Commodore Paul Jones 13

Commodore Paul Jones 13

"Paris, _January 16, 1778_.

 

"Sir: As it is not in our power to procure you such a ship as you

expected, we advise you, after equipping the Ranger in the best manner

for the cruise you propose, that you proceed with her in the manner

you shall judge best for distressing the enemies of the United States,

by sea or otherwise, consistent with the laws of war and the terms of

your commission." (Directions here follow for sending prizes taken on

the coasts of France and Spain into Bilboa or Corogne, unless the

danger was too great, in which case they were to be sent to L'Orient

or Bordeaux.) "If you make an attempt on the coast of Great Britain we

advise you not to return immediately into the ports of France, unless

forced by stress of weather or the pursuit of the enemy; and in such

case you can make the proper representation to the officers of the

port, and acquaint us with your situation. We rely on your ability, as

well as your zeal, to serve the United States, and therefore do not

give you particular instructions as to your operations. We must

caution you against giving any cause of complaint to the subjects of

France or Spain, or of other neutral powers, and recommend it to you

to show them every proper mark of respect and real civility which may

be in your power."

 

 

These orders had been dated and issued to him some months before, but

were not modified or revoked in the interim. He was given an

opportunity to carry out so much of his proposed plan for attacking

the English coast as was possible with his single ship.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VII.

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

ATTEMPT ON LORD SELKIRK--THE CAPTURE OF THE DRAKE.

 

 

The first few days of the cruise were uneventful. On the 14th of

April, 1778, between the Scilly Isles and Cape Clear, the Ranger

captured a brig bound for Ireland loaded with flaxseed. As the prize

and her cargo were not worth sending in, the vessel was burned at sea.

On the 17th, off St. George's Channel, they overhauled a large ship,

the Lord Chatham, loaded with porter _en route_ from London to Dublin.

The ship and cargo being of great value--one likes to think how the

porter must have appealed to the seamen, who, it is quite likely, were

permitted to regale themselves to a limited extent from the cargo--she

was manned and sent back to Brest as a prize. After this capture Jones

proceeded up the Irish Channel, heading to the northeast, and on the

18th, finding himself off the northern extremity of the Isle of Man,

and in line with Whitehaven, he attempted to carry out a preconceived

project of destroying the shipping in the port; being determined, as

he says, by one great burning of ships to put an end to the burnings

and ravagings and maraudings of the British upon the undefended coasts

of North America.

 

The wind was blowing from the east, and he beat up against it toward

the town, where he hoped to find a large number of ships in the

harbor. The adverse wind delayed him, however, and it was not until

ten o'clock at night that the Ranger reached a point from which it was

practicable to dispatch the boats. Preparations were hastily made, and

the boats were called away and manned by volunteers. The boats were

already in the water when the wind suddenly shifted and blew hard on

shore, so that the Ranger was forced to beat out to sea promptly to

avoid taking ground on the shoals under her lee. The expedition,

therefore, for that time, was abandoned, the boats were swung up to

the davits, and the Ranger filled away again.

 

The next morning, off the Mull of Galloway, they captured a schooner

loaded with barley and sunk her. Learning from some prisoners that ten

or twelve large ships, under the protection of a small tender, were

anchored in Lochvyau, Scotland, Jones ran for that harbor, intending

to destroy them, but the variable weather, as before, interfered with

his plans, and a sudden squall drove the Ranger into the open once

more and saved the ships. He captured and sunk a small Irish fishing

sloop, making prisoners of the fishermen, that same afternoon. The

sloop was of no value to Jones, and he would have let her go had it

not been that he feared the alarm would be given. He treated the

fishermen kindly, however, and, as we shall see, in the end they

suffered no loss from his action.

 

On the 20th he captured a sloop loaded with grain, and on the 21st,

off Carrickfergus, he took another small fishing boat. Learning from

the fishermen that the British man-of-war Drake, twenty guns and a

hundred and fifty men, was lying at anchor in Belfast Lough, he

promptly determined upon a bold scheme to effect her capture. Beating

to and fro off the mouth of the Lough until the evening, as soon as it

was dark he ran for the harbor, proposing to lay his vessel athwart

the hawse of the Drake, lying unsuspiciously at anchor, drop his own

anchor over the cable of the English sloop of war, and capture her by

boarding.

 

Every preparation was made to carry out this brilliant _coup de main_.

The crew were mustered at quarters, armed for boarding with pike or

cutlass and pistol, the best shots were told off to sweep the decks of

the Drake with small-arm fire, guns were loaded and primed, and so on.

