Show job pa iff aw janev t JW j r R AL A A 00 qa DC of the providence a 12 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON en command gun brig with her be captured 1 sixth of july isa prizes along the atlantic coabe and on cv NN bears ago there was october 30 1776 he was made cap born in Klik bean coun tain and given command of tile alfred ty of a 24 gun vessel on this ship he se ir scotland to a gardener out on his cruise blitch resulted in named john paul a son the capture of seven british vessel who was destined to he brought into port at boston A ft UP play a role in the found convinced that more good could be ing of a new nation for accomplished by harassing the british the first twelve in their own waters than by attacks g 0 big life young john paul for he was their shipping off the american coast named after his father lived the life be began urging congress to allow of any boy of his time and there u was as nothing to indicate the high destiny that awaited him then in 1759 he was apprenticed to a Whit aven merchant engaged in the american trade and went to sea and it was on the sea that this scotch lad ad was to win his fame was to become the outstanding american naval officer of the revolution and one of our great sea captains of all time to most americans the name john paul jones Is a familiar one but the extent of their knowledge of him Is usually confined to that epic battle between the bonhomme richard and the during which jones uttered his immortal words 1 I have not yet begun to fight cut but there Is so much more of interest in his career than Is given in our school book histories that it deserves wider knowledge among us of his adopted country for one thing if for no other his connection with ith the early history of our national banner should give him enduring fame that flag and I 1 are twins he once said born the same day and the same hour we cannot be parted in life or in death so long as we can float we shall float together it if we must sink we shall go down as one the scotch boy who went to sea in 1759 rose rapidly became a ship owner and by 1773 was making voyages to the west indies and to india in the meantime his brother william paul had been adopted by a certain william jones and became a prosperous planter when he died john paul inherited his estate thereupon he be added the jones to his bis name and settled down as a planter in america which as he characterized it was the country of his fond selection since the age of eighteen jones was not long to carry forward his ambition to become a virginia firginia gentleman for the outbreak of the revolution brought with it the necessity for the rebellious colonies to ro organize a navy with which to cope if possible with the mistress of the seas and more especially to waylay ships bringing supplies to the british army so one of the early acts of the continental cou congress gress was to choose a naval coin commander mander i in n chief four captains and a number of first second and third lieutenants and provide ships for them this new navy was mainly a new england affair and the comma ader ln in chiet was aas commodore esek hopkins from massachusetts the only officers who ho were not new englanders were nicholas biddle of pennsylvania and john paul jones of virginia jones first task was arming and manning the flagship of the fleet of eight vessels given to commodore hopkins dopkins it was the black prince a merchant ship which was renamed the alfred in january 1770 commodore hopkins II arrived in philadelphia to go aboard his flagship As lie he stepped over the side captain gave the signal and lieutenant jones who was flug g hoisted over the alfred two flags bags the one which he raised to the mizzen peak as the hag flag of tile the united colonies wag wa the grand union anlo flag of thirteen alternate red and white stripes with the union jack in the upper lefthand left hand hund corner where in the future the field of blue with its white stars was to appear at the main peak he ran up as the fleet flag one of the famous rattlesnake flags the first of which had been suggested by benjamin franklin so came about jolin john paul jones first connection with our national flag after bis big return from this voyage during which he be distinguished himself for boldness and skill when hen the commander in chief di displayed played a timidity 7 and a lack of skill not in keeping with itla his high position jones was wag gil him to carry the war against en england across tile the atlantic accordingly on june 14 1777 congress appointed him to the command of the ranger banger a new ship of IS 13 guns recently completed at portsmouth new hampshire in the very same hour that the resolution giving him command of tile the ranger was passed there was also passed the historic resolution which brought into being the stars and stripes and it was this circumstance which inspired jones statement that he and the flag were mere twins and it Is here that the stories of john paul jones and our national emblem began to run in parallel channels a story which Is little known to most americans and which has been brought out by a new book the national flag by willis fletcher johnson published recently by the houghton company upon taking command of the ranger jones immediately began preparing the ship for the trip across the atlantic although there is no record of the date when he raised the stars and stripes over her tradition says that it was on the fourth of july of jones cruise of 23 28 days in british water with the ranger it has been said for daring and success it was unsurpassed in the annals of naval history in addition to capturing the drake he burned the shipping lo in aven and oft off carrickfergus Carrick fergus and made his name one of terror along the coasts of great britain but the months which followed jones success in the ranger were months of anxiety