by the desper- 
 ate gallantry with which he fought under it, which 
 alone among the powers that sailed the sea through 
 him demonstrated its ability to meet successfully 
 the Mistress of the Ocean, has done nothing to per- 
 petuate the memory of this founder of the Republic 
 and rescue him from oblivion. The place of his 
 grave is known, but squalid tenements and cheap 
 stores have been erected over his remains. Com- 
 merce, trade, and traffic, restless life with its pas- 
 sions, noble and ignoble, flows on above his head, 
 and it is probable that so it will be until the end of 
 time. " So runs the world away ! " 
 
 It is all so mournful in some strange way. In 
 spite of his glory and his heroism, in spite of his 
 strenuous life and his strugglings, the note that 
 lingers in my mind as I write these concluding 
 words is one of sadness. I read of hopes that 
 brought no fruition ; of plans made and abandoned ; 
 of opportunities that could not be embraced ; of 
 great attempts frustrated by inadequate means ; of 
 triumphs forgotten. I see a great life that might have 
 been greater, a man of noble qualities marred by 
 petty faults, and yet I love him. I can not tell why 
 exactly, but the \vords of Solomon come into my 
 mind as the vision of the little captain appears be-
 
 FAREWELL. 
 
 457 
 
 fore me, dying alone of a broken heart, fretted away 
 Vanitas vanitatem. 
 
 And yet he did not live in vain, and his exploits 
 shall live forever in the minds of his countrymen. 
 So long as we possess that masculine virility which 
 is the heritage of a great nation whose rugged coasts 
 are washed by thousands of leagues of beating seas ; 
 so long as the beautiful flag we love waves above 
 the mighty Republic, which, true to the princi- 
 ples of its founders, stands in every quarter of the 
 globe for freedom of person, for liberty of con- 
 science, for respect to law, so long shall the story 
 be told of the little captain from the far land who 
 loved these things, and who fought so heroically 
 to establish and to maintain them.
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 CONCERNING JOHN PAUL'S ASSUMPTION OF THE 
 NAME OF JONES. 
 
 A. 
 
 Letter of Mr. W. M. dimming, of Wilmington, N. C. t 
 May ji, 1899. 
 
 " John Paul adopted the name of Jones in token of 
 affectionate regard for the Honorable Willie (pro- 
 nounced Wylie) Jones, of North Carolina, and his beau- 
 tiful and charming wife, who had both been very kind to 
 him in his days of obscurity. He was particularly de- 
 voted to Mrs. Jones, and called himself her son. It was 
 through the influence of Honorable Willie Jones (mem- 
 ber of Congress, I think, from North Carolina), that John 
 Paul obtained his commission in the navy of the young 
 Republic, and it was about this time that he adopted the 
 name of his friend and patron." 
 
 B. 
 
 Letter of Mr. Junius Davis, of Wilmingtnn, N. C., 
 February 23, 1900. 
 
 " I first heard from my father, the late Hon. George 
 Davis, who was a devoted student of the history of North 
 Carolina, and perhaps the highest authority in the State 
 upon such subjects, that Paul, shortly after going to Vir- 
 ginia to take the estate left him by his brother, met 
 Willie Jones of this State; that Jones took a fancy to him 
 and invited him to pay him a visit in North Carolina; that 
 Paul did so and remained quite a long time with him and 
 became so attached to Jones and his wife that he adopted 
 their name. Willie pronounced Wylie Jones and his 
 
 459
 
 460 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 brother Allan were educated at Eton, and were gentlemen 
 of large means, high ability, and devoted Whigs. They 
 were prominent in every movement and assembly in this 
 State prior to and during the Revolution. Allan lived 
 upon his plantation, ' Mount Gallant,' in Halifax County, 
 and Willie upon his, ' The Grove,' in the adjoining county 
 of North Hampton. They were warm friends and asso- 
 ciates of Joseph Hewes, of Edenton, one of the dele- 
 gates from North Carolina to the first and second Pro- 
 vincial Congresses. Wheeler, the historian of North 
 Carolina in his Reminiscences and Memoirs of North 
 Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians, says as follows: 
 ' The daring and celebrated John Paul Jones, whose 
 real name was John Paul, of Scotland, when quite young 
 visited Mr. Willie Jones at Halifax, and became so fasci- 
 nated with him and his charming wife that he adopted 
 their family name. Under this name, John Paul Jones, 
 he offered his services to Congress and was made a lieu- 
 tenant, December 22, 1775, on the recommendation of 
 Willie Jones.' . . . Jones in the very outset of his Auto- 
 biography says: 'I at the same time acquainted Mr. 
 Hewes, a member of Congress and my particular friend, 
 with the project for seizing the island of St. Helena,' etc. 
 This is the Mr. Hewes mentioned above. In the second 
 Congress Hewes was at the head of the committee in 
 charge of naval affairs, and was virtually the first Secre- 
 tary of the Navy. Paul could only have known Hewes, 
 whom he calls his particular friend, through the Joneses, 
 and it has always been one of the traditions of this State 
 that it was the Jones influence with Hewes that got 
 Paul his lieutenancy in the American navy. In a let- 
 ter received recently from my aged kinsman, Colonel 
 Cadwallader Jones, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, a 
 lineal descendant of Allan Jones, I find that Colonel 
 Jones' mother was a granddaughter of General Allan 
 Jones, was raised by him, married in 1810, and lived 
 in Halifax until 1826. Up to this time she was a fre- 
 quent visitor at ' The Grove,' the residence of Willie 
 Jones, as was also Colonel Cadwallader Jones. The lat- 
 ter, who is now eighty-six years of age, has always heard 
 that John Paul assumed the name of Jones as a mark 
 of respect and affection for these brothers, Willie and 
 Allan Jones, and for the wife of the former, whose vir- 
 tues might well win the admiration of any man. Colonel
 
 APPENDIX I. 461 
 
 Jones remembers his aunt, Mrs. Willie Jones, perfectly; 
 she survived her husband many years. The statement that 
 John Paul was invited by Willie Jones to visit ' The Grove ' 
 while he was looking after his property in Virginia is cor- 
 roborated by Colonel Jones. ... I quote the following 
 from newspaper clippings: 
 
 " i. From the Charleston Observer of November, 1899: 
 
 " ' FREDERICKSBURG, VA., November i&tb. 
 
 ' The announcement that the remains of that distin- 
 guished naval hero, John Paul Jones, have been located 
 in Paris, France, brings to light that the deceased was 
 once a resident of this city. According to the records of 
 the county court, he came here in 1773 to administer on the 
 records of his brother, William Paul, who lived here in 
 1772. William Paul came here in 1760 and shortly afterward 
 entered the mercantile business, in which he was engaged 
 up to the time of his death. The store occupied by him 
 is on the corner of Main and Market Streets, and is the 
 same building in which George Washington was made a 
 Mason. Tradition also says that one of the rooms in the 
 building was used by John Paul during his residence here, 
 which was nearly two years, as his lodging quarters. It 
 was also during his citizenship here that he received his 
 appointment from the Colonial Congress as lieutenant 
 in the navy. It was here, too, that he added Jones to his 
 patronymic, which, it is said, was in token of the friendly 
 act of Colonel Willie Jones, of North Carolina, who be- 
 came his bondsman for five hundred pounds when he ad- 
 ministered on his brother's estate.' 
 
