Commodore Paul Jones

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Brady Cyrus Townsend. Commodore Paul Jones

PREFACE

CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY-BIRTH-EARLY YEARS-PROFESSION-SUCCESS-CHANGE OF NAME

CHAPTER II. COMMISSIONED IN THE NAVY-HOISTS THE FIRST FLAG-EXPEDITION TO NEW PROVIDENCE-ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GLASGOW

CHAPTER III. THE CRUISE OF THE PROVIDENCE

CHAPTER IV. THE CRUISE OF THE ALFRED

CHAPTER V. SUPERSEDED IN RANK-PROTESTS VAINLY AGAINST THE INJUSTICE-ORDERED TO COMMAND THE RANGER-HOISTS FIRST AMERICAN FLAG

CHAPTER VI. THE FIRST CRUISE OF THE RANGER-SALUTE TO THE AMERICAN FLAG

CHAPTER VII. THE SECOND CRUISE OF THE RANGER-THE DESCENT ON WHITEHAVEN-THE ATTEMPT ON LORD SELKIRK-THE CAPTURE OF THE DRAKE

CHAPTER VIII. STANDING AND WAITING

CHAPTER IX. THE CRUISE OF THE SQUADRON

CHAPTER X. THE BATTLE WITH THE SERAPIS

CHAPTER XI. AFTER THE BATTLE REMARKS ON THE ACTION

CHAPTER XII. UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR IN THE TEXEL

CHAPTER XIII. THE ESCAPE OF THE ALLIANCE

CHAPTER XIV. HONORS AND REWARDS-QUARREL WITH LANDAIS-RELINQUISHES THE ALLIANCE

CHAPTER XV. THE CRUISE OF THE ARIEL

CHAPTER XVI. CAREER IN THE UNITED STATES TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR

CHAPTER XVII. PRIZE AGENT IN FRANCE AND DENMARK-LAST VISIT TO THE UNITEDSTATES-A BLOT ON THE ESCUTCHEON-FAMOUS PASSAGE OF THE BALTIC

CHAPTER XVIII. IN THE RUSSIAN SERVICE-OTCHAKOFF AND THE CAMPAIGN IN THE LIMAN

CHAPTER XIX. SLANDERED IN RUSSIA-A SLAVONIC REWARD FOR FAITHFUL SERVICES

CHAPTER XX. LAST YEARS AND DEATH

CHAPTER XXI. PERSONAL APPEARANCE-CHARACTERISTICS-WASHE A PIRATE? – FAREWELL

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I. CONCERNING JOHN PAUL'S ASSUMPTION OF THE NAME OF JONES

APPENDIX II. CONCORDAT MADE BETWEEN CAPTAIN JOHN PAUL JONES AND THE OFFICERS OF THE SQUADRON

APPENDIX III. ON THE FLAG OF THE BON HOMME RICHARD

APPENDIX IV. SONG AND MUSIC

APPENDIX V "Testament of Paul Jones, July 18, 1792

APPENDIX VI. Rth Dec. 1777.anger, Nantes 11

Отрывок из книги

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 circumstances of his adopted country during his lifetime 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 eighteenth 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 province of Silesia which Maria Theresa, with equal resolution but with faint prospect of success, was endeavoring to retain; Louis XV (the well beloved!) was exploiting the privileges and opportunities of a king with Madame de Pompadour and the Parc aux Cerfs; 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.1

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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 assume the name of Jones, however, out of any disregard for his family or from any desire to disguise himself from them, for, although he last saw them in 1771, he ever continued in correspondence with them, and found means, whatever his circumstances, 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.2

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 of beginning and carrying on the navy of the Revolution. 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 lieutenant in the new Continental navy.

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