Commodore Paul Jones 1

Commodore Paul Jones 1

Commodore Paul Jones

Author: Cyrus Townsend Brady

 

PREFACE.

In preparing this work I began, I admit, with an ardent admiration for

John Paul Jones, born of long study of his career. I have endeavored,

however, so far as possible, to lay aside my preconceived opinions and

predisposition in his favor, and I have conscientiously gone over the

immense mass of material bearing upon him, _de novo_, in an attempt to

be absolutely and strictly impartial. Perhaps I have not altogether

succeeded, but if it be found that I have erred in Jones' favor, I

shall be glad that I have followed the impulses of affection rather

than those of depreciation. I have not, I trust, been blind to the

faults in the character of the great sailor, nor to the mistakes he

committed, nor to the wrongdoings in his career to which I have called

attention; but, in spite of these things, which I have most

reluctantly recorded, I am happy that renewed investigation, careful

study, and much thought have only endeared him the more to me. I lay

down the pen with a higher respect, with a more affectionate regard,

with a greater admiration for him than ever.

 

In Miss Seawell's fine phrase, "It may be said of him as of the great

Condé: 'This man was born a captain.'" His place among the great sea

kings as a strategist, a tactician, and a fighter is now unquestioned

by the most calumnious of his defamers; but the wound he inflicted

upon British pride still rankles after the lapse of more than a

century, and his professional status and personal character are still

bitterly aspersed. So doth prejudice blind the eyes of truth. I have

devoted some space to the old charge that he was a pirate, which was

renewed recently in an article in the London Academy, one of the

leading journals of England, and I trust that the reader will find

that I have finally disposed of that absurd statement, and the other

slanders concerning him, in these pages. And I have tried to be fair

to the enemy as well.

 

Wherever it has been possible, without clogging the narrative or

letting it assume the form of a mere collection of letters, Paul the

sailor, like Paul the Apostle, hath been permitted to speak for

himself. Contrary to some of his biographers, I have made it a rule to

accept Jones' own statements unless they were controverted by adequate

evidence. It is proper to call attention to the fact that the intent

of the series, of which this is one, which deals primarily with the

subjects of the different volumes as great commanders, naturally

emphasizes their public exploits rather than their private life. This

will account for a lack of amplification in certain directions, and

for the omission of details of certain periods of his life which, were

the circumstances other than they are, would probably be treated of at

greater length. However, it is believed that enough appears in the

pages to complete the picture and exhibit the man.

 

There is a great amount of matter available for the study of his life,

in the shape of lives, essays, sketches, and general histories, and

contemporary memoirs, and an immense mass of manuscript reports and

correspondence, and Jones himself left several interesting accounts of

his career and services, which are of great value to his biographers.

I have freely used all sources of information to which I could gain

access, and they have not been few. It will be only justice, however,

if I acknowledge that among the authorities consulted I have found the

excellent life by Commodore Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, U. S. N.,

published in 1841, the most useful. Mackenzie was an officer and

seaman of wide experience and fine talents, whose life covered the

period of our naval development succeeding the War of 1812, and his

comments from a sailor's point of view are instructive and invaluable.

His work is marred by an unfortunate bias against Jones, which appears

in several instances; in a desire to be accurate and just he has gone

to a censurable extreme. Two other books have been most helpful: the

life by John Henry Sherburne, sometime Register of the United States

Navy, published in 1825, with its valuable collection of reports of

participants in different actions, and statements and official

documents not otherwise preserved; and the life compiled from the

manuscript furnished by Miss Janette Taylor, a niece of the great

commodore, published in 1830. I may also add that I have found Captain

Mahan's admirable papers upon the subject, in Scribner's Magazine, of

great value. Indeed, there are facts, observations, and deductions in

these articles which appear nowhere else, so sure is the touch of a

genius for historical accuracy and investigation like his. Among other

essayists, Miss Molly Elliott Seawell, whose facile pen has done so

much to exploit our early naval heroes, has written a notable and

interesting paper which appeared in the Century Magazine; while

Professor John Knox Laughton, the English naval expert, in his

celebrated but scandalous and utterly unjustifiable attack, gives us a

modern British estimate of the commodore. I shall pay my respects to

his contribution later. No extended life has been published for fifty

years.

 

My thanks are due to General Horace Porter and the Honorable

Charlemagne Tower, LL.D., ambassadors of the United States to France

and Russia respectively, for investigations in answers to inquiries,

and for suggestions; to Dr. Talcott Williams, of Philadelphia, for

valuable suggestions as to sources of possible information; to the

Rev. Dr. William Elliot Griffis, of Ithaca, New York, for much

interesting matter connected with the Baron van der Capellen, for

unpublished manuscript notes on North Holland, the Helder, and the

Texel, and for the rare copy of the old Dutch song, "Hir komt Pauwel

Jones aan," which appears in the appendix; to Lieutenant-General O. V.

