John Paul Jones | |
|---|---|
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| Birth name | John Paul |
| Nickname | Father of the American Navy |
| Born | (1747-07-06)July 6, 1747 Arbigland,Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, Great Britain |
| Died | July 18, 1792(1792-07-18) (aged 45) Paris, France |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |
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| Branch | |
| Years of service | 1775–1792 |
| Rank |
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| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | Order of Military Merit Congressional Gold Medal Order of Saint Anna |
| Signature |  |
John Paul Jones (bornJohn Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a British-American naval officer who served in theContinental Navy during theAmerican Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regarded by several commentators as one of the greatest naval commanders in themilitary history of the United States.[1][2][3]
Born inArbigland,Kirkcudbrightshire, Jones became a sailor at the age of thirteen, and served onboard several different merchantmen, includingslave ships. After killing a mutinous subordinate, he fled to the Britishcolony of Virginia to avoid being arrested and, inc. 1775, joined the newly established Continental Navy. During the ensuing war withGreat Britain, Jones participated in severalnaval engagements with theRoyal Navy. He led a naval campaign in theIrish andNorth Seas, attacking British naval and merchant shipping, and other civilian targets. As part of the campaign, he raided the English town ofWhitehaven, won theNorth Channel Naval Duel and fought theBattle of Flamborough Head, gaining him an international reputation.
Left without a command in 1787, Jones joined theImperial Russian Navy and rose to the rank ofrear admiral. However, after Jones was accused of raping a young girl, he was forced out of the Russian navy and eventually died inParis at the age of 45. AFreemason, Jones made many friends among U.S. political elites, includingJohn Hancock,Thomas Jefferson, andBenjamin Franklin.[4][5][6]
John Paul, as he was then known, was born on the estate ofArbigland nearKirkbean in theStewartry of Kirkcudbright on the southwest coast of Scotland. His parents had married on November 29, 1733, inNew Abbey, Kirkcudbrightshire. John Paul started his maritime career when he was 13, sailing out ofWhitehaven in the northern English county ofCumberland as an apprentice aboardFriendship under Captain Benson. Paul's older brother William Paul had married and settled inFredericksburg,Colony of Virginia. Virginia was the destination of many of the younger Paul's voyages.
For several years, Paul worked as a sailor, sailing aboard severalmerchant ships. In 1764, he became involved in theAtlantic slave trade, serving asthird mate onboard theslave shipKing George; two years later, he transferred to the crew ofTwo Friends, a fifty-foot slave ship which operated out ofKingston, Jamaica, asfirst mate.[7] After completing several voyages toWest Africa, Paul left the slave trade, which he described as an "abominable trade", in 1768. WhileTwo Friends was docked in Kingston, Paul booked passage on a ship to Scotland.[8]
Paul's career was quickly and unexpectedly advanced during his next voyage aboard thebrigJohn, which sailed from port in 1768, when both the captain and a ranking mate suddenly died ofyellow fever. With the crew encouraging and voting him to it, Paul managed to navigate the ship back to a safe port, and in reward for this feat, the vessel's grateful Scottish owners made him master of the ship and its crew, giving him 10% of the cargo.[9] He led two voyages to the West Indies before running into difficulty.
During his second voyage in 1770, John Paul had one of his crew flogged after a failed mutiny over early payment of wages, leading to accusations that his discipline was "unnecessarily cruel". These claims were initially dismissed, but his favorable reputation was destroyed when the sailor died a few weeks later. John Paul was arrested for his involvement in the man's death. He was imprisoned inKirkcudbright Tolbooth but later released on bail.[10] The negative effect of this episode on his reputation is indisputable.[9] The local governor encouraged John Paul to leave the area and change his name while on bail. The man who died of his injuries was not a usual sailor but an adventurer from a very influential Scottish family.
Leaving Scotland, John Paul commanded a London-registered vessel namedBetsy, aWest Indiaman mounting 22 guns, engaging in commercial speculation inTobago for about 18 months.[11] This came to an end, however, when he killed a mutinous crew member with a sword in a dispute over wages.[12] Years later, in a letter to Benjamin Franklin describing the incident, John Paul claimed that the killing was committed in self-defense, but he was not willing to wait to be tried in anAdmiral's Court, which would have taken months to assemble, and where the family of his first victim had been influential.
