The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-06
JOHN PAUL JONES

The sixth of July is memorable as the birthday of John Paul Jones, |most celebrated of the early heroes of the American navy. Like most of the Yankee sailors of that period who wa Lged. war on Britain, he was himself Ia product of that British school of
 seamnship which for centuries, in spite of occasional reverses, has re-
 mained supreme upon the waves in
 both peace and war. John Paul was born of humble pa [rentage at Arbigland, Scotland, July |6, 1747, and his adventurous career
 came to close in Paris in 1792. The
 famous sea fighter spent his last years in poverty and for more than cen |fury his body rested in an unknown grave. After a long search his rest Ling place was discovered and his bones were rescued from obscurity and Drought to the United States by a squadron of warships in 1905. Eight years more passed before tardy honors were paid to the body by its interment E In a crypt under the chapel at the United States naval academy in An Enapolis. Congress appropriated $75,- 900 for the building of the crypt which Ills the final earthly home of the father of the American navy.
 The seAgoing career; of John Paul the name of Jones waS assumed later in life-began when he was a lad of twelve. Apprenticed to a Whiteha- f ven merchant who was engaged in the American trade, he made his first voy- age to Virginia, where his elder broth ter was established as planter. Then Followed a brief period in the slave trade, which he abandoned in disgust By a number of voyages to the West Indies he realized small fortune by Ecommercial speculations!
 At the outbreak of the American lrevolution he was in Virginia, living
 under the name of Jones. He offered
 his services to the colonies and late in 1775 was commissioned as a lieu tenant in the navy. His first service
 was on the Alfred, vessel purchased from the merchant service. On that craft Jones hoisted the first American flag ever dfsplayed-a pine tree with a rattlesnake coiledi at it's root. In TIT, on the Ranger, he was the first Ito hoist the Stars and Stripes on a naval vessel. tN
 The exploits of Jones in the naval
 service of the infant~republic are suffi- ciently we'll known to need no repeti- ton. He sailed his ships into the very teeth of the enemy and by his daring staggered the most brilliant leaders of that school of seamahship of which
 he himself was graduate, Having been declared a pirate by the British
 government, he fought with a rope around his neck" After the famous victory of the Bon Homme Richard
 over the Serapis Jones received the thanks of Congress, gold medal and a
 commission as commander of the Ann erica, which was soon transferred to France. The victorious Scotchman was received in France with the most distinguished honors. The King pre-
 sented him with a gold sword and
 made him knight of the Order of Merit,
 Jones afterwards entered the ser
 vice of Russia and was given the rank of rear admiral. He was disappointed
 at not receiving the command of the | fleet in the Black Sea, and quarreled
 with the admiral. A victory over the
 Turks resulted in his promotion to the rank of vice-admiral, and he was knighted, but. his, powerful enemies at the Russian court brought him into ] disfavor, and he was permitted by | Catharine to retire from the service.
 In 1792 he was appointed United States consul at Algiers, but while in | Paris awaiting his commission to his
 new post death overlook him. His last months were spent in humble quarters and he was reduced to the
 extremes of poverty.