Commodore Paul Jones 20

Commodore Paul Jones 20

Meanwhile he was at his wits' end. The year had nearly passed and

nothing had been done. He had been put off with promises until he was

desperate. Chance, it is stated, threw in his way one day, as he sat

idle at Nantes, gloomily ruminating on the prospect, or lack of it,

and almost making up his mind to go back to the United States in the

first vessel that offered and seek such opportunity for service as

might arise there, a copy of Franklin's famous book of maxims, called

Poor Richard's Almanac. As the harassed little captain sat listlessly

turning its pages, his eyes fell upon this significant aphorism:

 

"If a man wishes to have any business faithfully and expeditiously

performed, let him go on it himself; otherwise he may send."

 

The truth of the saying inspired him to one final effort before he

abandoned European waters. He went to Versailles in November, 1778,

for one last visit, and there settled the matter. His determination

and persistence at last, as it had many times before, brought him

success. De Sartine directed the purchase of the Duras, which Jones,

from his love for Franklin and the circumstance just related, with the

consent of the minister, renamed the Bon Homme Richard, that being the

French equivalent for Poor Richard, or Good Man Richard, which was the

caption of the almanac.

 

De Sartine appointed as the agent and commissary of the king for the

purchase and refitting of the Duras and the other vessels of the

squadron, and for the disposal of any prizes which might be taken, in

short, as his representative with entire liberty of action, Monsieur

le Ray de Chaumont. This gentleman, belonging, of course, to the

nobility of the country, was a man of considerable influence at the

court, where he had held the responsible dual position of Grand Master

of the Forests and Waters of the King. Since the arrival of the

American commissioners he had shown his devotion to the cause of

liberty and to them personally by many and conspicuous acts of

kindness.

 

It was his private residence at Passy that Franklin made his

headquarters during his long tenure of office. De Chaumont had offered

him the use of this house, and with generous and splendid hospitality

had refused to accept of any remuneration by way of rental. Realizing

the pressing necessity of the struggling colonists for every dollar

they could scrape together, he positively declined to impair their

limited resources by any charge whatsoever. Franklin endeavored to

change his decision, and when John Adams replaced Deane he made the

same effort, but the generous Frenchman refused to recede from his

determination. He also placed his private purse at the disposal of

Franklin, and in every way showed himself a worthy and disinterested

friend of America.

 

He was one of those romantic Frenchmen who espoused the cause of the

rights of man under the influence of the new philosophy of Rousseau

and Voltaire; somewhat, it would seem, from motives similar to those

proclaimed by Jones himself. He had nothing to gain by his action and

much to lose should the effort of the colonists result in failure. He

was a man of affairs and possessed an ample fortune. To anticipate

events, it may be stated that he spent it all in the cause to which he

had devoted himself, and eventually became bankrupt. He was not a

military man; still less was he aware of the exigencies and demands of

the naval service. For the present, however, he did his work

efficiently and well.

 

The Duras was purchased immediately, as were two other merchant

vessels, the Pallas and the Vengeance, all at the cost of the

royal treasury. To these were added the Cerf, a king's cutter, a

well-appointed and efficient vessel, and the United States ship

Alliance, a new and very handsome frigate built at Salisbury,

Massachusetts, in 1778, which had arrived in Europe with Lafayette as

a passenger. Jones had specifically asked that the American frigate

should be assigned to his squadron--a most unfortunate request, as it

afterward turned out.

 

The Duras was an East Indiaman of obsolete type; a large,

old-fashioned ship with a very high poop and topgallant forecastle.

She had made, during many years of service, a number of round voyages

to the East Indies. While stoutly built for a merchant ship, as

compared to a man-of-war of her size she was of light and

unsubstantial frame. In the absence of particular information I

suppose her to have been of something under eight hundred tons burden.

Neglect had allowed her to fall into such a bad condition that her

efficiency as a proposed war vessel was further impaired by her

inability to stand the necessary repairs.

 

Jones, however, surveyed her and determined to make her do. Indeed,

there was no choice; it was that or nothing. He hoped to effect

something with her which would warrant him in demanding a better ship;

