John Paul Jones “Father of the American Navy” 1747-1792 AD

The crazy American sailor who took on the monumental task of bringing the fight to the British homeland, culminating in one of the world's most legendary naval duels...

John Paul Jones “Father of the American Navy” 1747-1792 AD

1. God Bless These United States of America

460 ships, 3,700 aircraft, and over 300,000 active sailors comprise the most dominant navy in the world. A navy that fields eleven aircraft carriers (the rest of the world has twelve total) and would probably be victorious in a pitched battle against every other navy in the world combined. The American Navy. Although America’s navy is now leagues better in quality and quantity than every other nation, this was not always so.

Rewind to the 18th century, the Englishmen in the American colonies grew increasingly frustrated about having to pay taxes without being represented in the British parliament. So, naturally, they decided they would be better off by themselves and declared independence. (spoiler alert) what followed was perhaps the greatest upset in the history of wars, with perhaps the most unexpected part of it being the crazy band of glorified pirates capable of challenging the world’s most powerful armada, His Majesty's Royal Navy.

At the beginning of the American Revolution, the rebel navy was in complete shambles. In total, they could count on 27 below-average ships to fight the 270 first-rate ships fielded by the British. It was not exactly a hype situation for the Founding Fathers and their gang. But just when the seas seemed lost, one hope emerged, a crazy Scotsman by the name of John Paul Jones who was born to kill ugly Brits and blow bagpipes. 

2. Early Success & Early Tragedy

John Paul first set to sea at the age of just twelve. He lacked the connections needed to join the Royal Navy, so instead he signed on as an apprentice with the Merchant Marines aboard a slave ship. After being an apprentice for a little bit he quit his job in Jamaica, disgusted by the slave trade. But, being without a job on the wrong side of the Atlantic isn’t exactly an optimal situation so he graciously accepted the offer for free transfer back to Scotland aboard a brig that carried his name, John.

However, tragedy struck aboard the John when both the Captain and the First Mate abruptly died of yellow fever. The Captain and First Mate were two of the three men on the ship who knew how to navigate. The third was John Paul. With the crew in disarray, John Paul took control of the situation assuming the position of acting captain, and navigated the ship back to Scotland. The owner of the John was grateful that John Paul had managed to return the ship to him with all its cargo intact and he was made the official captain of the John at the age of just twenty-one. 

Unfortunately, tragedy struck again on John this time for the worse of John Paul. After part of the crew mutinied because they wanted their pay earlier, John Paul punished them by flogging the culprits. A common, yet cruel punishment for mutineers. Unfortunately for John Paul, one of the men whom he flogged, named Mungo Maxwell, unintendedly died after the flogging. This gave John Paul a bad reputation as a captain and charges were even brought against him but later dropped for lack of evidence. 

But John Paul’s crew mutinied again a few years later while anchored in Tobago. They once again were asking for a part of their salary early so they could go spend it on the island. John Paul, who was short on cash at the time, refused, promising that they would be paid in full once they returned to London. This enraged the crew and one of the sailors attacked John Paul, who then drew his sword and killed him in self-defense. Regrettably for John Paul, the man he killed was very popular amongst the people of the island. Fearing for his life, John Paul left his money, ship, and basically everything he owned and fled. He wound up at his dead brother's house in Virginia where he laid low and tacked on the surname “Jones” to the end of John Paul, becoming John Paul Jones. It was in Virginia where he grew rather fond of the colonies and their cause against the British.

3. Getting a Job & Borrowing a Ship… or Two

So, when conflict broke out in the year 1776 during this small conflict called The American Revolution, John Paul Jones, in desperate need of a new job, agreed to join the beleaguered Continental Navy. He was assigned as a First Lieutenant aboard the converted merchant ship Alfred, where he journeyed to the Bahamas to plunder English trade ships. After successfully raiding the Bahamas, John Paul Jones was assigned captain of a sloop of war named Providence where he did more of the same. He would capture cargo and merchant vessels, send them to friendly ports, take their supplies, and then refit their ship for war. Rinse and repeat baby.

After some more pillaging, Jones was sent to France not only to help bring France into the war but also to acquire a larger ship. The second Jones stepped foot in Paris he instantly fell in love with French culture, food, women, and the beauty of the Palace of Versailles. After meeting with Benjamin Franklin and King Louis, the French decided that Jones first needed to prove himself to them as a naval commander against British forces before they could supply him with a larger vessel.

So Jones drew up an audacious plan. He knew that the Royal Navy was widely dispersed throughout their vast territories with few ships patrolling their mainland. So to exploit this, Jones planned to do something that hadn’t been done since the years of William the Conqueror. He was going to attack the British Mainland. The crew of Jones’s current ship, Ranger, weren't stoked because they wanted to go home or raid merchant ships, something far more profitable. But Jones insisted that they display their valor and eventually the crew obliged. 

So off they sailed into the Irish Sea, and when no ships challenged him, Jones attacked. His target was the port of Whitehaven, Jones was familiar with the layout of the town because it was where he had first set sail from all the way back in 1759. Jones’s attack took everybody by surprise, he and his crew were able to board, sabotage, and destroy a large fishing fleet that was anchored in the city before being chased back to the Ranger by a mob of angry townspeople. 

Jones’s attack sent the British citizens into a flurry of rage, but he wasn’t done yet. The next day he attacked Saint Mary’s Isle, where he planned to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk and exchange him for captive American sailors. However, when Jones and his men showed up at the Earl’s manor, they learned that the Earl was out on vacation. So, instead, they drank tea with his family before going on their way. I tell you this so that next time an overly patriotic Brit tells you their little island hasn’t been invaded since William the Conqueror; you can politely (or rudely, I don’t much care) inform them that America has in fact been there and done that.