He felt compelled to flee. There is an 18-month gap in Jones's history, and some biographers explore the possibility that, in order to escape Tobago, he may have become a pirate. Rumors of piracy followed him, but they may have been created by his detractors.[13] But he eventually reappeared in Fredericksburg, Virginia, leaving his fortune behind; he also sought to arrange the affairs of his brother, who had died there without leaving any immediate family. He was granted land in Frederick County, Virginia.[14] About this time, John Paul assumed the surname ofJones (in addition to his original surname). There is a long-held tradition in North Carolina that John Paul adopted the name "Jones" in honor ofWillie Jones ofHalifax, North Carolina.[15][16] Jones courtedDorothea Spotswood Dandridge, the future bride ofPatrick Henry, and made a valuable friendship with Dr. John K. Read[17] during his time in Virginia.[18] In the summer of 1775, Jones metJoseph Hewes and other revolutionary leaders in Philadelphia.
From that period, America became "the country of his fond election", as he afterwards expressed himself to BaronJoan Derk van der Capellen tot den Pol.[19] It was not long afterward that John Paul Jones joined the American navy to fight against Britain.
Sources struggle with this period of Jones's life, especially the specifics of his family situation, making it difficult to pinpoint historically Jones's motivations for emigrating to America. It is not known whether his plans were not developing as expected for theplantation or if he was inspired by a revolutionary spirit. It is known that he was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society inPhiladelphia in 1774.[20]
Jones left for Philadelphia shortly after settling in North America, around 1775, to volunteer his services to the newly foundedContinental Navy, precursor to theUnited States Navy. During this time, the Navy andMarines were being formally established, and suitable ship officers and captains were in great demand. Jones's potential would likely have gone unrecognized were it not for the endorsement ofRichard Henry Lee, who knew of his abilities. With help from influential members of theContinental Congress, Jones was appointed as a1st Lieutenant of the newly converted 24-gunfrigateUSS Alfred in the Continental Navy on December 7, 1775.[21]
Jones sailed from theDelaware River in February 1776 aboardAlfred on the Continental Navy's maiden cruise. It was aboard this vessel that Jones took the honour of hoisting the first U.S. ensign, theContinental Union Flag, over a naval vessel.[22][23]
The fleet had been expected to cruise along the coast but was ordered instead by CommodoreEsek Hopkins to sail for The Bahamas, whereNassau was raided for military supplies. The fleet had anunsuccessful encounter with a Britishpacket ship on their return voyage. Jones was then assigned command of thesloopUSS Providence. Congress had recently ordered the construction of thirteen frigates for the American Navy, one of which was to be commanded by Jones. In exchange for this prestigious command, Jones accepted his commission aboard the smallerProvidence. Over the summer of 1776, as commander ofProvidence, Jones performed various services for the Continental Navy and Congress. These services included the transport of troops, the movement of supplies, and the escort of convoys. During this time, Jones was able to assist a 'brig from Hispaniola' that was being chased byHMSCerberus and laden with military stores. The brig was then purchased by Congress and commissioned asUSS Hampden with Captain Hoysted Hacker in command.[24] During a later six-week voyage to Nova Scotia, Jones captured sixteenprizes and inflicted significant damage in theRaid on Canso.[25]
Jones's next command came as a result of Commodore Hopkins's orders to liberate hundreds of American prisoners forced to labour in coal mines in Nova Scotia, and also to raid British shipping. On November 1, 1776, Jones set sail in command ofAlfred to carry out this mission. Winter conditions prevented freeing the prisoners, but the mission did result in the capture ofMellish, a vessel carrying a vital supply of winter clothing intended for GeneralJohn Burgoyne's troops in Canada.[26]
Despite his successes at sea, Jones' disagreements with those in authority reached a new level upon arrival in Boston on December 16, 1776. While at the port, he began feuding with Commodore Hopkins, as Jones believed that Hopkins was hindering his advancement by talking down his campaign plans. As a result of this and other frustrations, Jones was assigned the smaller command of the newly constructedUSS Ranger on June 14, 1777, the same day that the newStars and Stripes flag was adopted.[28]
After making the necessary preparations, Jones sailed for France on November 1, 1777, with orders to assist the American cause in any way possible. The American commissioners in France were Benjamin Franklin,Silas Deane, andArthur Lee, and they listened to Jones's strategic recommendations. They promised him the command ofIndien, a new vessel being constructed for America by the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Britain, however, was able to divertL'Indien away from American hands by exerting pressure to ensure its sale to France instead (which had not yet allied with America).[29] Jones was again left without a command, an unpleasant reminder of his stagnation in Boston from late 1776 until early 1777. It is thought that during this time, Jones developed his close friendship with Franklin, whom he greatly admired.