It was blowing heavily as the Ranger under reduced canvas dashed

gallantly into the harbor. With masterly seamanship Jones brought her

to in exactly the right position, and gave the order to let go the

anchor. His orders were not obeyed, through the negligence of a

drunken boatswain, it was said, and the anchor was not dropped until

the Ranger had drifted down past the lee quarter of the Drake, when

she brought up. The position of the American was now one of extreme

peril. The Ranger lay under the broadside of the Drake, subjected to

her fire and unable to make reply.

 

The watch kept on the British ship, however, must have been very

careless. In the darkness of the night, too, the guns of the Ranger

being run in, it is probable that if they observed her they took her

for a clumsy merchantman. Enjoining perfect silence on the part of his

crew, with the greatest coolness Jones took the necessary steps to

extricate the vessel from her dangerous position. The cable was cut,

sail made, and under a heavy press of canvas the Ranger beat out of

the harbor, barely clearing the entrance, and only escaping wreck by

the consummate ability of her captain.

 

The plan was brilliantly conceived, and would have been successful but

for the mischance, or delay, in dropping the anchor. The crew

originally was only a fair one, as has been stated, and, owing to the

fact that their wages had not been paid, they were in a more or less

mutinous state by this time. Jones was covetous of glory only. A less

mercenary man never lived. To fight and conquer was his aim, but in

this he radically differed from the ideas of his officers and men.

Where he wrote honor and fame they saw plunder and prize money, and it

was sometimes difficult to get them to obey orders and properly to

work the ship.

 

After leaving Belfast the Ranger ratched over to the southern coast of

Scotland to ride out the sudden and furious gale under the lee of the

land. The wind had abated by the morning of the 22d, and the sun rose

bright and clear, discovering from the of the Ranger a beautiful

prospect of the three kingdoms covered with snow as far as the eye

could see. The wind now set fair for Whitehaven, and Jones squared

away for that port to carry out his previous project. The breeze fell

during the day, however, and it was not until midnight that the boats

were called away.

 

The expedition comprised two boats, carrying thirty-one officers and

men, all volunteers, Jones himself being in command of one boat, while

Lieutenant Wallingford, one of the best officers of the ship, had the

other. Simpson and the second lieutenant both pleaded indisposition

and fatigue as excuse for not going on the expedition. The tide was

ebbing, and it was not until nearly dawn, after a long, hard pull,

that the two boats reached the harbor, which was divided into two

parts at that time by a long stone pier. There were from seventy to

one hundred ships on the north side of the pier, and about twice as

many on the south side, ranging in size from two hundred to four

hundred tons. As the tide was out, the ships were all aground, lying

high and dry upon the beach, and in close touch with each other.

Directing Wallingford to set fire to the ships on the north side of

the pier, Jones and his party landed and advanced toward the fort

which protected the harbor.

 

The weather was raw and cold, the fort was old and dilapidated, and

manned by a few men. The sentry, ignorant of the presence of any foe,

never dreaming of an enemy within a thousand miles of him, had calmly

retired to the sentry box. Probably he was asleep. The little party

approached the walls without being detected. Climbing upon the

shoulder of one of his men, Jones sprang over the rampart, where he

was followed by the rest of the party. The feeble garrison was

captured without striking a blow. The guns were hastily spiked.

Ordering the prisoners to be marched down to the wharf, and throwing

out a few sentries, Jones, attended by a single midshipman, then made

his way to the other fort or battery, a distance of about half a mile.

Finding it untenanted, he spiked the few guns mounted there and

returned to the landing place.

 

To his very great surprise and disappointment, no evidence of a

conflagration was apparent. When he reached the wharf he was met by

Wallingford, who explained his failure to fire the shipping by

claiming that his lights had gone out. It was before the days of

lucifer matches, and the party had carried candles in lanterns with

which to kindle the fires. Wallingford excused himself by a remark

which does more credit to his heart than to his head, to the effect

that he could not see that anything was to be gained by burning poor

people's property. Inasmuch as he was sent on the expedition to obey

orders and not to philosophize, his statement gives the key to the

disposition among the officers and crew. Whether his hesitation was

dictated by charity to others or lack of possible profit to the

officers and men it is not necessary to inquire particularly now, for

Wallingford redeemed himself nobly later in the cruise. A hasty

inspection revealed the fact that the candles had also burned out, or

had been extinguished through carelessness, in Jones' own boat.

 

It was now broad daylight, and considerations of safety indicated an

immediate return to the ship; but Jones was not willing to abandon his

brilliantly conceived, carefully prepared, and coolly undertaken

enterprise without some measure of success. Re-posting his sentries,

therefore, he dispatched messengers who broke into a neighboring

dwelling house and procured a light in the shape of a torch or glowing