The next day Jones engaged and destroyed the HMS Drake, a 20-gun sloop, before triumphantly returning to France. King Louis and his court were so impressed by Jones’s work that they gifted him a new 40-gun warship, the Bonhomme Richard. The Bonhomme Richard was far larger and more powerful than any other vessel Jones had ever captained. Now that he had obtained this weapon of mass destruction (nobody tell George Bush), Jones planned his next venture to the British Mainland. One that would be far more memorable, and far more glorious.

The initial plan was for Jones and several other ships to harass the British mainland as a distraction, in order for a French army to sneakily land an army in Southeast England. Unfortunately, disease ripped apart the army as well as its sailors, so the plan had to be suspended indefinitely. But that did not deter Jones as he and his crew left France to go cause mayhem amongst the British coastal towns. 

After a good few weeks of plundering, came the morning of September 23rd, 1779. Jones and his men awoke to the majestic sight of 40 British trade ships returning from the Baltic. If Jones and his posse could capture just a couple of vessels they would be rich beyond their wildest dreams. But the trade ships weren’t alone. Escorting them were two British warships, the 50-gun frigate Serapis, and the 20-gun Countess of Scarborough. The stage was set for one of the craziest naval battles in American history. 

Under the full moon of a brisk September night, the Bonhomme Richard began its advance on the Serapis while its support ships engaged the Countess of Scarborough. The battle began quite poorly for the Americans, one of Jones’s cannons was faulty and exploded, killing many men and greatly damaging the firing deck. The severely weakened Bonhomme Richard continued to fight valiantly but the Serapis kept hammering it with broadside after broadside. When the might of the Bonhomme Richard had been reduced to just three cannons, the captain of the Serapis called over to the defeated Jones, asking if he was ready to surrender. To which John Paul Jones loudly retorted “Surrender? But I have not yet begun to fight”¹. Jones then manned the helm of the Bonhomme Richard and rammed the Serapis, ferociously boarding her, sword in hand. In the chaos one of Jones’s men went to strike their colors (surrender), when Jones saw him near the mast, he threw his pistol across the ship, hitting the wimp in the head and knocking him out. Bro was born at the wrong time, the Patriots need a quarterback. 

John Paul Jones yelling across to the Serapis “I have not yet begun to fight!”

After a three-hour struggle, a lucky grenade thrown from the Bonhomme Richard detonated the Serapis’s gunpowder storage causing a massive explosion throughout the vessel. The loss of men from the blast convinced the Captain of the Serapis to surrender to Jones and the crippled Bonhomme Richard. Unfortunately, the Bonhomme Richard was well past repair, and the following day the order was given to abandon ship. Although all 40 merchant ships made it to port, Jones still scored a massive victory, capturing the Serapis and dealing a huge blow to the morale of the seemingly invincible British Navy. 

4. Exploring the World

After John Paul Jones captured the Serapis, he sailed to the neutral Dutch United Provinces. Due to the destruction of the Bonhomme Richard, Jones didn’t have an American Flag to fly, which was a pretty big deal back then. But, the Dutch were kind enough to make him a new one. The only issue was that the Dutch had no idea what an American Flag looked like. So, they had to refer to a letter they received from an American ambassador at the start of the war describing the flag as follows: “The flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen stripes, alternately red, white, and blue; a small square in the upper angle, next the flagstaff, is a blue field, with thirteen white stars, denoting a new constellation.”² Here’s a picture, I kind of like it.

John Paul Jones saw little action for the remaining three years of the war. Once it was over, he received numerous awards from the French and Americans alike. Seeking more adventure (and money) Jones journeyed to Russia, where Catherine the Great employed him to defend Crimea from Ottoman attacks. Jones achieved a decisive victory at the Siege of Ochakov, routing the Ottoman navy, and destroying or capturing many of its ships.

Unfortunately, Jones was later charged with the assault of a Russian prostitute. Although the allegations were almost certainly conceived by his enemies to remove him from power, it ended his career in Russian service nonetheless. Jones then retired to his favorite place on the planet, Paris. There he lived out the rest of his life lonely, and without friends in a Parisian apartment until his death due to kidney inflation in 1792, aged 45.

Jones was buried at the local protestant church. His body was so well preserved that over a century later, in 1905 the Americans were able to recover his body and perform an autopsy on it. The body was then shipped across the Atlantic, placed in a dope marble casket, and put on display at the U.S. naval headquarters in Annapolis, Maryland. There he was given his deserving nickname, “Father of the American Navy”.

5. Learn Your Lesson

John Paul Jones’ life was certainly unique. He traveled from England to the Americas, then to Russia, and finally to Paris. He served as a sailor, a pirate, and a captain; his life is like a scatterplot without any correlation. But that’s the beauty of it.

Regardless if it was a prayer being answered, or a tragedy throwing his life drastically off course, John Paul Jones always went with the flow. Often in life, we get caught up in what has already happened, rather than capitalizing on what’s happening now to shape our future. Meaning, when tragedy hits your life, which it certainly will and maybe already has, don’t let it change your spirit. Which is ironic of me to say, considering that I just wrote an article about something that happened 250 years ago.

John Paul Jones: Pirate? Maybe. Jerk? Probably. Baller? Definitely.

1. "John Paul Jones in Battle, 1779," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2011).

2. The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Volume 2