 " 2. The State, Columbia, S. C, Monday, November 
 6, 1899: 
 
 " 'SARATOGA, BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, VA., February 22, 1899. 
 
 " ' . . . While no Revolutionary biography can boast 
 more public events of vivid and intense interest than that 
 of Paul Jones, none is so bare and meager in personal 
 detail. Even the fact that he has immortalized a name 
 which was his only by selection and adoption is slurred 
 over in history with the calm statement that " he changed 
 his name for unknown reasons." As the reasons were not 
 unknown, and, however difficult to obtain later, were 
 then easily accessible, it appears to have been rather a 
 lack of careful and intelligent investigation than of facts
 
 462 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 which caused their suppression. They are now for the 
 first time given to the public. ... In 1773, the death of 
 his brother in Virginia, whose heir he was, induced him 
 to settle in America. It was then he added to his name 
 and thenceforth was known as "Paul Jones." This was 
 done in compliment to one of the most noted statesmen 
 of that day, and in the love and gratitude it shadows forth 
 is a scathing reproach and a touching example to a people 
 who could neglect in life and forget in death. It appears 
 that before permanently settling in Virginia, moved by 
 the restlessness of his old seafaring life, he wandered about 
 the country, finally straying to North Carolina. There he 
 became acquainted with two brothers, Willie and Allan 
 Jones. They were both leaders in their day, and wise 
 and honored in their generation. Allan Jones was an 
 orator and silver-tongued; Willie Jones, the foremost 
 man of his State, and one of the most remarkable of his 
 time. . . . 
 
 ' His home, " The Grove," near Halifax, was not only 
 the resort of the cultivated, the refined, but the home of 
 the homeless, Mrs. Jones having sometimes twenty orphan 
 girls under her charge, and it was here the young adven- 
 turer, John Paul Jones, was first touched by those gentler 
 and purer influences which changed not only his name 
 but himself, from the rough and reckless mariner into the 
 polished man of society, who was the companion of kings 
 and the lion and pet of Parisian salons. The almost wor- 
 shiping love and reverence awakened in his hitherto wild 
 and untamed nature by the generous kindness of these 
 brothers found expression in his adoption of their name. 
 The truth of this account is ... attested by the descend- 
 ants of Willie Jones. 
 
 ' ' In addition to the above, I would say that General 
 Allan Jones of the Revolution was my great-great-grand- 
 father. My grandmother was raised by him, and was 
 often at " The Grove," the residence of her great-uncle, 
 Willie Jones. My father, Colonel Cadwallader Jones, 
 now eighty-six years of age, in his youth was also often 
 an inmate of " The Grove," and heard the facts spoken 
 in both families. 
 
 ' ' A. I. ROBERTSON, 
 ' ' Secretary Columbia Chapter, D. A. R.' "
 
 APPENDIX I. 463 
 
 C. 
 
 Letter of Mrs. A. I. Robertson, of Columbia, S. C., 
 April 14, igoo. 
 
 " John Pa,ul was thrown more with Mr. and Mrs. 
 Willie Jones, I think, than Allan, as he was more at ' The 
 Grove ' (the residence of Willie Jones) than at ' Mount 
 Gallant ' (the residence of Allan Jones), though a great 
 deal at both places. I have an exact facsimile of the com- 
 mission which these brothers got for him, which appeared 
 in the World, February n, 1900. 
 
 " Mrs. Allan Jones was Mary Haynes, married 1762; 
 their daughter Sarah married General William R. Davis. 
 
 " Mrs. Willie Jones was Mary Mumford, daughter of 
 Joseph Mumford, son of Robert Mumford and wife Anne, 
 daughter of Robert Bland. These two Mrs. Jones are 
 spoken of in Mrs. Elliot's Women of the Revolution, 
 Wheeler's History of North Carolina, and Appletons' 
 Cyclopaedia of American Biography. 
 
 " I quote you the following from the family book of my 
 father: ' When the army of Cornwallis passed through 
 Halifax to Virginia, his officers quartered for some time 
 in the town. Colonel Tarleton was at " The Grove," the 
 residence of Willie Jones. He had been wounded in the 
 hand at Cowpens by a sabre cut by Colonel William 
 Washington. Speaking of Colonel Washington, Tarleton 
 said he was a common, illiterate fellow, hardly able to 
 write his name. " Ah, colonel," said Mrs. Jones, " you 
 ought to know better, for you bear upon your person 
 proof that he knows very well how to mark his mark." ' 
 I inclose a MS. of my father on the subject, which you 
 are at liberty to copy." 
 
 MS. of Colonel Cadivallader Jones inclosed in 
 above Letter. 
 
 " Paul Jones Why he changed his name Colonel Hubard's account. 
 
 " A recent sketch of the life of Paul Jones in the Cen- 
 tury has revived the memory of his gallant achievements, 
 and rekindled public interest in this famous hero. There is 
 much inquiry as to his reason for adopting the name of 
 Jones. It is not a little remarkable that such an incident 
 in the life of one so renowned should be so soon forgotten.
 
 464 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 " Let me tell you what I know about this man and how 
 I know it; the public mind needs to be refreshed. When 
 John Paul came to Virginia, some three years before the 
 war of the Revolution, looking after an estate left him 
 by his brother, he visited Halifax, North Carolina, at that 
 time a place of considerable repute. Here he made the 
 acquaintance of those grand old patriots, Allen and Willie 
 Jones; he was a young man but an old tar, with a bold, 
 frank sailor bearing that attracted their attention; he be- 
 came a frequent visitor at their homes, where he was 
 always welcome; he soon grew fond of them, and as a 
 mark of his esteem and admiration, he adopted their name. 
 Why John Paul became John Paul Jones it was his 
 fancy. . . ." 
 
 D. 
 
 Letter of General Edward McCrady, of Charleston, S. C., 
 April j, 1900. 
 
 " Mrs. McCrady was the granddaughter of General 
 William R. Davie, of Revolutionary fame, who married 
 the daughter of General Allan Jones, of Mount Gallant, 
 Northampton, North Carolina. Tradition in her branch 
 of the family has been that it was Allan Jones who be- 
 friended John Paul, and not his brother Willie pro- 
 nounced IVylie, not Willie. It was in honor of Allan 
 Jones that he adopted the name of Jones as surname to 
 that of Paul. . . . 
 
 E. 
 
 In a subsequent letter from Mr. Jiinius Davis, Wil- 
 mington, North Carolina, dated April 24, 1900, he writes 
 as follows: 
 
 " In respect to the name of Jones, I never heard the 
 question raised in the State as to whether Willie or Allan 
 was the man, who, as it were, picked up John Paul and 
 was his closest friend. Beyond all question, H r illie 
 was the man, but above Willie in the affection of John 
 Paul was Mrs. Willie Jones. Undoubtedly it was his affec- 
 tion for her that induced him to change his name. She 
 was a Miss Montford, daughter of Colonel Joseph Mont- 
 ford, and had a sister who married Colonel John Baptiste 
 Ashe, a distinguished soldier of this State, during the war 
 of the Revolution. In regard to the retort made by Mrs.
 
 APPENDIX II. 465 
 
 Willie Jones to Tarleton, you will find it mentioned in 
 Mrs. Elliot's Women of the Revolution. It is also men- 
 tioned by Wheeler in vol. ii, page 186, of his History of 
 North Carolina. It is a little singular that Mrs. Ashe, 
 sister of Mrs. Willie Jones, also retorted upon Tarleton. 
 On one occasion, when he said with a sneer that he would 
 like to meet Colonel Washington, she replied, ' If you had 
 looked behind you at the battle of Cowpens you would 
 have had that pleasure.' These two ladies were both very 
 beautiful women, highly gifted in mind and character, and 
 highly educated." 
 