Stubendorff, Chief of the Topographical Section of the Imperial

Russian General Staff, and to Major-General E. Sarantchof, of the

Russian army, for maps, reports, and other data concerning the

campaign on the Dnieper-Liman, not accessible in any American books;

to Mr. Charles T. Harbeck, of New York, for generous permission to

make use of rare books and pamphlets relating to Paul Jones in his

valuable collection of Americana; to Messrs. W. M. Cumming and Junius

Davis, of Wilmington, N. C., and Mrs. A. I. Robertson, of Columbia,

S. C., for information concerning the assumption of the name of Jones

by John Paul, not hitherto published in book form; to Mr. E. G.

McCollin and the Misses Mabel S. Meredith, Edith Lanigan, and Bertha

T. Rivailles for much important work in translation; and to Miss

Isabel Paris for invaluable assistance in transcribing the manuscript.

 

Lest any of the above should be involved in possible criticisms which

may be made of the book, I beg to close this preface with the

assurance that for everything which follows I alone am responsible.

 

CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY.

Philadelphia, Pa., _July, 1900_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS.

 

I.--ANCESTRY--BIRTH--EARLY YEARS--PROFESSION--SUCCESS--CHANGE OF NAME

II.--COMMISSIONED IN THE NAVY--HOISTS THE FIRST FLAG--EXPEDITION TO

NEW PROVIDENCE--ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GLASGOW

III.--THE CRUISE OF THE PROVIDENCE

IV.--THE CRUISE OF THE ALFRED

V.--SUPERSEDED IN RANK--PROTESTS VAINLY AGAINST THE INJUSTICE--ORDERED

TO COMMAND THE RANGER--HOISTS FIRST AMERICAN FLAG

VI.--THE FIRST CRUISE OF THE RANGER--SALUTE TO THE AMERICAN FLAG

VII.--THE SECOND CRUISE OF THE RANGER--THE DESCENT ON WHITEHAVEN--THE

ATTEMPT ON LORD SELKIRK--THE CAPTURE OF THE DRAKE

VIII.--STANDING AND WAITING

IX.--THE CRUISE OF THE SQUADRON

X.--THE BATTLE WITH THE SERAPIS

XI.--AFTER THE BATTLE--REMARKS ON THE ACTION

XII.--UPHOLDING AMERICAN HONOR IN THE TEXEL

XIII.--THE ESCAPE OF THE ALLIANCE

XIV.--HONORS AND REWARDS--QUARREL WITH LANDAIS--RELINQUISHES THE

ALLIANCE

XV.--THE CRUISE OF THE ARIEL

XVI.--CAREER IN THE UNITED STATES TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR

XVII.--PRIZE AGENT IN FRANCE AND DENMARK--LAST VISIT TO THE UNITED

STATES--A BLOT ON THE ESCUTCHEON--FAMOUS PASSAGE OF THE

BALTIC

XVIII.--IN THE RUSSIAN SERVICE--OTCHAKOFF AND THE CAMPAIGN IN THE

LIMAN

XIX.--SLANDERED IN RUSSIA--A SLAVONIC REWARD FOR FAITHFUL SERVICES

XX.--LAST YEARS AND DEATH

XXI.--PERSONAL APPEARANCE--CHARACTERISTICS--WAS HE A PIRATE?--FAREWELL

APPENDICES

INDEX

 

 

 

 

 

 

COMMODORE PAUL JONES.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER I.

ANCESTRY--BIRTH--EARLY YEARS--PROFESSION--SUCCESS--CHANGE OF NAME.

 

 

Of the three great captains whose magnificent fighting has added such

glorious chapters to the history of our naval campaigns, but one,

George Dewey, the last of them all, is purely an American by birth and

generations of ancestors. Farragut, the greatest of the three, was but

one remove from a Spaniard. John Paul Jones, first of the group in

point of time and not inferior to the others in quality and

achievement, was a Scotsman. Only the limitation in means necessitated

by the narrow circumstances of his adopted country during his lifetime

prevented his surpassing them all. He remains to this day a unique

character among the mighty men who trod the deck and sailed the

ocean--a strange personality not surpassed by any in the long line of

sea fighters from Themistocles to Sampson. In spite of, nay, because

of his achievements, he was among the most calumniated of men. What

follows is an attempt to tell his story and to do him justice.