NAVAL HERO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 September 1942, Page 4

NAVAL HERO

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

PAUL JONE’S MEMORY.

FOUNDER OF UNITED STATES NAVY.

One hundred and sixty-three years ago Paul Jones, described, as the founder of the United States Navy, outfought a British warship off the coast of Yorkshire. It is not usually realised that the War on Independence was carried by this sailor to the shore of the British Isles.

Jones was Scottish by birth. His mother was a Highlander. His real surname was Paul. As a boy he sailed as an apprentice to Virginia. While still in his teens he possessed a ship of his own with which he had varying fortunes. There are legends that prior to 1775 when he appeared in Philadelphia as John Paul Jones with a commission from the Continental Congress in the American Continental Navy he had served as a pirate. Inspired Fighting Instinct. A captain at 28, he quickly proved his extraordinary capacity as a naval commander with inspired fighting instinct. He made many captures and was designated by the British a pirate. Toward the end of 1777 he sailed for France in the Ranger with despatches for the American commissioners announcing the surrender of Burgoyne and took two prizes on the way. Later, with a free hand “to proceed as he best judged for distressing the enemy of the United States,” he spiked the guns of a fort in Whitehaven, and off

Toward the end of 1777 he sailed for France in the Ranger with despatches for the American commissioners announcing the surrender of Burgoyne and took two prizes on the way. Later, with a free hand “to proceed as he best judged for distressing the enemy of the United States,” he spiked the guns of a fort in Whitehaven, and off Belfast overcame the sloop Drake, taking her off to France as a prize. This made him a hero in French eyes. Later he sailed in an old French ship, the Bonhomme Rishard (40 guns), in company with the Alliance (36 guns), the Pallas (32 guns) and the brig Vengeance to attack the Scottish port of Leith.

Famous Sea Engagement.

A gale prevented this enterprise being attempted, but it enabled his force to sight a British convoy bound from the Baltic to Scarborough. For three and a-half hours in the moonlight on September 23 the Bonhomme Richard fought the frigate Serapis, a more heavily armed ship. In the end the Bonhomme was sunk, but Jones and his crew, who had boarded the Serapis, sailed her to France as a prize. Victory went to Jones largely because he had what would now be called superior commando spirit. When the vessels were grappled, his gunners became sharp-shooters and “guerilla” sailors, while those of the Serapis continued to fire guns which could not be brought to bear effectually. The Serapis had bad luck to suffer an explosion, but the Bonhomme Richard was almost a wreck.

Paul Jones later was employed in the Russian Navy, which required new life and ideas. He died in Paris at. the age of 45. In 1905 his body was taken to America with a fleet escort and in 1913 it was placed in a crypt of the beautiful naval chapel at Annapolis in belated recognition of Jones’ services to his adopted land.