On February 6, 1778, France signed theTreaty of Alliance with America, formally recognizing the independence of the new American republic. Eight days later, Captain Jones'sRanger became the first American naval vessel to be formallysaluted by the French, with a nine-gun salute fired from CaptainLa Motte-Piquet's flagship. Jones wrote of the event: "I accepted his offer all the more for after all it was a recognition of our independence and in the nation". On April 10, Jones set sail fromBrest, France for the western coasts of Great Britain.
Jones had some early successes against British merchant shipping in theIrish Sea. He persuaded his crew on April 17, 1778, to participate in an assault onWhitehaven, the town where his maritime career had begun.[30] Jones later wrote about the poor command qualities of his senior officers (having tactfully avoided such matters in his official report): "'Their object', they said, 'was gain not honor'. They were poor: instead of encouraging the morale of the crew, they excited them to disobedience; they persuaded them that they had the right to judge whether a measure that was proposed to them was good or bad".[31] Contrary winds forced them to abandon the attempt and driveRanger towards Ireland, causing more trouble for British shipping on the way.
On April 20, Jones learned from captured sailors that the Royal Navy sloop of warHMS Drake was anchored offCarrickfergus, Ireland. According to the diary ofRanger's surgeon,[33] Jones's first intention was to attack the vessel in broad daylight, but his sailors were "unwilling to undertake it", another incident omitted from the official report. Therefore, the attack took place just after midnight, but the mate responsible for dropping the anchor to haltRanger right alongsideDrake misjudged the timing in the dark (Jones claimed in his memoirs that the man was drunk), so Jones had to cut his anchor cable and run. The wind shifted, andRanger recrossed the Irish Sea to make another attempt at raiding Whitehaven.
Jones led the assault with two boats of fifteen men just after midnight on April 23, hoping to set fire to and sink all of the ships anchored in Whitehaven's harbor, which numbered between 200 and 400 wooden vessels and consisted of a full merchant fleet and many coal transporters. They also hoped to terrorize the townspeople by lighting further fires. As it happened, the journey to shore was slowed by shifting winds and a strong ebb tide. They successfullyspiked the town's big defensive guns to prevent them from being fired, but lighting fires proved difficult, as the lanterns in both boats had run out of fuel. To remedy this, some of the party were sent to raid apublic house on the quayside, but the temptation to stop for a quick drink led to a further delay. Dawn was breaking by the time they returned and began the arson attacks, so efforts were concentrated on the coal shipThompson in the hope that the flames would spread to adjacent vessels, all grounded by the low tide. However, in the twilight, one of the crew slipped away and alerted residents on a harbourside street. A fire alert was sounded, and large numbers of people ran to the quay, forcing the Americans to retreat and extinguishing the flames with the town's two fire engines. The townspeople's hopes of sinking Jones's boats with cannon fire were dashed because of the prudent spiking.[34]
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Jones next crossed theSolway Firth from Whitehaven to Scotland, hoping to hold for ransomDunbar Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirk, who lived on St Mary's Isle near Kirkcudbright. The earl, Jones reasoned, could be exchanged for American sailorsimpressed into the Royal Navy. The earl was discovered to be absent from his estate, so his wife entertained the officers and conducted the negotiations. Canadian historianPeter C. Newman gives credit to the governess for protecting the young heir to theEarldom of Selkirk,Thomas Douglas, and to the butler for filling a sack half with coal and topping it up with the family silver, in order to fob off the Americans.[35] Jones claimed that he intended to return directly to his ship and continue seeking prizes elsewhere, but his crew wished to "pillage, burn, and plunder all they could". Ultimately, Jones allowed the crew to seize a silver plate set adorned with the family's emblem to placate their desires, but nothing else. Jones bought the plate when it was later sold off in France, and he returned it to the Earl of Selkirk after the war.
