American Minute September 23

coachisright.com ^ | September 23, 2011 | Bill Federer, staff writer

[jmaroneps37]

By "I have not yet begun to fight!" shouted John Paul Jones when the captain of the British ship Serapis asked him to surrender.

Their ships were so close their cannons scraped and masts entangled, yet his American ship Bonhomme Richard, named for Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, refused to give up.

When two cannons exploded and his ship began sinking, John Paul Jones lashed his ship to the enemy's to keep it afloat.

After 3 more hours of fighting, the British surrendered. This was SEPTEMBER 23, 1779. Called the "Father of the American Navy," John Paul Jones commanded the Continental Navy's first ship, Providence, in 1775. With 12 guns, it was the most victorious American vessel in the Revolution, capturing or sinking 40 British ships.

In 1778, sailing the Ranger, Jones raided the coasts of Scotland and England.

After the Revolution, in 1788, Jefferson arranged for John Paul Jones to join Russia's Catherine the Great in repulsing the Muslim Ottoman Turks from the Black Sea, sailing the Vladimir.

On February 13, 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote: "The remains of Admiral John Paul Jones were interred in a certain piece of ground in the city of Paris...used...as a burial place for foreign Protestants...

The great service done by him toward the achievement of independence...lead me to...do proper honor to the memory of John Paul Jones."

His remains were placed in the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis.

[jmaroneps37]

John Paul Jones was born John Paul but fled British Naval investigation into his alleged cruelty toward his crew. He had weathered a first investigation in which he had a seaman flogged so severely that the man died, but when he won a sword fight with an alleged mutinous sailor some years later he had to relocate to America. He settled near his brother’s widow in North Carolina’s Halifax County and took the name Jones. Historians have speculated he added Jones as his new surname in honor of Willie Jones a local statesman and early Congressional representative from his new home state. To learn more about Bill Federer's American Minute use the link above.

[SunkenCiv]

Interesting pic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2497955/posts?page=28#28

[SunkenCiv]

from the FRchives:

• A new search for John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard
• Today in History July 18,1792 John Paul Jones,Naval hero of the American Revolution,died in Paris
• Captain John Paul Jones (July 6, 1747- July 18, 1792)
• John Paul Jones President Command Military with Pen Only. He May Cut the Throats of Citizens.
• Will the North Sea give up America's most prized naval treasure?[John Paul Jones]
• Experts seek to find famous wreck [Bonhomme Richard!]
• Two U.S. Navy Vessels Named Flagships for USS Bon Homme Richard Expedition
• NOAA Considers Grant to Aid Search for John Paul Jones' Flagship
• NOAA Approves Grant to Aid Search for John Paul Jones' Flagship
• The FReeper Foxhole Revisits John Paul Jones - Sept. 23rd, 2005
• The FReeper Foxhole Remembers John Paul Jones - Jan 6th, 2003

[SunkenCiv]

This topic was posted 9/23/2011, thanks jmaroneps37.