 F. 
 
 On this subject see also Appletons' Cyclopaedia of 
 American Biography, vol. iii, under Jones. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 CONCORDAT MADE BETWEEN CAPTAIN JOHN 
 PAUL JONES AND THE OFFICERS OF THE 
 SQUADRON. 
 
 " Agreement between Messieurs John Paul Jones, cap- 
 tain of the Bon Homme Richard; Pierre Landais, cap- 
 tain of the Alliance; Dennis Nicholas Cottineau, captain 
 of the Pallas; Joseph Varage, captain of the Stag; and 
 Philip Nicholas Ricot, captain of the Vengeance; com- 
 posing a squadron that shall be commanded by the oldest 
 officer of the highest grade, and so in succession in case 
 of death or retreat. None of the said commanders, while 
 they are not separated from the said squadron, by order 
 of the minister shall act but by virtue of the brevet, which 
 they shall have obtained from the United States of Amer- 
 ica, and it is agreed that the flag of the United States shall 
 be displayed. 
 
 " The division of the prizes to the superior officers and 
 crews of said squadron, shall be made agreeable to the
 
 466 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 American laws; but it is agreed that the proportion of 
 the whole coming to each vessel in the squadron shall be 
 regulated by the Minister of the Marine Department of 
 France, and the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United 
 States of America. 
 
 " A copy of the American laws shall be annexed to the 
 present agreement, after having been certified by the com- 
 mander of the Bon Homme Richard; but, as the said laws 
 can not foresee or determine as to what may concern 
 the vessels and subjects of other nations, it is express- 
 ly agreed that whatever may be contrary to them should 
 be regulated by the Minister of the French Marine, and 
 the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of 
 America. 
 
 " It is likewise agreed that the orders given by the 
 Minister of the French Marine, and the Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary of the United States be executed. 
 
 " Considering the necessity there is of preserving the 
 interests of each individual, the prizes that shall be taken 
 shall be remitted to the orders of Monsieur le Ray de 
 Chaumont, honorary intendant of the Royal Hotel of In- 
 valids, who has furnished the expenses of the armament 
 of the said squadron. 
 
 " It has been agreed that M. le Ray de Chaumont be re- 
 quested not to give up the part of the prizes coming to 
 all crews, and to each individual of the said squadron, but 
 to their order, and to be responsible for the same in his 
 own and proper name. 
 
 " Whereas the said squadron has been formed for the 
 purpose of injuring the common enemies of France and 
 America, it has been agreed that such armed vessels, 
 whether French or American, may be associated therewith 
 by common consent, as shall be found suitable for the 
 purpose, and that they shall have such proportion of the 
 prizes which shall be taken as the laws of their respec- 
 tive countries allow them. 
 
 " In case of the death of any of the before-mentioned 
 commanders of vessels, he shall be replaced agreeably to 
 the order of the tariff, with liberty, however, for the suc- 
 cessor to choose whether he shall remain on board his own 
 vessel, and give up the next in order, the command of the 
 vacant ship. 
 
 " It has, moreover, been agreed, that the commander of 
 the Stag shall be excepted from the last article of this
 
 APPENDIX III. 467 
 
 present agreement, because in case of a disaster to M. de 
 Varage he shall be replaced by his second in command, 
 and so on by the other officers of his cutter, the Stag. 
 
 " J. PAUL JONES. 
 
 " P. LANDAIS. 
 
 " DE GOTTINEAU. 
 
 " DE VARAGE. 
 
 " LE RAY DE CHAUMONT. 
 
 " P. RICOT." 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 ON THE FLAG OF THE BON HOMME RICHARD. 
 
 The statement is frequently made that the flag under 
 which the Bon Homme Richard fought the Serapis is still 
 in existence, and the following letter from the assistant 
 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution gives a history 
 of the claim: 
 
 " I am authorized by the secretary to acknowledge the 
 receipt of and reply to your letter of the 27th instant, in 
 which you ask whether the identical flag used by John 
 Paul Jones on the Bon Homme Richard is the one now in 
 the custody of the Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 " Your letter has been referred to Mr. A. H. Clark, 
 Custodian of the Section of American History in the 
 National Museum, who has submitted the following facts, 
 which I submit to you as the opinion of this institution in 
 the case. 
 
 " ' The evidence appears conclusive that the flag in the 
 National Museum is the identical one used by John Paul 
 Jones on the Bon Homme Richard. This flag was pre- 
 sented to James Bayard Stafford in 1784, by the Marine 
 Committee, with the following letter. The sword and 
 musket are exhibited with the flag together with the ori- 
 ginal letter:
 
 468 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 " ' " PHILADELPHIA, Monday, December 13, 1784. 
 
 " James Bayard Stafford. 
 
 " SIR: I am directed by the Marine Committee to 
 inform you that on last Thursday, the gth, they decided 
 to bestow upon you, for your meritorious service thro' 
 the late war, Paul Jones' Starry Flag of the Bon Homme 
 Richard which was transferred to the Alliance a board- 
 ing sword of said ship, and a musquet captured from the 
 Serapis. 
 
 " ' " If you write to Captain John Brown, at the Yard, 
 what ship you wish them sent by to New York, they will 
 be forwarded to you. 
 
 " ' " Your humble servant, 
 " ' " JAMES MEYLER, 
 
 " ' " Secretary, pro tern." 
 
 " ' In the United States Senate, May i, 1872, the Com- 
 mittee on Revolutionary Claims favorably reported a bill 
 (S. 1060) for payment to Sarah S. Stafford, for the serv- 
 ices of her father, James Bayard Stafford, an officer of the 
 Revolution. In the committee's report, Commodore Barry, 
 of the Alliance, certified to the service of Lieutenant Staf- 
 ford, and the report further states that " it fully appears 
 from the testimony before the committee that James Bay- 
 ard Stafford entered the navy at the beginning of the 
 War of Independence, and was in constant and active 
 service, and in frequent battles, and remained in the serv- 
 ice until the close of the war; that his ship was captured 
 by a British cruiser, and subsequently recaptured by John 
 Paul Jones, when he volunteered on the Bon Homme 
 Richard, where he received wounds, which, owing to un- 
 skillful treatment, broke out after a time, disabling both his 
 arms." 
 
 (Signed.) " ' A. H. CLARK, 
 
 " ' Custodian, Section of American History, 
 United States National Museum.' 
 
 " Yours very respectfully, 
 (Signed.) " RICHARD RATHBUN, 
 
 " Assistant Secretary." 
 