The attacks on St Mary's Isle and Whitehaven resulted in no prizes or profits, which would normally be shared with the crew.[36] Throughout the mission, the crew acted as if they were aboard aprivateer, not a warship, led by Lieutenant Thomas Simpson, Jones's second-in-command.
Jones ledRanger back across the Irish Sea, hoping to make another attempt atDrake, still anchored offCarrickfergus. Late in the afternoon of April 24, the ships, roughly equal in firepower, engaged in combat. Earlier in the day, the Americans had captured the crew of a reconnaissance boat and learned thatDrake had taken on dozens of soldiers with the intention of grappling and boardingRanger, so Jones made sure that did not happen, capturingDrake after anhour-long gun battle in which British captain George Burdon was killed. Lieutenant Simpson was given command ofDrake for the return journey to Brest. The ships separated during the return journey asRanger chased another prize, leading to a conflict between Simpson and Jones. Both ships arrived at port safely, but Jones filed for acourt-martial of Simpson, keeping him detained on the ship.
Partly through the influence of John Adams, who was still serving as a commissioner in France, Simpson was cleared of the charges brought by Jones. Adams implies in his memoirs that the overwhelming majority of the evidence supported Simpson's claims. Adams seemed to believe Jones was hoping to monopolize the mission's glory, especially by detaining Simpson on board while he celebrated the capture with numerous important European dignitaries.[37] Even with the wealth of perspectives, including the commander's,[31] it is difficult to determine what occurred. It is clear, however, that the crew felt alienated by their commander, who might well have been motivated by his pride. Jones believed his intentions were honorable and his actions were strategically essential to the Revolution. Regardless of any controversy surrounding the mission,Ranger's capture ofDrake was one of the Continental Navy's few significant military victories during the Revolution.Ranger's victory became an important symbol of the American spirit and served as an inspiration for the permanent establishment of theU.S. Navy after the revolution.
In 1779, Captain Jones took command of the 42-gunUSS Bonhomme Richard,[38] a merchant ship rebuilt and given to America by the French shipping magnate,Jacques-Donatien Le Ray. On August 14, as a vastFrench and Spanish invasion fleet approached England, he provided a diversion by heading for Ireland at the head of a five-ship squadron including the 36-gunUSS Alliance, 32-gun USSPallas, 12-gunUSS Vengeance, andLe Cerf, also accompanied by two privateers,Monsieur andGranville. When the squadron was only a few days out ofGroix,Monsieur separated because of a disagreement between her captain and Jones. Several Royal Navy warships were sent towards Ireland in pursuit of Jones, but on this occasion, he continued right around the north of Scotland into theNorth Sea. Jones's main problems, as on his previous voyage, resulted from insubordination, particularly by Pierre Landais, captain ofAlliance. On September 23, the squadron met a large merchant convoy off the coast ofFlamborough Head,East Yorkshire. The 44-gun British frigateHMS Serapis and the 22-gunhired armed shipCountess of Scarborough placed themselves between the convoy and Jones's squadron, allowing the merchants to escape.
