# The Story of John Paul Jones/Chapter 4

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CHAPTER IV LIEUTENANT AND CAPTAIN
In those days, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, made his headquarters on a British vessel, off the coast, because he was afraid to set foot on land. As there wasn’t any royal governing to do, he spent his time ravaging the little villages along the Virginia shore. So the American squadron was directed to sail against him. But the old excuse of ice in the river, which prevents so many of us from getting to our work promptly even now, kept the vessels in the Delaware, and when they ​finally did sail it was toward the Bahama Islands. It was feared that they could not get into the harbor of New Providence, but John Paul Jones volunteered to lead the way, and then the rest followed and anchored safely in the bay. The next morning, Lieut. Jones sailed away with a good many military stores, which he had taken, and with the governor of the island, who was very much astonished, as you may suppose, at being taken captive. On his way back, he fell in with a British vessel, which got away from him, however, and soon he put into New London. Because of this successful little expedition, Paul Jones was made a captain and given a boat, the sloop “Providence.” With this vessel, he sailed out on the Atlantic and struck terror to English vessels, and to hostile settlements along the shore. After a short while he put into Newport with some valuable prizes. Then with the “Alfred” and the “Providence,” both, he made a voyage to Cape Breton. It was get​ting so now that a British vessel would rather encounter almost anything than Paul Jones and his bold little ship. They were growing to look upon him as a sort of hurricane always to be encountered and always dreaded. Whatever was needed for the ill-fed and poorly-clad American troops, he managed to secure out on the seas. He brought a goodly store of clothes and blankets to Gen. Washington’s soldiers, and the Continental Congress grew to regard him as a sort of property man, or master of supplies. He continued this valuable service for two years, taking prizes and stores, capturing British vessels, and getting away in a most unaccountable manner from those he could not take. He would appear and disappear as if he came out of the depths of the ocean, and no one knew what to expect.
Finally, he was ordered to go to France in a little vessel called the “Ranger,” and take possession of a large vessel that was being built for him there. The “Ranger” had eighteen guns, ​which the gallant little captain said was more than he needed, and after a rough and stormy voyage, she sailed into Nantes with two prizes which she had taken on the way. Paul Jones seldom came into port without some kind of a prize. He was a sort of naval Santa Claus who could always be relied upon to bring good things home to the young colonies. Wherever he went he got things, and he always sailed into port loaded down like a suburban resident.
When he had landed, he made his way to Paris, where he was disappointed to learn that the vessel which was being secretly built for him could not be completed, as the English had put a stop to it with some very nice international law. So he decided to go on a demolishing expedition around the British Isles, with his little eighteen-gun “Ranger.” But before he started out, he put in motion a splendid scheme to defeat Earl Howe’s squadron which was anchored in the Delaware river, and preparing to do all sorts of things ​to the Southern colonies. He made arrangements to employ a French fleet under Count D’Estaing, to sail over and attack the British ships.
Before he left France, he asked to have the American flag saluted by the French war vessels, so that he could say that our emblem had been formally and publicly recognized. This was done amid wild cheering, and the good ship “Ranger” turned her prow toward the Isle of Man. Paul Jones was in high spirits, for he longed to deal with the enemy on her native shore, and avenge the insults and outrages of British cruisers along the American coast. While he was in France, he wrote so many letters home that nobody has been able to get trace of them all. But he did and said many things while there which helped to make the French people sympathize with the Colonial cause.
There was loud singing on the light and graceful little “Ranger” as she rose upon the waves in the English channel, and wild sea-gulls gath
The tall masts of a hundred merchant ships rose like shadowy spectres.—Page 3.
​ered about her, as she sped along, as if they too were interested in the good cause and were urging her on. Thus she bounded joyously along, with a hundred stout hearts aboard her, until the captain found that the wind was fair for Whitehaven, which, as you will remember, was the port from which little John Paul sailed to Virginia, nineteen years before. So he decided to deal a mighty blow to Whitehaven.
At midnight on April 26, 1778, under cover of the darkness, he sailed, with two small boats, into the harbor. Against the black sky the tall masts of a hundred merchant ships rose like shadowy spectres. Not a sound could be heard except the gentle splashing of the oars, as the two little boats, with Paul Jones standing in the foremost, approached the landing. As the men stepped ashore, the first pale light of dawn told them they had not a moment to lose. The little band crept stealthily up a rocky hill, to where an old fort was located, and after a little resistance from the sur​prised and frightened occupants, it was taken. They then set fire to one of the British merchant-men, and as the red flames rose crackling, in the pale morning light, from the doomed vessel, Paul Jones stood near her, pistol in hand, to shoot down any Britisher who should approach the burning craft, or try to save her. He took three British soldiers away with him as souvenirs, and as the two little boats made their way back to the waiting “Ranger,” a great crowd of astonished and terror-stricken inhabitants stood gaping on the shore.