John Paul Jones Biography - Alan Reid and Rob van Sante

John Paul Jones Biography
John Paul (birth name) was born on Scotland’s Solway coast in
1747, son of the gardener to the local Laird. By all accounts he
was fascinated by the sea from an early age and at the age of 13
was taken across the Solway Firth to be engaged as a cabin boy
on a ship out of Whitehaven (at that time an important port for
trade to the Colonies).
For several years he made voyages back and forth to the
West Indies, also spending time with his brother, a tailor in
Fredericksburg Virginia. He displayed great enthusiasm and
navigational skills and through a series of events rose to be a
master by age 21. This put great responsibility on his young
shoulders, fitting out the ship, engaging a crew, safety at sea
and the buying and selling as well as the delivery of cargo. He
made numerous trips back and forward from Kirkcudbright to
Tobago and proved to be an exacting commander and hard
disciplinarian, attributes which brought him trouble. One crew member, Mungo Maxwell, (son
of a prominent Dumfries businessman) was flogged and set down in Tobago. On his way home
Maxwell died of a fever and when his father heard of this had John Paul arrested and flung in
Kirkcudbright jail on his return from the West Indies. John Paul had influential friends in Tobago
who petitioned in his favour and he was eventually exonerated. However, later a much more
serious incident occurred. A voyage to Tobago had been beset by delays and when Paul’s ship
eventually arrived there the crew, mostly local, wanted to go ashore, naturally enough with money
in their pockets. Paul refused, claiming all the money was needed to buy cargo for the return trip.
A stand off ensued, resulting in an enraged crewman rushing at Paul on deck. Paul drew his
sword and according to his account (the only one in existence) the sailor slipped and impaled
himself on the sword. Instead of giving himself up to the authorities and relying on his rich
friends in Tobago Paul panicked and fled the island.
John Paul’s whereabouts for the next 20 months are a mystery but we know that he eventually turned up in Virginia. He discovered his brother had died and so he turned to Masonic
contacts in Virginia and North Carolina to try to obtain another sea commission. Having no
success John Jones, as he had been calling himself, ended up in Philadelphia and found himself
caught up in the fevered atmosphere that presaged the Revolutionary War. It was then that he
threw in his lot with the Colonists and changed his name to John Paul Jones. The fledgling
Continental Navy, a rag tag of ships, faced a much superior British force who were blockading
the Eastern Seaboard ports. Jones quickly gained a reputation for daring exploits at sea and his
record in engaging British warships and catching prizes between the West Indies and the
Newfoundland Grand Banks is probably without peer. But he quickly made enemies, as well as
finding himself caught between rival North and Southern interests.
He was bypassed on the captain’s list by politicking on both sides. Currying favour and making
alliances was a facility he never mastered. Instead he harangued people like John Adams, denigrated
other captains, and bombarded the authorities with letters of complaint. This is probably one
reason why he was dispatched to France to have Ben Franklin put his mischief to good use as well
as having him out of their hair. He had the added incentive of the promise of the captaincy of a new
ship in Europe. The ship never materialised but eventually, after much toing and froing between
Paris and Brittany, another ship was procured. During this period he found time to embark on
various dalliances and affairs with married women. At last, after many setbacks, he set off with his
predominantly New England crew to attack Britain. His plan was to attack a port he knew well,
Whitehaven. He landed at dawn and set fire to ships in the harbour. However one of his British
crewmen raised the alarm and, coupled with a sudden downpour which doused the fires, the attack
was aborted. Undaunted, he sailed across the Solway to St. Mary’s Isle (the promontory to the south
of Kirkcudbright) with the intention of capturing the Earl of Selkirk and holding him to ransom
(Americans were angry that prisoners taken by the British were put in jails and treated as common
criminals rather than as prisoners of war). Unfortunately for Jones the Earl was absent. Jones
stayed on his ship while some of his crew marched up to the Earl’s
house, and finding only the Lady of the house, some women and
children plus a butler, were reluctant to leave empty handed. They
came back on board with a silver coffee set, much to Jones’ embarrassment. The ship then was obliged to make haste and sail away.
