Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-10-31
John Paul Jones.

the manifold subjects OF centennial
oommemoration, although THUS far no
preparations seem anywhere to have
been made to honor IL. On the 23d of
September, 1779, occurred one Of the
most desperate battles Between single
ships recorded in modern warfare-a
naval duel hardly surpassed, indeed
for bulldog tenacity in the authentic
annals of any age. The memorable
fight off Marlborough Head, in which
John Paul Jones, with the Ben Homthe
Richard, an old, jllaequipped, and, be-
fore the combat was ended, sinking
ship, conquered the Serapis, new,
moro heavily armed and more fully
manned, was the most brilliant naval
engagement 6f the Revolutionary War
Statues have been set up to heroes of
that day whose careers we're less uni
formly triumphant, and monuments
have perpetuated the memory of deeds
less valorous.
Indeed, the very luster of this COM
bat has thrown into partial eclipse the
full record of the services rendered by
John Paul Jones TO the American
cause. Many persons tolerably well
versed in the history of the struggle,
were wont to look upon Jones rather
as the hero of single great achieve
ment than as the commander in more
than a score of successful naval expe-
ditions and engagements. Born in a
maritime village of Scotland in 1747
his name being originally John Paul and
the surname Jones afterward added.
the outbreak of the Revolution found
him in Virginia, whittier he came in
boyhood. Having almost constantly en-
gagged from the age of twelve, in seafar-
ing life, he promptly gave his services
to the Colonies, his commission as
Lieutenant dating December %, 1775 -
hear four years before his combat with
the Serapis. Assigned as First Lieu
tenant to Captain Saltonstall's thirty
| gun ship, the Alfred, flagship of Com
modore Hopkins Delaware River
| Squadron, he soon after received the
command of the sloop Providence,
twelve guns, with which he made no
fewer than sixteen prizes in short
cruise off the North Atlantic coast He
was rewarded with Captains commits
sion August 8, 1776, and soon after, in
command of the Alfred, ravaged the
Cape Breton coal carrying and fishery
trade, taking four prizes into Boston.
The following summer he received
command of the Ranger, a new eight
een-gun ship (his preceding vessel had
been altered from a merchant vesseD,
| built ut Portsmouth, N. II. In this
ship he descended upon the coast of
Scotland, his most memorable exploit
being bold swoop upon White Haven,
and during the cruise he captured the
sloop-Ofwar Drake, with crew of 200
men, largely exceeding the number of
his own, taking his prize and prisoners
into Brest, where he was received with
great honor.
The Ranger having been sent to
America by the American Commission
ers in France, Franklin, Deane and
Lee, Jones, in February, 1879, received
the command of the Duras, an old mer-
chant vessel converted into a war ship,
and rechristened by him Bon Homme
Richard, in compliment to DIR. Frank
Inns Poor Richard" already famous
in France as in America. In this ship,
after some alterations to increase her
armament, he sailed from L'Orient the
following August in command of a
fleet. Although not few of the Off
GERS and men in this fleet, made up, as
they were, of various nationalities,
mostly Europeon, showed signs of
mutiny, his energy so far controlled
and inspired them that in six weeks
time twenty-six prizes had been
made off the coast of England,
whose maritime towns and vii
lagos were thoroughly alarmed. The
boldness of this venture upon British
coasts in two successive years is ap-
parent. Its crowning success was at
Marlborough Head, on the memorable
day already mentioned, when Jones, in
the Bon Homme Richard, forty-two
guns, accompanied by two French al
lies, the Pallas, Captain Cottineau, and
the Alliance, Captain Landais, deserted
the Scraps, carrying fifty guns, and
the Countess of Scarborough, twenty,
conveying large Baltic fleet, and gave
chase. Action was joined on bright,
moonlight night, near Scarborough,
whose people witnessed the combat.
We need not rehearse its famous de-
tails, nor do more than recall Jones'
rally, when two of his old eighteen
Founders being burst, causing great
loss of life, and having been thereupon
hailed by the Scraps to know if he sur
rendered, he answered: 81 haven't vet
begun to fight" When the Scraps,
after a combat at close quarters of
nearly three hours, struck soon after
ten o'clock at night, the Bon Homme
Richard was on fire in two places, had
seven feet of water in her hold, had
nearly all her guns dismounted, and
was little better than a wreck. First
I of o,.H
Richard Dale, took charge of the sur
rendered Serapis, to which the remnant
of the crew of the Bon Homme Richard
was transferred next day, and soon
after the conquering ship sank to the
bottom.
The honors showered on John Paul
Jones when he arrived in France with
his two prizes for the gallant Cot
tineau had also captured the Countess
of Scarborough, whereas the Alliance,
under Lapdais, had rendered little if
any help, some authorities claiming
that she had fired Intentionally into the
Bon Homme Richard), the sword and
decoration given him by the King, the
vote of thanks, the command of a new
seventy-four, and the gold medal con-
ferred on him by Congress, and the let
ter of praise from Washington, show in
what honor this sailor was held in that
day. 1t would be strange if the hun
dredth anniversary of his chief, but by
no means his only, service, should fail
to find his name held in grateful re-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. none the
less deserved from the fact that the
subsequent naval service he sought in
Russia endedin disappointment, and he
died in Paris poor and apparently for
gotten.