so, with a sigh of regret for the Indien, he set to work upon her,

doing his best to make her efficient. By his orders she was pierced

for twenty-eight guns on her main deck and six on the poop and

forecastle. In order to further increase her force, Jones, after much

deliberation, resorted to the hazardous experiment of cutting six

ports in the gun room, on the deck below the gun deck, close to the

water line; so close, in fact, that, with anything like a sea on, to

open the ports would be to invite destruction by foundering.[8] Only

under exceptionally favorable circumstances, therefore, could these

guns be used. At best the gun-room battery could only be fought in the

calmest weather and smoothest water. In this dangerous place he

mounted six old and condemned 18-pounders, which were all that he

could obtain from the French arsenals. On the main deck fourteen

12-pounders and fourteen 9-pounders were mounted.[9] Two 9-pounders

were placed aft on the quarter-deck, two in each gangway, and two on

the forecastle. All the guns were old and worn out; many of them had

been condemned by the French Government as unfit for use. The six guns

on the lower deck were mounted three on a side, but a sufficient

number of ports had been cut to admit of shifting the guns and working

the whole battery on either side. New guns had been ordered cast for

the Richard at the French gun foundries; but the usual delays

compelled Jones to take what he could, and finally sail with these old

makeshifts. The guns intended for the Bon Homme Richard arrived after

she had gone.

 

The Alliance was a frigate-built ship of thirty-two guns, 9- and

6-pounders, manned by two hundred and fifty men, and commanded by

Pierre Landais. Landais was an ex-officer of the French navy, who had

been dismissed for insubordination and incapacity. Ignorant of these

facts, knowing only that he had been a navy officer, and wishing to

please their royal ally, and perhaps pay a delicate compliment also to

Lafayette, who was a passenger upon the ship on her first cruise, the

marine commissioners had appointed him to the command of this fine and

handsome little frigate. The Alliance was one of the fastest ships of

her day; indeed, she may be regarded as the precursor of that long

line of splendid frigates and sloops of war which have been the pride

of American shipbuilders and the admiration of foreign navies.

Properly re-armed and refitted, under the command of stout old John

Barry she did splendid service on several occasions later in the war.

Her swiftness and mobility, it was believed, would add greatly to the

usefulness of Jones' squadron.

 

The Pallas was a fairly efficient merchant ship, frigate built,

carrying thirty 6-pounders, commanded by Captain de Cottineau de

Kloguene. The Vengeance was a twelve-gun brig of little force, and the

Cerf a sixteen-gun cutter, under the command of Captains Ricot and de

Varage respectively.

 

After many difficulties and disheartening delays, chiefly overcome by

Jones' invincible determination and persistence, the squadron was at

last made ready for use. The first duty assigned to the daring

commodore was a cruise for the driving of the enemy's ships out of the

Bay of Biscay, and convoying merchant ships bound from port to port

along the coast. It was not a particularly congenial duty, but he

entered upon it zealously and without complaint.

 

The squadron sailed on the 19th of June, 1779. During the night of the

20th the Alliance ran foul of the Richard, and as a result of the

collision the mizzenmast of the Alliance was carried away, while the

Richard lost her head, cutwater, jib boom, etc. The blame for the

accident mainly rested on Landais, who, it was afterward developed,

had behaved disgracefully on this occasion, showing such a lack of

presence of mind and seamanly aptitude, coupled with such timidity and

shrinking from duty, that, when the accident occurred, he not only

gave no orders, but basely ran below to load his pistols, leaving the

ship to be extricated from her critical situation by the junior

officers. Perhaps he was afraid that the infuriated Jones would attack

him for the mishandling of his ship. Jones, who had been below when

the accident occurred, immediately assumed charge of the Richard, and

by prompt action averted a more serious disaster. To do Landais

justice, however, the officer of the watch on the Richard also must

have been culpable, for he was subsequently court-martialed and broken

for his lack of conduct on this occasion.

 

Refusing to return to port, and patching up the two ships as well as

possible from their present resources, Jones performed the duties

assigned to him, driving the enemy's ships out of those waters and

safely delivering his convoy. On the return voyage, Captain de Varage,

of the Cerf, had a spirited encounter with a heavily armed privateer

of greater force than his own, which lasted for an hour and ten

minutes and resulted in the privateer striking her flag. Before he

could take possession, however, other ships of the enemy appeared, and

he was forced to abandon his prize. The Richard chased several sail,

two of which were thought to be frigates, and the officers and men

manifested every disposition to get into action; but the ships sighted

were all able to run away from the cumbrous and slow-sailing American

ship.

 

On the last day of June the squadron put into L'Orient again to repair

damages. During the cruise it is interesting to note that Jones

dispatched thirty pounds, in the shape of a draft, through a friend in

Dublin, to Scotland for the use of his family. He frequently made them

remittances from his scanty supplies of money, and, in fact, he never

forgot them, however busy with great undertakings he may have been.

 

Instructions were received at L'Orient from Franklin intended to

govern the future movements of the squadron. They had, of course, been

prepared after consultation with De Sartine. Jones was directed to

cruise off the west coast of Ireland to intercept the West Indian

ships and then to proceed to the northward, passing the Orkneys, and

range down the coast of Scotland and endeavor to capture the Baltic

fleet--which, by the way, had been one of his original projects. After