 This is an opinion with which I must disagree. 
 Stafford, it is claimed, had been a sailor in the American 
 armed ship Kitty, which had been captured by a British 
 cruiser, said cruiser and her prize being subsequently
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 469 
 
 taken by the Richard, whereupon Stafford volunteered for 
 service on the Richard, was warranted a midshipman, and 
 is alleged to have performed several heroic deeds in con- 
 nection with the flag during the action.* There is no 
 authority whatever for any of these statements in any 
 existing contemporary account of the battle, yet the oc- 
 currence was sufficiently important to be mentioned some- 
 where, surely, if it had occurred. Stafford's name does not 
 appear in any of the lists of the officers and crew, and the 
 Richard certainly did not capture any British cruiser and 
 her prize. But we have evidence which is more than 
 negative, for Jones explicitly states that when the Richard 
 went down, a flag presumably that which had been shot 
 from the staff, or had fallen with it, during the action, 
 and had been recovered the next day was left flying at 
 the peak. In subsequent letters, though, he takes oc- 
 casion to refer specifically to the fact that he sailed 
 under American colors in the Alliance he calls them 
 " my very best American colors," a phrase certainly in- 
 appropriate for the battle-torn ensign of the Richard 
 he never makes the slightest reference to their having been 
 used in the famous battle. Again, the Alliance sailed finally 
 under the command of Landais, and no mention of any 
 particular flag appears thereafter. It may be possible, 
 however, though doubtful, that the flag which was given 
 to Stafford was the " best American colors " under which 
 Jones sailed from the Texel, and, if so, it is an interesting 
 relic. The last circumstance that militates against the 
 claim is the size of the flag in question. It is so small that 
 it is highly improbable it was ever used for a battle flag! 
 
 * See Preble's History of the American Flag, where the 
 story of Stafford is given in extenso.
 
 47O COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 SONG AND MUSIC. 
 
 " Here comes brave Paul Jones, Oho! 
 He's a jolly good fellow. 
 His ship has sunk 'neath the sea, 
 On a bold English cape, O. 
 
 " Here comes brave Paul Jones, Oho! 
 He's a jolly good fellow. 
 Born an American true, 
 And English not a bit, O. 
 
 " Here comes brave Paul Jones, Oho! 
 He's a jolly good fellow. 
 He does so many brave deeds 
 For the good of his friends, O. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 " Oh, had we him here, 
 Or had they him there, 
 He'd well know what to try for 
 And luck he'd let go by, sir! "
 
 HIER KOMT PAUL JONES AAN. 
 
 Niet te snel. 
 
 
 ^jj |- -_v s~ ^ 
 
 =f"3- 
 
 -J 
 
 ^a 
 
 {Qd*- L --f* m * 
 
 1. Hicr konit Pau-wel Jo - nes 
 2. llier komt Pau-wel Jo- 7ies 
 3. Hier komt Pau-wel Jo - lies 
 
 -L - ^ m _ 
 
 aan, 't Is zoo'n aar - din 
 aan, 't Is /.(iii'n aar - dig 
 aan, 't Is zoo'u aar - dig 
 
 vent - 
 vent - 
 vent - 
 
 ==5: 
 
 
 
 Je 
 
 !" 
 
 
 -II 
 
 i 
 i 
 i 
 
 2 * ? 
 
 x * r ^ 5 
 
 f 
 
 "\ 
 
 ^U 
 
 ~n 
 
 :b :jr 
 
 : 1-\ 
 
 m 
 
 
 =U 
 
 P2 
 
 i 
 
 Ziju scliip is na de grond j*e - gaan, Ob ecu Enijelscli ent - je ! 
 Een pe - bo - ren A - nio - ri-l<aan. (Jantscli ren En<:e]cli vent-je! 
 Het doet zoo vee - le liel - den-diicn Tot wclstant van ziju vrint-je! 
 
 
 
 Had - den wij horn liit-r, 
 
 Had - den zij hem daar, liij 
 
 -i i =q i= ^ 
 
 ^ * - ^ 
 
 : F = r"^" 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 ') Het scbip van don Amorikaanscben knperkpitein P.M'L JOXF.S was in Oct. 
 1779 in een strijd met de Enjielsclien bij k;in]> Lanilscnd (Kn<relscli eutjf) L:C- 
 zonktMi. Hij heesch toen zijne vlag nan booru vuu het veroverdc scbip tie apis 
 eu liep'met ziju suialdecl Texel binueu. 
 
 471
 
 472 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 " Testament of Paul Jones, July /<?, 1792. 
 
 " Before the undersigned notaries, at Paris, appeared 
 Mr. John Paul Jones, citizen of the United States of 
 America, resident at present in Paris, lodged in the street 
 of Tournon, No. 42, at the house of Mr. Dorberque, 
 huissier audiancier of the tribunal of the third arrondisse- 
 ment, found in a parlour in the first story above the door, 
 lighted by two windows opening on the said street of 
 Tournon, sitting in an armchair, sick of body, but sound 
 of mind, memory, and understanding, as it appeared to the 
 undersigned notaries, by his discourse and conversation, 
 
 " Who, in view of death, has made, dictated, and 
 worded, to the undersigned notaries, his testament as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 " I give and bequeath all the goods, as well movable 
 as heritable, and all, generally, whatever may appertain to 
 me at my decease, in whatever country they may be situ- 
 ated, to my two sisters, Janette, spouse to William Taylor, 
 and Mary, wife to Mr. Loudon, and to the children of 
 my said sisters, to divide them into as many portions as 
 my said sisters and their children shall make up indi- 
 viduals, and to be enjoyed by them in the following 
 manner: 
 
 " My sisters, and those of their children who on the 
 day of my death shall have reached the age of twenty- 
 one, will enjoy their share in full property from the date 
 of my decease. As for those of my nephews and nieces who 
 at that period of time may not reach the age of twenty- 
 one years, their mothers will enjoy their shares till such 
 time as they attain that said age, with charge to them to 
 provide for their food, maintenance, and education: and 
 as soon as any of my nephews or nieces will have reached 
 the age of twenty-one years, the same will enjoy his share 
 in full property. 
 
 " If one or more of my nephews and nieces should 
 happen to die without children before having reached the 
 age of twenty-one, the share of those of them who may 
 have deceased shall be divided betwixt my said sisters and 
 my other nephews and nieces by equal portions,
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 473 
 
 " I name the Honourable Robert Morris, Esq., of 
 Philadelphia, my only testamentary executor. 
 
 " I revoke all other testaments or codicils which I may 
 have made before the' present, which alone I stand by as 
 containing my last will. 
 
 " So made, dictated, and worded, by said testator, to 
 the said notaries undersigned, and afterward read, and 
 read over again to him by one of them, the others being 
 present, which he well understood, and persevered in, at 
 Paris, the year 1792, the i8th July, about five o'clock, 
 afternoon, in the room heretofore described, and the said 
 testator signed the original of the present, unregistrated, 
 at Paris, the 25th of September, 1792, by Defrance, who 
 received one livre, provisionally, save to determine defin- 
 itively the right after the declaration of the revenue of 
 the testator. The original remained with Mr. Pottier, one 
 of the notaries at Paris, undersigned, who delivered these 
 presents this day, 26th September, 1792, first of the French 
 Republic. 
 
 (Signed.) " POTTIER. 
 
 " L'AVERNIER." 
 
 (COPY.) 
 
 " Schedule of the Property of Admiral John Paul Jones, 
 as stated by him to me, this i8th of July, 
 
 " I. Bank stock in the Bank of North America, at 
 Philadelphia, six thousand dollars, with sundry dividends. 
 
 " 2. Loan-Office certificate left with my friend Mr. 
 Ross, of Philadelphia, for two thousand dollars, at par, 
 with great arrearages of interest, being for ten or twelve 
 years. 
 
 " 3. Such balance as may be in the hands of my said 
 friend John Ross, belonging to me, and sundry effects 
 left in his care. 
 
 " 4. My lands in the State of Vermont. 
 