After taking several small prizes and engaging a battleship in Belfast
Lough, killing its Captain, Jones’ ship sailed round the west coast of
Ireland and back to Brittany. No great military advantage was
achieved but the psychological effect on Britain was enormous and
in effecting this brazen attack on its coastline John Paul Jones
instantly became a household name in Britain. His second attack on
Britain was even more daring. With three ships he set about sailing
round the British coast to cause as much havoc as possible. He
created the desired effect (though not helped by his partner ships)
and his reputation was sealed when he defeated, after a desperate
battle, a much larger Royal Navy warship off the Yorkshire coast. His own ship was destroyed but
he took over the defeated ‘Serapis’ and managed to limp across to neutral Holland, somehow
evading the frantic Royal Navy search for him. Jones spent a few months in Holland between the
island of Texel and Amsterdam, where he was feted as a celebrity, much to the chagrin of
the British who blockaded the Dutch ports waiting to capture him . When the ‘Serapis’ was
repaired Jones took advantage of a storm to slip away and sail under the very noses of the British
through the English Channel to the safety of France. And a hero’s welcome. After a summer
of celebration Jones was ordered by Franklin to take much needed supplies for the war effort back
to the U.S. There followed further honours and celebration but soon after the British surrendered
at Yorktown and Jones found himself sidelined as the
Continental Navy was all but disbanded. Jones petitioned Congress to send him back to France to negotiate back pay for him and his crews. He spent several
years increasingly frustrated by the inertia and reluctance of French bureaucracy to give him money or to
employ him in their navy.
Desperate for action he began hawking himself
around Europe as a sailor for hire. However, out of the
blue a request came from the Russian Court for his help
in expelling the Turks from Russia’s southern border at
the Black Sea. Jones hired a boat in Sweden but instead
of a leisurely cruise the startled crew found themselves
being forced to take him across the Baltic Sea at
gunpoint to Talinn (then called Reval) from where he made his way
to the court at St. Petersburg. His ego was boosted by being
elevated to Rear Admiral by Empress Catherine under the overall
command of Field Marshall Potemkin. However Jones quickly
found out there were several other Admirals appointed, with each
commander seemingly more interested in glory for himself rather
than working as a team under a transparent chain of command.
Jones was instrumental in the victory of Leman which put an end to
Turkish ambitions in the Crimea but got no credit for it at the time.
He found himself isolated as his relations with Potemkin and the
other commanders fell apart. He was recalled to St. Petersburg and
given the cold shoulder by the Empress and eventually paid off.
This was partly due to an episode in which a 13 year old girl accused him of molesting her. Jones
denied the charge and claimed he had been framed by his enemies but the end result was that his
reputation was sullied and it became clear he had no future in Russia.
There then followed months of almost aimless wandering round Europe, eventually
settling in Paris, a much changed city. The Revolution had turned it into a tense and frightened
place and almost all Jones’ influential friends had either fled or been arrested, the most notable
being King Louis himself. The Russian winter had affected Jones’ health and he cut a depressing and morose figure moping around his old haunts. John Paul Jones died in July 1792
ironically just before a letter arrived from Thomas Jefferson authorising him to go to Africa and
negotiate the release of Americans held prisoner by Barbary pirates. His funeral, his burial, the
loss of the coffin, its exhumation 100 years later preserved in alcohol, and its voyage by naval
escort to the naval academy in Annapolis is an amazing story in itself.
John Paul Jones‘ influence on the U.S navy was great. Years after his death many of the
ideas he propounded were taken up and formalised. To this day new recruits are obliged to
memorise words he wrote on the behaviour required of officers and sailors. He knew many
famous people of his time, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John
Adams, John Hancock, the Marquis de Lafayette, Louis 16th, Empress Catherine, Potemkin to
name a few. He was somewhat demonised by the British authorities but yet admired by many
ordinary people. He is largely a forgotten figure today though recognised lately by Russia for his
part in the Leman campaign. John Paul Jones was an egotistic and impatient little man, a
brilliant sailor and tactician, and ultimately, a loner.
Alan Reid and Rob van Sante
‘The Adventures of John Paul Jones’ is available
l
at
www.reidvansante.com