Shortly after 7 p.m., theBattle of Flamborough Head began.Serapis engagedBonhomme Richard, andAlliance fired from a considerable distance atCountess. After sustaining significant damage from the Serapis and Alliance's bombardment, Jones quickly recognized that he could not win a battle of big guns, and with the wind dying, made every effort to lockRichard andSerapis together (his famous, albeit apocryphal, quotation, "I have not yet begun to fight!" was said to have been uttered in reply to a demand to surrender in this phase of the battle). After about an hour, he succeeded, and he began clearing the British decks with his deck guns and hisMarine marksmen in the rigging.Alliance sailed past and fired a broadside, doing at least as much damage toRichard as toSerapis. Meanwhile,Countess of Scarborough had enticedPallas downwind of the main battle, beginning a separate engagement. WhenAlliance approached this contest, about an hour after it had begun, the badly damagedCountess surrendered.
WithBonhomme Richard burning and sinking, it seems that herensign was shot away; when one of the officers shouted a surrender, believing his captain to be dead, the British commander asked, seriously this time, if they hadstruck their colors. Jones later remembered saying something like "I am determined to make you strike", but the words allegedly heard by crew members and reported in newspapers a few days later were more like: "I may sink, but I'll be damned if I strike". An attempt by the British to boardBonhomme Richard was thwarted, and a grenade thrown by an American sailor caused the explosion of a large quantity of gunpowder onSerapis's lower gun-deck.Alliance returned to the main battle, firing two broadsides. Again, these did at least as much damage toRichard as toSerapis, but the tactic worked to the extent thatSerapis was unable to move. WithAlliance keeping well out of the line of his own great guns, Captain Pearson ofSerapis accepted that prolonging the battle could achieve nothing, so he surrendered. Most ofBonhomme Richard's crew transferred to other vessels, and after a day and a half of frantic repair efforts, it was decided that the ship could not be saved.Bonhomme Richard was allowed to sink, and Jones took command ofSerapis for the trip to the island ofTexel in neutral (but American-sympathizing) Holland.
In the following year, KingLouis XVI of France honored Jones with the title "Chevalier". Jones accepted the honor and desired the title to be used thereafter: when theContinental Congress in 1787 resolved that a medal of gold be struck in commemoration of his "valor and brilliant services" it was to be presented to "Chevalier John Paul Jones".[39] He also received from Louis XVI a decoration of "l'Institution du Mérite Militaire" and a sword. By contrast, in Britain at this time, he was usually denigrated as a pirate.
Jones was also admitted as an original member of TheSociety of the Cincinnati in Pennsylvania when it was established in 1783.[40]
In June 1782, Jones was appointed to command the 74-gunUSS America, but his command fell through when Congress decided to giveAmerica to the French as a replacement for the wreckedLe Magnifique. As a result, he was given an assignment in Europe in 1783 to collect prize money due his former hands. At length, this too expired and Jones was left without prospects for active employment, leading him on April 23, 1787, to enter into the service of the EmpressCatherine II of Russia, who placed great confidence in Jones, saying: "He will get toConstantinople". He was granted the name as a French subject Павел де Жонес (Pavel de Zhones, Paul de Jones).[41]
Jones avowed his intention, however, to preserve the condition of an American citizen and officer. As arear admiral aboard the 24-gun flagshipVladimir, he took part in the naval campaign in theDnieper-Bug Liman, an arm of theBlack Sea, into which theSouthern Bug andDnieper rivers flow, against theTurks, in concert with theDnieper Flotilla commanded by PrinceCharles of Nassau-Siegen.