 " 5. Shares in the Ohio Company. 
 
 "6. Shares in the Indiana Company. 
 
 " 7. About eighteen thousand pounds sterling due to 
 me from Edward Bancroft, unless paid by him to Sir 
 Robert Herries, and is then in his hands. 
 
 " 8. Upward of four years of my pension due from 
 Denmark, to be asked from the Count de Bernstorf,
 
 474 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 " 9. Arrearages of my pay from the Empress of Rus- 
 sia, and all my prize money. 
 
 " 10. The balance due to me by the United States of 
 America, of sundry claims in Europe, which will appear 
 from my papers. 
 
 " This is taken from his mouth. 
 
 " GOUVERNEUR MORRIS." 
 
 This property was estimated as being worth about 
 thirty thousand dollars at the date of Jones' death. 
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 RANGER, NANTES \\th Dec. 1777. 
 
 "HONORED SIR : I think it my duty to give you some 
 account of my Passage from Portsmouth to this place, 
 as this may perhaps find you at home in the Bosom of 
 domestic happiness. I had passed the Western Islands 
 before a Sail appeared within our Horizon from the Mast 
 head; but this Halcyon Season was then interrupted, and 
 changed into continued alarms Night and day till the 
 Ranger cast Anchor here the 2d Current, this afforded 
 me excellent opportunities of exercising the Officers 
 and Men especially in the Night, and it is with much 
 Pleasure that I assure you their behaviour was to my 
 entire Satisfaction. I fell in with an Enemies Fleet of 
 Ten Sail off Ushant, bound up Channel, but notwith- 
 standing my best endeavours^ I was unable to detach any 
 of them from the strong Convoy under which they sailed. 
 I fell in with and brought too a number of other Ships 
 and Vessels none whereof proved to be British Property 
 except two Brigantines with fruit from Malaga for Lon- 
 don which became Prizes, the one is arrived here, the 
 other I am told in Quiberon Bay. The Rangers sailing 
 does not answer the general expectation, o \veing in a great 
 measure to her being too deep, very foul and over Masted, 
 her Ballast laid too high, on account of its improper qual- 
 ity, for a Ship of this construction, this with the extraordi-
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 475 
 
 nary weight of her lower Masts; occasioned her being 
 very Crank, I am paying my whole Attention to remedy 
 these inconveniences as much as Possible, I am short- 
 ening the lower Masts, shifting the Main Mast further 
 aft, and mean to ballast with Lead; as that Article will 
 store under the lower tier of Water the less quantity will 
 be sufficient, of course the Ship will be so much the 
 lighter, and Sail so much the faster, and we shall then, I 
 hope, be able to store the Cables under the Platform. 
 Tho' I have yet received no Letter from the Commis- 
 sioners, I understand that they had some time ago pro- 
 vided for me one of the Finest Frigates that can be im- 
 agined, calculated for Thirty two, Twenty four Pounders, 
 on One deck, and longer than any Ship in the Enemies 
 Fleet, but it seems they were unfortunately under the 
 necessity of giving her up on Account of some difficulties 
 which they met with at Court, however I esteem the in- 
 tention as much as tho' it had succeeded, as I shall 
 always cherish the grateful remembrance of the Honor 
 which Congress hath conferred on me by this and every 
 other instance of their generous Approbation, I shall be 
 the happiest of Men if a Life of services devoted to the 
 Intrests of America can be rendered instrumental in se- 
 curing its Independance. 
 
 " My particular thanks are due to you Sir, as one of the 
 four Members of that Honorable Committee to whose 
 generous intention, and Approbation I more immediately 
 owe this great and unsolicited Obligation, but I hope for 
 Opportunities of proving by my Conduct the deep sense 
 I entertain of that favor. 
 
 " The inclosed letter, and its consequences hath given 
 me real concern. Malice is a stranger to my Nature. I 
 hate domestic broils, or misunderstandings, and would 
 do, or suffer much, as a private Person to prevent them. 
 But as an Officer, honored with the Approbation of Con- 
 gress, and conscious of having at no time exceeded even 
 in Thought the delicate lines of my duty, or express letter 
 of my Orders; I am in the highest degree tenacious of 
 the respect due to my Signature; and I bid the most 
 contemptuous defiance to the insinuation of any Man out 
 of Congress. 
 
 " I have been informed in Portsmouth that the four 
 Oared Boat which attended the Ranger was built for the 
 Portsmouth Privateer, and after being rejected as mis-
 
 476 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 constructed and unuseful for that Ship, was assigned over 
 to the Ranger, be this as it may, I will boldly affirm that 
 she was the worst constructed and most unservicable 
 Boat that I ever saw, belonging to a Ship of War, for 
 tho' a Man stepping on her Gunnel, would bring it down 
 to the Waters edge, yet was her Weight equal, or nearly 
 so to that of the Cutter, which I planned, and had built, 
 capable of carrying 40 Armed Men, had I been able, which 
 I was not, to stow the two Boats, which I found provided 
 for the Ranger, I must have been reduced to the Alterna- 
 tives of throwing them overboard, or strikeing the Top 
 Masts several times, on the Passage to prevent oversetting 
 the Ship. I mention this matter to you in confidence as a 
 Friend, declaring on the Honor of a Gentleman that I 
 wish on my part to give it to Oblivion. I have the 
 Pleasure to hear that Captains Thompson and Hinman 
 are well at Lorient of which please to inform Mrs. 
 Thompson. I shall endeavour to procure the Articles 
 mentioned in Mrs. Whipple's Memorandum, I hope to 
 live in the remembrance of the few acquaintances I have 
 in Portsmouth, and I have the honor to be with due Re- 
 spect. 
 
 "Sir 
 
 " Your very Obliged 
 
 " very Obedient 
 
 " most humble Servant, 
 
 " JNO P JONES" * 
 THE HON'BLE 
 
 GEN'L WHII-PLE 
 
 * The above hitherto unpublished letter, with its unusual 
 signature, was addressed to William Whipple, one of the 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence from New Hamp- 
 shire, who in 1777 was a member of the Continental Congress, 
 and one of the four Navy Commissioners. The original of 
 the Commodore's interesting letter is in the collection of Mr. 
 Ferdinand J. Dreer, of Philadelphia. EDITOR.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Adams, John, 19, 310, 432. 
 
 Alexiano, General, 363, 371, 376, 
 377, 33o. 382. 
 
 Alfred, King, the Great, 21. 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, 62. 
 
 Arnold, Rhodes, 20. 
 
 Ashe, Colonel John Baptiste, 
 464. 
 
 Ashe, Mrs. Colonel John Bap- 
 tiste, 464 ; her clever retort 
 upon Tarleton, 465. 
 
 Bahama project, 26, 27. 
 
 Barry, Commodore John, 21, 
 270, 423, 443, 468. 
 
 Battle between the Ariel and 
 the Triumph, 301, 302 ; be- 
 tween the Serapis and the 
 Richard, 175, 208 ; remarks 
 on the action, 220, 228 ; be- 
 tween the Solebay and the 
 Providence, 44-46 ; of Nas- 
 sau, 31, 32 ; with the Glas- 
 gow, 33-35 ; with the Turks, 
 
 363. 389- 
 
 Besborodko, Count, 403, 404. 
 Biddle, Nicholas, 20, 23, 60. 
 Blnckden, Colonel, 419. 
 Brown, Captain John, 468. 
 Brown, Governor, 31, 32. 
 Burden, Captain, 106. 
 Burgoyne, General, So, 306. 
 Burns, Robert, 4. 
 Burroughs, Ezekiel, 20. 
 
