The United States Navy has more feats and legends than can be listed in its 250-year history, but this is the story of the first: John Paul Jones.
Often called the father of America’s Navy, John Paul Jones did not have to wait for posterity to make him a legend. He took on the Royal Navy, the best in the world, with meager resources and brought the violence of the faraway American Revolution to Britain’s doorstep.
The Unglamorous Life of a Maritime Boy
Careers on the high seas in the 18th century were seldom long and romantic. The risk of injury and premature death was high, the work laborious, and the Atlantic swallowed countless ships without record. While all walks of life found themselves at sea, the lion’s share of the labor on ships were victims of human trafficking and those desperate enough to take a shot at life elsewhere.
John Paul was born in poverty on the Scottish coast in July 1747. From the beginning, the children of the Paul family seemed inclined to be anywhere but home. John was just thirteen when he left for the merchant fleet based in Whitehaven. But the promise of the sea had already paid dividends for the family. His older brother, William, was already breaking ground and establishing a life of his own at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the American colonies.
John would see Virginia on several occasions as he labored on slave ships carrying human cargo from West Africa to the colonies. At 21, Paul was thrust into the role of captain aboard the John on its return mission to Scotland after the captain and first mate were stricken by yellow fever. Paul navigated the vessel to safety and was rewarded as master of the ship. But he would swear off the “abominable trade” that he called the slave trade.
Paul’s fortunes went sideways in 1770 during a return trip from Barbados, when he had a crew member flogged for inciting a mutiny. This sort of punishment was par for the course in maritime life, but the sailor in question was a well-off traveler with connections back in Scotland.
When the sailor died a few weeks later, Paul was jailed for murder. After making bail, he took command of a vessel running trade in Tobago. When Paul apparently killed a mutinous crewmember in self-defense, he knew he would not get a fair trial given the odds already stacked against him in Scotland. He made his way to America and added Jones to his name to throw off the long arm of the Admiralty.
John Paul Jones: Revolutionary
In 1775, John Paul Jones had settled in Fredrick County, Virginia, for one year. He managed the estate of his now-late brother and was increasingly known to the elites of Virginia politics, including the great revolutionary firebrand Patrick Henry. But it was a life devoid of excitement. His naval career was over, and his fortune forfeited. Now he had to earn his living as a fugitive. But America is the land of upward mobility and second chances, and the outbreak of the Revolution brought new opportunities.
The American rebels that surged from the fields of Lexington Green in April 1775 to besiege Boston had the numbers on land. But a presence at sea was sorely lacking. The individual colonies established their own navies after Lexington and Concord. Congress established the Continental Navy in Philadelphia on the 13th of October, 1775, but a navy under a unified command would have to be built from scratch to face down the best navy in the world.
The Royal Navy, the largest and best-trained maritime force, controlled the waterways at will. During the Siege of Boston, the best the Patriots could do was to solicit wealthy merchants to outfit commercial ships for war to harass the British merchant fleet. The Patriots had a surplus of disgruntled merchant seamen but no ships suitable for war. Those ships had to be built, outfitted, trained, and navigated by experienced officers. On the recommendation of Richard Henry Lee, a friend of Patrick Henry, Jones gained a Lieutenant’s commission in the Continental Navy and a slot on a converted merchant ship, the USS Alfred.
The Alfred took occasional action against British frigates and schooners but was mainly employed as a commerce raider. She participated in the Battle of Nassau in March 1776 and raided the Nova Scotian coast through the remainder of the year. In September, John Paul Jones rose to become Captain of the Alfred.
During the latter part of the year, Jones was tasked with liberating prisoners in Nova Scotia. Instead, the Alfred captured the lot of winter clothing meant to outfit John Burgoyne’s Northern Command that would be tasked with campaigning down the Hudson River the following year.
A New Command
These limited successes and continued bickering with his superiors resulted in Jones failing upward into his next career move. He was sidelined from the Alfred but given the command of a brand-new sloop, the 18-gun USS Ranger, and sent to France to establish an alliance.
From the start of the Revolution, France smuggled weapons and other goods into the new United States to weaken their mutual enemy, Great Britain. Benjamin Franklin, the American envoy to France, had done little but buy his time and wait for events in the colonies to pan out so he could ask for a direct French alliance. There had to be a decisive American victory to be used as leverage to get that level of commitment. Jones arrived in November 1777 to deliver that news.
Burgoyne’s campaign down the Hudson failed, and his army was captured after the Battle of Saratoga. That news was more valuable than the captured loot for sale in Ranger’s hold, and the Franco-American alliance went into writing.
Going Home
The tide of the American Revolution had turned, and John Paul Jones wanted more than to be a messenger. He wanted to take the fight right to Britain’s doorstep. In April 1778, Jones and the crew of the Ranger left the safety of Brest on the French Atlantic coast, destined for British home waters.
The American Revolution had been a wholly defensive conflict, and the idea of going on the offensive in Britain’s home territory was considered unthinkable. Doubtless of an officer of his time, Jones was a glory seeker. He even made a point of wearing a British captain’s uniform, stating that it simply looked smarter. Despite his looks, he still had not left much of a mark and was out to do so. But Jones’ first target suggests a deeper motive. He was aiming for where he left for the sea all those years ago: the Scottish port of Whitehaven.
