112 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



33. JOHN PAUL JONES. 



JOHN PAUL JONES was born as John Paul at Kirkbean, Kirkcudbright, Scot- 

 land, July 7, 1747. After a meager education he was apprenticed, at the age of 12, 

 to a merchant in the American trade, and in this capacity visited Virginia and while 

 there stayed with his brother William. On the failure of his employer, John was 

 appointed a British midshipman and later served on two slavers, passing rapidly 

 from third to first mate. In 1868 he abandoned this business in disgust and re- 

 mained stranded in Jamaica, where he accepted a temporary position as actor in 

 the company of John Moody. This did not appeal to him, and he started back 

 to Scotland as a passenger on the John. During the passage both officers died, 

 Paul brought the vessel into port, and for this service was made master. Between 

 1766 and 1770 he made commercial voyages. In the latter year a sailor whom he 

 formerly had flogged for insubordination died and John Paul was held responsible. 

 His firm dissolved and he was thrown out of employment. He entered into trade 

 on his own account and was accused of smuggling. In 1773 his crew mutinied and 

 he unfortunately killed a man, and fled, entering "upon a truly melancholy period 

 of homeless and nameless wandering" from June 1773 to the winter of 1775. He 

 fled from Tobago under an assumed name and, unable openly to claim his rightful 

 property, he emerged as John Paul Jones, a regularly appointed officer in the 

 American army. Later he refers to himself as during this period a "son of for- 

 tune." It was during the latter part of this period that he is said to have fallen 

 into a condition of dangerous melancholy. In December 1775 John Paul Jones 

 was commissioned first lieutenant in the Continental navy. As commander first 

 of the Providence and then of the Alfred he attacked New Providence, and dam- 

 aged British shipping and fisheries in the North Atlantic; in October 1776 he was 

 made captain, though he felt he deserved a higher rank. In November 1777 

 he sailed from France in the sloop Ranger with dispatches for the American com- 

 missioners asking that Jones be supplied a swift frigate in which to harass the 

 coasts of England. He failed to get the frigate and so sailed in the Ranger from 

 Brest (April 10, 1778), and two days later surprised the garrison of the forts at 

 Whitehaven, spiking the guns and attempting to fire the shipping. Four days 

 later he encountered the British sloop-of-war Drake, somewhat superior to his 

 own, and defeated it. In this cruise Jones landed a party at St. Mary's Isle to cap- 

 ture Lord Selkirk. Failing in this, his crew took a quantity of plate from the 

 Selkirk house and sold it ; but this Jones later redeemed and returned to its owner. 

 With the rank of commodore he was now put at the head of a squadron of 5 ships, 

 his flagship being the Bon Homme Richard. He set sail, August 1779, with his 

 fleet and 2 French privateers, but the latter and 3 of his men-of-war deserted him 

 in the cruise. He captured prizes, and finally the Bon Homme Richard and Pallas 

 captured the powerful British men-of-war Serapis and Countess of Scarborough. 

 During 1780 Jones spent much of his time in Paris, where royalty made much 

 of him. In 1781 he returned to America to be given a new command, but peace 

 was soon restored. Two years later he was sent to Paris to collect prizes for the 

 ships he had captured. Here he engaged much in social affairs and even private 

 enterprises, but fulfilled his mission well. In 1788 he entered the service of the 

 Empress Catherine of Russia as rear admiral. He engaged in naval battles 

 against the Turks, but his enemies later forced him to remain in idleness in St. 

 Petersburg while they assailed his private character. He returned to Paris in 

 1790 and died there, 1792, of dropsy, at the age of 45 years. 