Jones faced a considerably larger Turkish fleet, comprising over 100 vessels, including 18 ships of the line and 40 frigates. Jones' ships were poorly built, manned by impressed serfs, and were not fully armed. Additionally, he had to communicate with his fleet through a translator. He wanted to use a defensive strategy and bickered with Nassau Segan, who wanted to rush in and attack. Jones wanted to use a V shape with his fleet, placing it at the mouth of the Bug River to funnel the Turkish navy down the river into a killing field created by deadly crossfire, but the wind was against him. Still, he had his fleet create this formation by throwing their anchors out and dragging themselves into place. The strategy worked, and the larger Turkish navy was defeated. During the battle, Nassau Segan's flagship fled the battle to a safe position. But when the battle was won and the enemy flagship was trapped, grounded on a sandbar, Jones ordered his crew to approach and capture the flagship. Instead, his Russian captain pulled up short, anchored himself, and let Nassau Segan claim the prize. Despite Jones's successes and strategies, during this time, Potemkin's letters to Empress Catherine credited Nassau Segan for preventing Jones from gathering power at court.[42] When Jones confronted Potemkin and told him that he (Potemkin) was being manipulated by Nassau Segan, Potemkin responded "No one manipulates me, not even the Empress!"[43]
Jones (and Nassau-Siegen) repulsed theOttoman forces from the area, but the jealous intrigues of Nassau-Siegen (and perhaps Jones's own ineptitude for Imperial politics) turned the Russian commander PrinceGrigory Potemkin against Jones.[44]
Jones was recalled to Saint Petersburg for the claimed purpose of transfer to a command in the North Sea. Other factors may have included the theoretical resentment of rival officers, some of whom were several ex-British naval officers also in Russian employment, who regarded Jones as a renegade and refused to speak to him.
As a foreigner among the Russian court, Jones threatened the existing power structures. He had successfully defeated the Turkish Navy and was no longer as important to the war. His immediate superior, Prince Potemkin, was known for his deviousness and court intrigue, and as a man who allowed only sycophants to serve under him, and chafed at Jones's pride and inexpert courtly intrigue. After Jones' Victory, Potemkin began to assign him impossible missions, designed to force him to fail.[citation needed]
On June 8, 1788, Jones was awarded theOrder of Saint Anna, but he left the following month, an embittered man.[citation needed]
In 1789, Jones arrived inWarsaw,Poland, where he befriendedTadeusz Kościuszko, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. Kościuszko advised him to leave the service of the autocratic Russia and serve another power, suggestingSweden.[45]
On March 31, 1789, Jones was accused of raping a 10-year-old Russian girl named Katerina Stepanova, a "daughter of German immigrants living in St. Petersburg."[46] She lived with her mother, who took care of her and began the legal proceedings.[46]
Stepanova testified to the police that she had been summoned to Jones' apartment to sell him butter, when she was punched in the face by "a man wearing a white uniform, gold braids and a red ribbon," who then gagged her with a white handkerchief and vaginally penetrated her.[47] A regimental surgeon and a midwife both examined her and found evidence to substantiate these physical and sexual assaults.[48] Jones' manservant, Johann Gottfried Bahl, testified that Jones had been wearing his dress uniform when Stepanova entered Jones' chamber.[49] He reported that on looking through a keyhole he saw Jones was in a gown, not his uniform.[47][49] Bahl also stated he "...later saw the girl leaving, her lips covered in blood and face swollen from weeping. He further told the police that he entered his master’s chamber to make the bed that night and discovered drops of blood on the floor."[49]
The rape had been reported slightly over a day after it was said to have occurred, which meant the case would ordinarily not have continued due to Russian statutory codes considering any such delay evidence of consent, but Catherine intervened directly to allow the legal proceedings to continue (she was known to intercede in "cases where women faced insurmountable odds").[50]
