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
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