 Carleton, Sir Guy, 54. 
 
 Carmichael, William, 85. 
 Caswell, Midshipman, 205. 
 
 Catherine, Empress of Russia, 
 her birth, character, etc., 352- 
 356. 
 
 Cerf, 161. 
 
 Clark, A. H., 468. 
 
 Columbus, Christopher, 28. 
 
 Commissioning the first Amer- 
 ican fleet, 23-25. 
 
 Concordat between John Paul 
 Jones and officers of the 
 squadron, 156, 157, 465, 467. 
 
 Conflans, M., 84, 147. 
 
 Cook, Captain, 322. 
 
 Corsacoff, Brigadier, 372. 
 
 Countess of Scarborough, 178, 
 200, 244. 
 
 Cruise of the Alfred, 51, 57 ; of 
 the Ariel, 291, 303 ; of the 
 Providence, 38-49; of the 
 Ranger, 77, 90 ; of the squad- 
 ron, 156-174. 
 
 Cunningham, Captain Gustavus, 
 79. 2 43- 
 
 Dale, Richard, 152, 155, 180, 
 
 188, 196, 198, 200, 202, 203 ; 
 
 bravery of. 211-221, 423 ; 
 
 lifelong friendship for Paul 
 
 Jones, 432, 433. 
 
 D'Artois, Count (Charles X), 333. 
 Deane, Silas, 82. 
 De Castries, Mare'chal, 319. 
 De Chamillard de Warville, 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel, 153. 
 De Chaumont, Monsieur )e Ray, 
 
 144, 145, 156, 157, 467. 
 De Cottineau, 162, 172, 467. 
 Degges, Lieutenant, 284. 
 De Kersaint, 147. 
 
 477
 
 478 
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 De la Vauguyon, Due, 247. 
 De Lavendahl, Countess, 424, 
 425- 
 
 Delia , 276, 331, 332, 430. 
 
 De Luxembourg, Chevalier, 313, 
 
 314. 
 
 De Marsan, Marquise, 331. 
 De Rochambeau, 309. 
 De Sartine, M., 128, 144, 153. 
 De Segur, 392, 404 ; narrative 
 
 of, concerning slander of 
 
 Paul Jones, 396-399. 
 D'Estaing, Admiral, 82, 83, 433. 
 De Varage, 467. 
 De Vauban, Count, 291. 
 De Vaudreuil, Marquis, 312. 
 De Viomenil, Baron, 433. 
 De Weibert, 196, 201. 
 Dewey, Admiral George, I. 
 Dobbs, Lieutenant, 108. 
 " Don't tread on me," 24. 
 D'Ormoy, Madame, 297. 
 D'Orvilliers, Comte, 88. 
 Drake, capture of the, 93, 107. 
 Dumas, 256. 
 Dunmore, Lord, 20, 26. 
 
 Edes, Miss, 276, 277. 
 
 Empress Catherine of Russia, 
 334. .3 5 2-3 56. 
 
 Expedition to New Providence, 
 2 5-37 I against the Turks, 
 359-389; to Whitehaven, 91- 
 
 Fabricien, 379. 
 
 Fanning, John, 20. 
 
 Fanning, Midshipman Nathan- 
 iel, 207, 225, 226. 
 
 Farragut, Admiral, I. 
 
 Fishing industry, breaking up 
 of the, 47, 450. 
 
 Flag of the Bon Homme Ri- 
 chard, 467, 469. 
 
 Flag, American, saluted at sea 
 for the first time, 85-88. 
 
 Fort Hassan, 378-380. 
 
 Fort Mellish, capture of. 54, 56 ; 
 Montague, capture of, 29, 31, 
 32 ; Nassau, capture of, 31, 32. 
 
 Fox, Lieutenant, 379. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 112, 113, 
 
 117, 145, 230. 
 Frederick the Great, 2. 
 Freeman, David, 97, 98. 
 
 Gates, General, 306. 
 
 Genet, M., Secretary of the 
 French Legation at St. Pe- 
 tersburg, 406. 
 
 George I, 2. 
 
 Gillon, Captain, 313, 314. 
 
 Glasgow, the, 33, 35, 36. 
 
 Greene, General, 306. 
 
 Grimm, Baron, 433. 
 
 Hacker, Captain Hoysted, 20, 
 
 53. 55- 
 
 Hall, Lieutenant Elijah, 99, 108. 
 Hancock, President, 68. 
 Hawke, Lord, 84, 147. 
 Hewes, Joseph, of Edenton, 14, 
 
 19, 460. 
 
 Hierkomt Paul Jones aan (song), 
 
 471. 
 
 Hinman, Captain, 64, 67. 
 
 Hopkins, Captain John Bur- 
 roughs (son of Commodore 
 Esek Hopkins), 20, 34. 
 
 Hopkins, Commodore Esek, 19, 
 
 20, 22, 23, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 
 33. 35. 39- 4i, 53, 62, 66. 
 
 Hopkins, Stephen, 19. 
 
 Howe, Captain Tyringham, 34, 
 
 35- 
 
 Howe, Lord, 82, 83. 
 Huntington, Samuel, 278. 
 
 " I have not yet begun to fight " 
 194. 
 
 Incidents in Paul Jones' West- 
 Tndian service, 9, 10 ; amusing 
 encounter between the Mil- 
 ford and the Providence, 47, 
 48 ; the Richard is mistaken 
 for an English ship and asked 
 for powder and shot, 168 ; 
 prayer of the minister of 
 Kirkaldy when the Richard 
 neared the town, 170 ; in- 
 sulted by Landais, 329, 330.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 479 
 
 Jay, John, 325, 327. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 321, 322, 
 323, 328, 334, 432. 
 
 Johnstone, Captain, 79. 
 
 Jones, Allan, n, 12, 13, 460, 
 462, 465. 
 
 Jones, Colonel Cadwallader, 
 460 ; MS. of, concerning John 
 Paul Jones, 460, 463. 
 
 Jones, Mrs. \\illie, 11-13, 460- 
 464 ; her famous retort to 
 Tarleton's sneer, 12, 463. 
 
 Jones, Paul, Commodore ; an- 
 cestry and birth, 1-7 ; goes to 
 sea on the Friendship, 6; third 
 mate on slaver King George, 
 7 ; abandons slave trading, 
 78 ; captain and merchant at 
 twenty-one, 9 ; flogging of 
 Mungo Maxwell, 10 ; comes 
 to America, 11-13; assumes 
 the name of Jones, 11-13, 
 15,459-456; appointed lieu- 
 tenant in Continental navy, j 
 15-19, 460 ; his part in taking 
 Fort Nassau, 29-31 ; encoun- j 
 ter with the Cerberus and a 
 colonial brigantine, 41 ; com- 
 missioned captain, 41 ; en- 
 gagement between the Provi- 
 dence and the Solebay, 44-46 ; 
 fishing industry broken up, 
 47-50; capture of the Mel- 
 lish and of the coal fleet, 
 54-56 ; suggests naval regula- 
 tions, 69, 72 ; appointed to 
 the sloop of war Ranger, 75 ; 
 first to hoist the new flag 
 of the Republic, 76 ; first 
 cruise of the Ranger, 77-81 ; 
 first salute to the American 
 flag by France, 85-88 ; ordered 
 to attack the English coast, 
 90 ; second cruise of the Ran- 
 ger, 91-115; capture of the 
 Drake, 93, 107; the descent 
 on Whitehaven, 95, 98 ; the 
 attempt on Lord Selkirk, 99- 
 115; returns silver to Lady 
 Selkirk, 113; goes to Ver- 
 
 sailles to consult with com- 
 missioner, 127, 128; is given 
 the Bon Homme Richard, 144 ; 
 armament of the Richard, 147, 
 148 ; instructed to proceed to 
 the Texel, 150, 151 ; the con- 
 cordat, 156, 157, 465, 467; 
 joined by Richard Dale, 152 ; 
 insubordination and insolence 
 of Landais, 162-165, 172, 173, 
 176 ; crew of the Richard, 
 i S3- 1 55 1 the Richard is chal- 
 lenged by the Serapis the 
 battle, 178-227 ; / have not 
 yet begun to fight, 194 ; lashes 
 the two ships together, 197 ; 
 treachery of Landais, 200, 
 
