Milford chronicle., 1885-04-24
FIRST FLAG OF THE NAVY.
BY REV. EDWARD A. RAND.

There is a good ship, with a good
name, the Friendship, bounding away
over the Atlantic. The white foam
eurls about her bows, and as she drives
ahead she meets wave after wave as cas-
lily as a duck rides the ripples of a MILL
pond. There is a boy of thirteen climb
ing the vessels shrogds. Perhaps he
halts a minute, and turns to watch the
receding shores of England sinking and
melting like blue wave into the stretch
ing ocean.
It is John Paul, sailor-boy, born in
old Scotland, and now, in this year, 1850,
he is off to try his fortune at sea. He
has not gone to sea empty-headed, but
he has anxiously packed away the knowl-
edge that will be helpful in life's jour
ney. Often, while many of his young
companions were rioting at midnight, it
is said that he would be studying.
Abbott has recorded that there were
but few ship-masters who could excel
our hero in navigation. We shall find
that out as in after years he dashes with
eolors flying against England's navy.
His first voyage was to America. At
twenty he was master of a ship.
1t was in Virginia, where he went to
settle a deceased brothers estate, that
he assumed the name of Jones, and as
John Paul Jones his name is known and
honored in the annals of our navy.
Since the age of thirteen, America had
been his adopted home, and when the
war of the Revolution opened he was
commissioned first lieutenant in Ameri-
cas- little navy, comprised of only five
vessels, while on the other side grOwled
the guns of England's one thousand
ships-o of-war.
It was John Paul Jones who did
memorable thing one day. The first
flag of the American navy counted thir-
teen stripes, a stripe for each colony. 1t
carried, also, pine-tree. At its foot was
an energetic rattlesnake, whose warn
ing, in a motto, was, ''Don't tread upon
me-"
Philadelphia boys ought to remember
that it was off Chestnut street that the
flag was first raised. The frigate Alfred
was anchored there, but no national flag
foated from the masthead. The latter
was bare of all emblem or motto. But
the commander stepped on board. Thir-
teen guns thundered out their salute,
and up, for the first time, futtered the
flag of the spunky little navy. The
hands below that pulled on the rope
were those of John Paul Jones.
Lieutenant Jones had been offered a
captains commission, and the command
of the Providence, a vessel of twelve
guns, but he declined, not feeling that
he was fitted for the place. Merit, like
cream, though, goes to the top, and it
was Captain Jones at last, sailing under
the spirited flag.
He has been described as "a short,
thick, little fellow, about five feet eight
inches in height, of a dark, swarthy
complexion. " That is in an English book.
An American author calls him ''hand-
some, and having fine figure. " 1t was
this ''short, thick, little fellow" that put
more than one thorn into the paw OF
the British lion.
Various were his adventures, but he
showed constantly how daring, cool and
skilled he was. 1t was in the autumn
of 1776, when the November winds were
blowing sharp and bleak along the shores
Of the British provinces, that Captain
Jones was cruising in those waters in
search of plunder. He had been quite
successful, capturing the Mellish, laden
with some very comfortable clothing
for the British army in Canada.
Slipping into fog, he brought out
three coal vessels that belonged to a
coal fleet. An English frigate was
guarding, but could not easily protect
them in that binding fog. He took
other plumber, and was moving off with
five prize vessels, when an ugly neigh
Dor showed her topsails above the low
line Of the horizon. It was the British
frigate Milford.
Paul Jones' readiness and self possess
sion did not desert him. He signaled to