Jones hired a lawyer, who soon quit the case,[51] speculatively by order of Catherine via the Governor-General of St. Petersburg.[52] Jones claimed in a statement to prosecutors that he had "often" paid Stepanova for sex previously, but denied that he had raped her.[53] Jones stated he had not taken her virginity and believed her to be older than was being claimed; he wrote, "I love women, I confess, and the pleasures that one only obtains from that sex; but to get such things by force is horrible to me."[51] However, Jones later claimed the accusation was entirely false, stemming from the supposed desire of Katerina's mother, Sophia Fyodorovna, to gain financially from a prominent man.[54] He also produced Katerina's father, Stephan Holtszwarthen, to testify in court that his daughter was 12 rather than 10 years old and that his wife had left him for another man, lived in a brothel, and was herself promiscuous.[54] Jones involved theComte de Ségur, the French representative at the Russian court (and also Jones's last friend in the capital)[citation needed], to whom he claimed that Stepanova had come asking him for "linen or lace to mend" and then "Performed indecent gestures," but that he had "Advised her not to enter upon so vile a career; gave her some money, and dismissed her.”[55] Ségur investigated the accusation and suggested to Potemkin that it was false, and that Jones was the victim of a plot by Prince Charles for his own purposes.[56][better source needed] Ségur advanced theories that Jones had either "offended men who shared the Empress's bed" or else that he had angered Catherine by refusing "advances" from her.[57]
Jones' appeal to Potemkin "...fell on deaf ears, leaving Jones without Russian support against the judgment of the Russian sovereign." However, the international pressure applied by American and French connections via the Comte de Ségur persuaded Catherine to grant Jones two years' leave abroad, a de facto exile, rather than the usual punishment for rape by an officer of decapitation or a lifetime of penal labor; according to Jacob Bell:
The Empress' actions here proved her priorities. She dismissed a tried naval commander, especially sought out by her agents abroad, during wartime, showing that she merited the allegations against Jones higher than his potential martial service.[58]
In May 1790, Jones arrived in Paris. He still retained his position as Russian Rear Admiral, with a corresponding pension which allowed him to remain in retirement until his death two years later, but he was no longer able to find a foothold in Paris society.Thomas Carlyle wrote of him, "Poor Paul! Hunger and dispiritment track thy sinking footsteps".[59]: 44 During this time he made several attempts to re-enter the service in the Russian Navy. However, Catherine did not respond to his letters, explaining to their go-betweenBaron von Grimm that Jones' service record was not exceptional, and that as a result of the rape suit against Jones, Russian seamen refused to serve under him.[58] Catherine also used her influence to block attempts by Jones to join the Danish and Swedish navies.[50]
By this time, his memoirs had been published in Edinburgh. Inspired by them,James Fenimore Cooper andAlexandre Dumas later wrote their own adventure novels: Cooper's 1824 novelThe Pilot contains fictionalized accounts of Jones's maritime activities,[60] and Dumas'Captain Paul is a follow-up novel toThe Pilot, published in 1846.[61]
During this period, he wrote hisNarrative of the Campaign of the Liman.[62][better source needed]
In his addendum to theEncyclopedia of American Biography entry on Jones,Walter R. Herrick—citingS. E. Morison's,John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography (1959)—concluded "In sum, Jones was a sailor of indomitable courage, of strong will, and of great ability in his chosen career. On the other side of the coin, it must be admitted that he was also a hypocrite, a brawler, a rake, and a professional and social climber. Although these elements of his character do not detract from his feats at sea, they do, perhaps, cast in doubt his eligibility for a prominent place in the ranks of America's immortals."[63]
In June 1792, Jones was appointed U.S.Consul to treat with theDey ofAlgiers for the release of American captives. Before Jones was able to fulfill his appointment, he was found dead lying face-down on his bed in his third-floor Paris apartment, No. 19 Rue de Tournon, in the6th arrondissement, on July 18, 1792. He was 45 years old. The cause of death wasinterstitial nephritis.[64] A small procession of servants, friends and loyal family walked his body four miles (6.4 km) for burial. He was buried in Paris at the Saint-Louis Cemetery, which belonged to the French royal family. In their obituaries, the American press had partially forgotten his achievements and some described him as a French war hero.[59]: 47
Upon his death, Jones was owed significant money and land by others. He was never directly paid for his service on theBonhomme Richard, and had instead been forced to purloin part of the sum paid to the vessel's officers. Three of the seven ships he had captured were requisitioned by Denmark, which never reimbursed him; he was instead granted an annual pension by the Danish king, but it was never paid either.[65] He was also owed nearly 13,000 acres of land in western Pennsylvania, purchased fromWilliam Trent in 1783. Jones' will left both claims to his niece Janette Taylor, who came to America in 1830 to pursue them. She seems to have been unsuccessful, and following her death in 1843, the claims were more aggressively pursued by her own successor, George Leckie Lowden. Lowden obtained restitution for the ships, but Congress ignored his petition for the land.[66]