 205, 206 ; both ships on fire, 
 
 206, 207 ; Pearson surrenders, 
 208 ; after the battle, 209 ; 
 meeting of Paul Jones and 
 Pearson, 211; the Richard 
 on fire, 215 ; sinking of the 
 Richard, 215-218; ordered to 
 leave the Texel, 233 ; offered 
 French naval letter of marque, 
 247 ; honors and rewards, 269, 
 274, 275, 305, 323 ; his rela- 
 tions with Madame de Telison 
 (Delia), 276, 331, 332, 430 ; 
 Louis XVI presents him with 
 a sword, 274, 278. 279, 291 ; 
 sails on the Ariel for America, 
 291, 303 ; receives the cross of 
 the Order of Military Merit, 
 305 ; encounter with the Tri- 
 umph, 301, 302; commander of 
 the America, 308 ; a volunteer 
 on Admiral deVaudreuiPsflag- 
 ship Triomphante, 315 ; sent 
 to France to collect prize 
 money, 319; returns to Amer- 
 ica, 316 ; Congress presents 
 him with a gold medal, 324, 
 325 ; goes to the Danish 
 court to prosecute the Amer- 
 ican claim, 327, 335 ; enters 
 the service of Russia, 351 ; is 
 presented to Empress Cath- 
 erine, 346; expedition against
 
 480 
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 the Turks, 359-389 ; unjustly 
 treated by Patiomkine, favor- 
 ite of Catherine -of Russia, 
 377-388, 396; slandered in 
 Russia, 390-395; is befriend- 
 ed by de Segur, 392, 396- 
 399, 404, 406; received again 
 at court of Russia, 402 ; dec- 
 orated with the order of St. 
 Anne, 406 ; last years, 407- 
 420; his last public appear- 
 ance, 412; his death "rest 
 at last," 420, 421 ; defended 
 against the charge of piracy, 
 435. 436 ! his last will and 
 testament, 419, 472, 474 ; 
 characteristics, personal ap- 
 pearance,. 424, 426 ; personal 
 character and professional 
 status, 426, 446 ; qualities as 
 an officer, 447-453 ; as a com- 
 mander, 453, 455. 
 Jones, Willie, 11-13, 459-465. 
 
 Keppel, Admiral A. I., 130. 
 King Charles X, 333. 
 Kosciusko, 408, 433. 
 Krudner, 340, 411, 433. 
 
 Lafayette, General, 142, 146, 
 311, 418, 433, 434. 
 
 Landais, Captain, 176, 204, 205 ; 
 insubordination and treachery 
 of, 224, 225, 227, 229, 243 ; 
 court-martialed, 290, 467. 
 
 Langdon, John, 75. 
 
 Ledyard, Captain, 322. 
 
 Lee, Arthur, 271-274, 281, 285. 
 
 Lee, Richard Henry, 19. 
 
 Letters to the Marine Board, 
 62, 65 ; to Robert Morris, 69- 
 71 ; to a friend concerning his 
 mother, 72 ; of Marine Com- 
 mittee to commissioners of the 
 United States in Europe, 73, 
 74 ; of Marine Committee to 
 John Paul Jones, 74, 75 ; to 
 the Marine Committee, 77, 
 87, 88 ; to Lady Selkirk, 109- 
 112 ; from Lord Selkirk, 113- 
 
 115; extract of, to the com- 
 missioners on his arrival in 
 France, 119, 120 ; private, 
 from Franklin, 125127; to 
 M. de Sartine, 131, 154 ; to 
 the King of France, 135- 
 139 ; from John Paul Jones 
 to Baron van der Capellen, 
 2 35i 2 38, 239 ; answer, 236- 
 238 ; from John Paul Jones 
 to Due de la Vauguyon, 247, 
 2 5> 2 53. 2 56; from Due de 
 la Vauguyon to Paul, 253, 
 254 ; extract of, to Robert 
 Morris, 256 ; to Madame 
 D'Ormoy, 297 ; to Madame 
 Thellison, 332, 333 ; from 
 John Adams, 310 ; from La- 
 fayette, 311 ; from George 
 Washington, 306, 307 ; from 
 John Paul to Samuel Hunt- 
 ington, 278, 279 ; answer, 279, 
 280 ; extract of, from Frank- 
 lin, regarding the Landais 
 affair, 281-283 : from Con- 
 gress to Louis XVI, 324, 325 ; 
 from John Paul Jones to John 
 Jay, Secretary of State, 325- 
 327 ; from Pearson to John 
 Paul Jones, 240 ; answer, 241, 
 242 ; to King of France, 135- 
 139 ; to Paul Jones from Em- 
 press of Russia, 349 ; extracts 
 of, that passed between John 
 Paul Jones and Patiomkine, 
 384-389, 393-395 ; to Em- 
 press Catherine from Paul 
 Jones, 400-402 ; from Paul 
 Jones to Lafayette, 418 ; to 
 his sister, Mrs. Taylor, 415- 
 417; correspondence concern- 
 ing John Paul's assumption 
 of the name of Jones, 459-465. 
 
 Liman campaign, 369, 374, 389. 
 
 Louis XV, 2, 276. 
 
 Louis XVI, 274, 278, 279, 291, 
 412. 
 
 Lunt, Lieutenant Henry, 175, 
 214, 215 
 
 Luzerne, M., 314.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 481 
 
 MacDuff, Jean, mother of John 
 Paul, 3. 
 
 Mahan, Captain A. T., 224, 226, 
 227. 
 
 Maps : the attack on New 
 Providence in the Bahamas, 
 32 ; showing the cruise of the 
 first American squadron, and 
 of the Providence and the Al- 
 fred, 52 ; showing the cruises 
 of the Ranger and the Bon 
 Homme Richard, and the 
 dash of the Alliance from 
 the Texel, 160 ; (diagram) 
 showing the maneuvers of 
 Bon Homme Richard and 
 Serapis, 199 ; of the Liman 
 campaign, 374. 
 
 Maria Theresa, 2. 
 
 Marine Corps, establishment of, 
 30. 
 
 Marron, M. f 422. 
 
 Marsan, Madame, 333. 
 
 McDougall, Lieutenant, 20. 
 
 McKenzie, Commodore, 160, 
 161. 
 
 Messrs. Hortalez & Co., 73. 
 
 Meyler, James, 468. 
 
 Montgomery, Richard, 443. 
 
