Jones, John Paul

Jones, John Paul (1747–92) Naval officer and Revolutionary War hero; “Father of the American Navy.” Born John Paul in Kirkbean Parish, Scotland, on July 6, 1747, Jones (a pseudonym he adopted in 1774) was apprenticed to an English shipbuilder at age thirteen and soon thereafter went to sea, making several voyages to the West Indies and the North American colonies. He obtained his first command in 1768 and soon gained a reputation as a formidable seaman and demanding leader. Living in Virginia at the beginning of the Revolution, he obtained a commission as a senior lieutenant in the Continental Navy in December 1775. Promoted to captain in October 1776, Jones was given command of the new eighteen-gun sloop Ranger in June 1777, and was ordered to sail it to France where he would assume command of a new frigate being built in Holland for the American navy. When delivery of the frigate was delayed, Jones retained command of the Ranger and raided British shipping off the European coast and coastal towns in England. Despite his success in Ranger, he was not offered a suitable ship to command, and was forced to accept an old, rotting East Indiaman, the forty-two-gun Duc de Duras, which he refitted and renamed the Bonhomme Richard. Jones sailed from the French port of L'Orient in Bonhomme Richard on August 14, 1779, to raid the English coasts, but had only limited success until, on September 23, 1779, he encountered a forty-one-ship British convoy escorted by the forty-four-gun HMS Serapis and HMS Countess of Scarborough. After a bloody battle, the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough were forced to surrender, although the Bonhomme Richard was heavily damaged and sank. After a forced delay in the Dutch port of Texel, during which he was forced to give up his prizes to the French, Jones returned to L'Orient in February 1780. He returned to the United States in February 1781 in command of the captured British sloop Ariel. Although Congress denied his promotion to rear admiral, he was given command of the first American ship of the line, the seventy-four-gun America, which was, however, soon turned over to France. After the Revolutionary War he returned to Europe to obtain the prize money owed him and his crew by the governments of France and Denmark. He eventually obtained satisfaction in France but not in Denmark. In 1787, he was again refused promotion to rear admiral by the U.S. Congress, although Congress ordered a gold medal struck in his honor, the only such honor granted an officer of the Continental Navy. In April 1788, Jones accepted a commission in the Russian imperial navy and subsequently commanded Russian naval forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Black Sea. In September 1790, he returned to Paris.