Jones's grave was either unmarked or the marker was stolen at an unknown point.[59]: 106 By the time Americans began searching for his coffin in 1899, the record of his burial plot had also been lost, burned by theParis Commune during thesemaine sanglante.[59]: 96 Meanwhile, his personal papers had been transferred among several people and finally were displayed in the shop window of a New York bakery, where in 1824 a customer noticed them and purchased them. A New York newspaper described the papers as documents belonging to "Franklin, Hancock, La Fayette and John Adams," failing to mention Jones himself.[59]: 67
In 1905, Jones' remains were identified by U.S. Ambassador to France GeneralHorace Porter, who had searched for six years to track down the body using a poor 1851 copy of the missing burial record. After Jones's death, Frenchman Pierrot François Simmoneau donated over 460 francs to mummify the body. It had been preserved in alcohol and interred in a lead coffin "in the event that should the United States decide to claim his remains, they might more easily be identified." Porter knew what to look for in his search. With the aid of an old map of Paris, Porter's team, which included anthropologist Louis Capitan, identified the site of the former St. Louis Cemetery for Alien Protestants. Sounding probes were used to search for lead coffins, and five coffins were ultimately exhumed. The third, unearthed on April 7, 1905, was immediately recognized as Jones' by the excavators.[59]: 105 A post-mortem examination by Doctors Capitan and Georges Papillault confirmed their impression, finding several points by which the corpse could be identified as Jones. The autopsy confirmed the original listing of the cause of death. The face was later compared to a bust byJean-Antoine Houdon.[59]: 114
Jones's body was brought to the United States aboard theUSS Brooklyn (CA-3), escorted by three other cruisers, one being theUSS Tacoma (CL-20). On approaching the American coastline, seven United States Navy battleships joined the procession escorting Jones's body back to America. On April 24, 1906, Jones's coffin was installed in Bancroft Hall at theU.S. Naval Academy,Annapolis, Maryland, following a ceremony in Dahlgren Hall, presided by PresidentTheodore Roosevelt who gave a speech paying tribute to Jones and holding him up as an example to the officers of the Navy.[67] On January 26, 1913, the captain's remains were finally re-interred in a bronze and marblesarcophagus, designed bySylvain Salières, at theNaval Academy Chapel in Annapolis.[68][69]
Jones was given an honorary pardon in 1999 by the port of Whitehaven for his raid on the town, in the presence of Lieutenant Steve Lyons representing the United States Naval Attaché to the UK, and Yuri Fokine theRussian Ambassador to the UK. The United States Navy was also awarded the Freedom of the Port of Whitehaven, the only time the honour has been granted in its 400-year history.[70] The pardon and freedom were arranged byGerard Richardson as part of the launch of the series of Maritime Festival. Richardson's of Whitehaven, a wine and coffee merchant in the town, is now the honorary consulate to the United States Navy for the Town and Port of Whitehaven. In May 2017, the US Navy consul was US Navy Rear Admiral (retired)Steve Morgan, and the deputy consul was Rob Romano.[71]
James Fenimore Cooper wrote a historical novelThe Pilot: A Tale of the Sea, published in 1823, featuring John Paul Jones as its main character. This novel was later reinterpreted by the French writerAlexandre Dumas inCaptain Paul (Le Capitaine Paul), published in 1838.
There is a single Hollywood film about him,John Paul Jones (1959), which includes a largely fictionalized portrayal of his private life. There is also a 45-minute documentary about him, produced in 1995. In 1923,Franklin Delano Roosevelt wrote a screenplay about Jones and sent it toParamount Pictures founderAdolph Zukor, who politely rejected it.[72]
Johnny Horton wrote a sea shanty about John Paul Jones in 1960. The English folk bandThe Longest Johns made a song referring to him from the British perspective titled "John Paul Jones is a Pirate".
Jones is a featured character in the American animated historical fiction television seriesLiberty's Kids. In the episode "Not Yet Begun to Fight", Jones (voiced byLiam Neeson) helps main character Sarah see that her true loyalty lies with America during theBattle of Flamborough Head.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Jones, John Paul".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 499–500.