for him also most of his troubles however were ashore rather than afloat lie ile was finding it very difficult to pay his men sell his prizes and secure a squadron tor for another and greater cruise which he had in mind at last an old east india merchant ship was secured renamed the Don bonhomme homme richard in compliment to benamin franklin and to this was joined the alliance a 32 gun frigate and three small french vessels the commander of the alliance was capt pierre dandala Dan Dand dais als who as jones wrote rote to franklin was ap pere a crazy man if as jones had complained that the ranger was a poor fighting ship because it was cranky slow blow and of trifling force he soon found that the Bouli bonhomme omme richard was worse her hull was rotten and later in hi his S great battle with the one of the heaviest guns blew up at the start forcing a whole battery to be abandoned the crew was a mixture of americans and europeans and with the untrustworthy support of the crazy dandala Dan Dand dais als his venture was a perilous one at best but disregarding his many handicaps jones sailed from france on auguet 14 1779 by september 22 2 he had nearly completed the circuit of the british BrItis in isles had captured 17 vessels and thrown the entire coast into a state of perpetual alarm what jones could expect if he were defeated and captured was shown by the british authorities proclaiming him as the pirate jones a rebel subject and criminal of the state on september 23 off flamborough Flam borough head jones met the battle baltic trade a convoy of 41 vessels escorted by the slid and the countess of scarborough then followed the historic engagement ga of which it has in been een s said aid the annals of the american navy contain no finer example of skill courage and leadership than that found in the duel off flamborough Flam borough boroug in head rarely has a commander who won his fight contended with such overwhelming obstacles st ot the story of that engagement Is 18 too familiar to need retelling liere here how jones soon realized that the would destroy in him I 1 m in a long range battle how he out maneu vered pearson Pen the british command er how he be closed in and lashed vee richard to the Ser apts how bow the ali once ance came to his aid how the crazy dandakis sent a broadside into the th unprotected side of jones ship and how in the midst of the shambles around him with the richard sinking under him jones could still hurl back hla his d defiant ef lant 1 I have bare not yet begun to fight so he won his battle and ahn briton struck his big colors As for joner colors the stars and stripes they it a glorious part in the batu for the hew flag was flying at the masthead aias thead of the richard when it closed with the once it was shot sown lown but it was immediately rescued lind raised again and there it stayed to lo the end for the bonhomme richard was so shattered in the fight that there was no hope of saving it so jones transferred himself and his ruen men to the captured semple As a matter of pride and sentiment he would not al low the flag of the richard Ric liard to be lowered but left it flying as the vessel sank with the bodies of her dead jones next sailed into the texel in holland with the Se ranis tte countess and his big prizes cut but on Dec december embr 1 22 I holland asked him to leave outside a british blockading fleet was awaiting him but in broad daylight lie he took the alliance boldly out of port outran autran the british vessels sailed dov down the english channel and arrived safely in france it was to be another years before an american was to receive as wild a welcome to in france as did jones and that was when hen the lone engle eagle completed hla his successful flight across the atlantic the king of france gave jones a gold sword and made him a chevalier of france jones ones did not return to receive the acclaim of his own countrymen until early in 1781 ile he reached philadelphia february IS 18 of that year where congress gave him a vote of thanks and thel command of the america a new 74 gun ship then nearing completion lot cut the revolution ended before lie he could again put to sea with no more fighting to be done jones could not content himself to go back to virginia or to settle down to the quiet of commerce on the seas ills his restless spirit led hird hin to seek naval service with russia lie he became a rear admiral and in continued his brilliant exploits on OB the water by defeating the turkish N navy at the battle of liman lie ile re I 1 turned to russia to reap hla his reward but lie he did not stay long lie ile returned to paris and there he died july IS 18 1702 what followed is a striking illustration of the old saying about how a republic forgets for more than a hundred years the republic which he had helped establish forgot john paul jones at least so far as aa pi paying ying any honor to his ashes was concerned in 1905 ambassador horace porter after a long search found jones grave in the old st louis cemetery for foreign protestants under instructions froia president roosevelt his remains wore were exhumed and brought to the united states by an american naval squadron sent especially for that purpose they were taken to the united states naval academy and then its as a final ironical touch to tile the way in which the richest and stingiest stringiest stin giest government in the world rewards its heroes tor for neither his big salary the money he had advanced to the united states government nor his big prize money was paid until a generation after his death the casket con his bis body was left behind a staircase resting on a couple of rough carpenter horses in one of the buildings at annapolis for seven years then when the scandal of title this threatened to be aired in it congress he was buried with the honors due him fal M by bir western newspaper union |