 Mordwinoff, 362. 
 
 Morgan, General, 62, 306. 
 
 Morris, Robert, 6), 71, 256, 
 
 419. 423- 
 Morris, Gouverneur, 419, 432, 
 
 474- 
 Mount Gallant, home of Allan 
 
 Jones, 460, 464. 
 Mungo Maxwell, 9, 10. 
 Mutiny of Mungo Maxwell, 9, 
 
 10. 
 
 Nassau, battle of, 3T, 32. 
 Nassau-Siegen, Prince Otto, 
 
 125, 126, 358, 359, 363, 364, 
 
 366-368, 372-374, 377-330, 
 
 383, 391, 408. 
 Navy, origin of first American, 
 
 16-24, 69. 
 
 New Providence, island of, 28. 
 Nichols, Captain, 31. 
 
 Olney, Joseph, 20. 
 Otchakoff, 361, 389. 
 
 Patiomkine, Gregory Alexandro- 
 witch, favorite of Empress 
 Catherine of Russia, 355, 
 358, 385, 3.86, 387, 388. 
 
 Paul, John, father of John Paul 
 Jones, 3 ; his occupation, 
 character, birth of his chil- 
 dren, 2, 3. 
 
 Paul, William, Jr. (brother of 
 John Paul), 3, 10, 461. 
 
 Pearson, Captain Richard, 177, 
 178, 182, 194, 195, 200, 202. 
 
 Pindar, Captain John, 301. 
 
 Piquet's, La Motte, command, 
 84, 86, 88. 
 
 Pitcher, Jonathan, 20. 
 
 Plainer, Captain John, 72. 
 
 Pompadour, Madame de, 2. 
 
 Ranger,' battle between the 
 Drake and the, 101, 107. 
 
 Ranger, first cruise of the, 7~ 
 80. 
 
 Ranger, second cruise of, 91- 
 
 115- 
 
 Rhynst, Vice-Admiral, 246, 251. 
 
 Richard, battle between the 
 Serapis and, 175, 208 ; re- 
 marks on the action, 220, 228. 
 
 Ricot, Captain, 162, 467. 
 
 Robertson, Andrew, 168. 
 
 Rochambea*u, 433. 
 
 Rogers, Woodes, 28. 
 
 Saltonstall, Captain Dudley, 20, 
 
 21, 24. 
 
 Saunders, Lieutenant, 56, 58, 59. 
 Seabury, Benjamin, 2O. 
 Selkirk, Earl of, 2. 99, 115. 
 Selkirk, Lady, 99, loo, 113, 
 
 239- 
 
 Serapis, battle between the Ri- 
 chard and the, 175, 208 ; re- 
 marks on the action, 220, 
 228. 
 
 Ship> : Adventure, 49 ; Alex- 
 ander, 49 ; Alfred, 21-23,
 
 4cS2 
 
 COMMODORE PAUL JONES. 
 
 29, 33-36, 51, 57 ; Alliance, 
 
 146, 148, 173, 222, 261, 
 
 264, 267, 280, 284, 443, 
 468, 469 ; America, 308 ; 
 Amphitrite, 75 ; Arethusa, 
 124 ; Ariel, 142 ; Andrea Do- 
 ria, 22, 34 ; Belle Poule, 124 ; 
 Betsy of London, 10 ; Black 
 Prince, 21 ; Bolton, 33 ;-Bon 
 Homme Richard (see the 
 Richard) ; brigantine John, 
 9 ; Britannia, 43 ; Cerf, 146 ; 
 Cabot, 34, 66, 67 ; Cerbe- 
 rus, 41 ; Columbus, 34, 66, 
 67 ; Countess of Scarborough, 
 178, 200, 244 ; Drake, 90- 
 115; Due de Broglio, 142; 
 Duras(Bon Homme Richard), 
 144, 145 ; Ebenezer, 48, 49 ; 
 Fly, 22, 27, 40 ; Favorite, 43 ; 
 Friendship, 6 ; Flora, 55 ; 
 Glasgow, the, 33-36.; Good 
 Man Richard (the Richard); 
 Granville, 158 ; Hampden, 
 41, 42, 53, 66, 67 Hawk, 33, 
 35 ; Hornet, 22, 27 ; Inde- 
 pendence, 86 ; Indicn (South 
 Carolina), 81, 125.. 313; In- 
 vincible, 74, 80 ; Katy (Provi- 
 dence), 22; Kingston Packet, 
 49 ; Kitty, 468 ; Lexington, 
 79 ; La Bretajne, 88 ; Mag- 
 nifique, 312 ; Mayflower, brig, 
 159; Mellish, 54; Milford, 
 56, 57, 58, 59 ; Monsieur, 158 ; 
 Pallas, 145, 148, 173 ; Provi- 
 dence, 22, 38-49, 53, 60, 66, 
 127 ; Ranger, 76-80, 91-115 ; 
 Reprisal, 79 ; Revenge, 79 ; 
 Richard, the, 144-147, 175, 
 208, 220, 228, 414, 445, 446, 
 467, 469 ; Sally (Columbus), 
 2T ; Sea Flower, 49 ; Sea 
 Nymph, 43 ; Serapis, 153, 
 175, 208. 220, 228, 444, 447, 
 4.51, 452; Solebay, 44, 46; 
 Somerset, 155 ; South Caro- 
 lina (Indien), 313 ; Success, 
 49 ; Surprise, 79 ; Triom- 
 phante, 315 ; Triumph, 301, 
 
 " 302 ; Two Friends (slaver), 
 
 7, 8 ; Vengeance, 145 ; Ver- 
 
 wagting, 159 ; Wasp, 22 ; 
 
 Wolodimer, 363, 370, 371, 
 
 .372, 379- 
 
 Simpson, Lieutenant, 79, 82, 
 95, 107, 108, 123. 
 
 Stacy, Captain, 197. 
 
 Stafford, James Bayard, 468, 
 469. 
 
 Stanhope, Lieutenant, 207. 
 
 Stirling, General Lord, 33. 
 
 St. Mary's Isle, seat ot the Earl 
 of Selkirk, 98. 
 
 Stormont, Lord, 116, 121. 
 
 Suvorof, General, 364-367, 376. 
 
 Swan, Colonel, 419. 
 
 Tarleton, Colonel, 12, 463, 465. 
 Telison, Madame de (Delia), 
 
 276, 331, 332, 430. 
 Thackeray, Willinm M , 223. 
 The Grove, home of Willie 
 
 Jones, 12, .160-463. 
 Thompson, Charles, 410. 
 Truxtun, Thomas, 296. 
 
 Van der Capellen, Baron, 235, 
 
 433- 
 
 Vaughan, Daniel, 20. 
 Vessels. (See under Ships.) 
 
 Wallingford, Lieutenant, 95, 96. 
 Walpole, Robert, 276. 
 Warner, Elisha, 20. 
 Washington, Colonel William, 
 
 12. 
 Washington, General George, 
 
 25- 38, 39. 54, 83, 194, 306, 
 
 307, 309, 443. 
 Wayne, General, 306. 
 W T eaver, Thomas, 20. 
 Whipple, Captain Abraham, 20, 
 
 22, 34, 127. 
 
 Whipple, William, 75. 
 Whitehaven, descent on, and 
 
 burning of, 95, 98. 
 Wickes, Captain, 79. 
 
 Yorke, Sir Joseph, 232, 242, 245.
 
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