Whitehaven was the last vestige of boyhood normalcy and a reminder of his disgrace. It was also the closest to home he would ever get, as he was still a wanted man in Britain. Whitehaven also represented the immense human tragedy that visited the American Revolution in the first place. No taxation without representation is a valid rallying cry, easy to remember, and all-encompassing. But Britons don’t kill their fellow Britons over money alone. It takes a weaponization of seemingly neutral institutions, visible human casualties, and an inability to stop it through peaceful means.
Tax policy, the limits on Westward expansion, and greater rights afforded to Caribbean and Canadian colonies at the expense of the American colonies provided the kindling, but the fire came in the tyrannical enforcement of unjust laws that violated English law.
The most egregious of these offenses may be the kidnapping of thousands of men from port towns across the colonies for service and an early death aboard the Royal Navy and the British merchant fleet. Jesse Limerick in Jack Tar in the Streets details this human tragedy and how merchant sailors, who had the reputation and the excuse to beat anyone who carried the milieu of the British state, ultimately preheated the violence that sparked the Revolution. Jones had been part of that system of violence, from the bottom and the top. That, along with a healthy dose of glory hunting and a cold serving of revenge, brought him back to Whitehaven.
The Ranger sailed into the Irish Sea and attacked British shipping before sailing into Whitehaven on April 17th, 1778. The Ranger shelled down and set fire to merchant ships in the harbor before the winds turned against them, and they were blown toward Ireland.
After botching a midnight engagement against the HMS Drake, Jones landed in Whitehaven again on the 23rd of April and put the town to the torch. Jones and the Continental Marines next crossed the Solwith Firth and attempted to capture the Earl of Selkirk for ransom. As they had in Whitehaven, the crew of the Ranger proceeded to pillage the Earl’s estate, and Jones was made to placate them. The conduct of the crew, cautious when facing armed enemy ships and emboldened by prizes, would earn Jones the nickname in the British press as “that Pirate Jones.”
Upon leaving Whitehaven for good, Jones found the 20-gun HMS Drake once again. After a brief shooting duel at standoff distance, the Drake was captured. The capture of the Drake was celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic in what would be one of the few upsets pulled off by the Continental Navy.
The Bonhomme Richard
Fresh from his victories in home waters and the sale of the Drake and its contents, John Paul Jones took command of a converted French merchant ship christened the Bonhomme Richard. He was also given a new mission: to act as a diversion for a Franco-Spanish invasion of England.
The 42-gun Bonhomme Richard left France for Ireland in August 1779 at the head of five Continental Navy ships to draw the British home fleet into preventing another raid on the British home islands while opening up the coast for a land invasion.
The home fleet chased Jones into the North Sea, where the squadron stumbled onto British merchant convoys. But the HMS Serapis and Countess of Scarbrough interceded in time and engaged the Americans. The weight of fire from the British vessels took its toll, and Jones decided to close in and board. The Bonhomme Richard locked with the Serapis and was struck by friendly fire from the USS Alliance.
The Bonhomme Richard was set alight and took on water, but the Marines had killed most of the crew on the decks of the Serapis. The Alliance raked the Countess, forcing its surrender, before firing on the Serapis once again. Unable to break away from Jones’ flagship, the captain of the Serapis surrendered. The Battle of Flamborough Head was over, and Jones took command of the Serapis. It would be Jones’ last significant action.
John Paul Jones: A Story of American Mobility
John Paul Jones continued in the Continental Navy after Yorktown, but Congress’ promise of a new command of the USS America in 1782 was canceled as the new American government sought to repay France for its continuing losses in the worldwide war that continued until the Treaty of Paris could be signed. The British Army left, and Parliament recognized the United States as an independent nation. The end of the war brought the dissolution of the Continental Navy, and John Paul Jones had to look elsewhere for employment.
Jones ultimately became a Rear Admiral in the Russian Imperial Navy under Catherine the Great in 1787. He would engage in combat against the Turks but was sidelined in the Imperial Court after he had outlived his usefulness. When he faced accusations of sexual assault in Russia, Jones moved to Paris, where he lived out his remaining years chasing debts owed to him for his service in the Revolution.
John Paul Jones passed away in 1792 at only 45 years old. The American press did not take note, but Jones’ spirit revived two years later when Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794.
The Naval Act formally established the United States Navy as a permanent maritime force. The new institution sought legitimacy by looking to the past for inspiration. They looked to John Paul Jones, both as a man and an ideal. Jones’ story represents the fragility that was the mobility of the American spirit and the daring required to protect it.
From the end of the slave trade in the 19th century to defeating the Axis in the 20th century to protecting the stability of the global order in the 21st century, the United States Navy continues on for 250 years and counting.
This article is part of our series honoring the U.S. Navy’s 250th birthday—see the other stories in the series for more history and insights.
Origins of the U.S. Navy
- 13 October 1775: The Birth of a Sea Power.
- John Paul Jones: Father of America’s Navy
- The History of the U.S. Navy’s First Six Frigates
- U.S. Naval Battles of the Revolutionary War
Navy Pioneers & Heroes
- History of U.S. Naval Infantry
- Forged in Fire: The Origins of the Navy SEALS
- Unsung Heroes of the U.S. Navy
Naval Hardware
Honoring the Legacy
