"I have been informed in Portsmouth that the four Oared Boat which attended the Ranger was built for the Portsmouth Privateer, and after being rejected as misconstructed and unuseful for that Ship, was assigned over to the Ranger, be this as it may, I will boldly affirm that she was the worst constructed and most unservicable Boat that I ever saw, belonging to a Ship of War, for tho' a Man stepping on her Gunnel, would bring it down to the Waters edge, yet was her Weight equal, or nearly so to that of the Cutter, which I planned, and had built, capable of carrying 40 Armed Men, had I been able, which I was not, to stow the two Boats, which I found provided for the Ranger, I must have been reduced to the Alternatives of throwing them overboard, or strikeing the Top Masts several times, on the Passage to prevent oversetting the Ship. I mention this matter to you _in confidence_ as a Friend, declaring on the Honor of a Gentleman that I wish on my part to give it to Oblivion. I have the Pleasure to hear that Captains Thompson and Hinman are well at Lorient of which please to inform Mrs. Thompson. I shall endeavour to procure the Articles mentioned in Mrs. Whipple's Memorandum, I hope to live in the remembrance of the few acquaintances I have in Portsmouth, and I have the honor to be with due Respect. "Sir "Your very Obliged "very Obedient "most humble Servant, "Jno P Jones"[72] The Hon'ble Gen'l Whipple FOOTNOTES [Footnote 1: Among the gross slanders by which envy strove to blacken the fame of the great commodore in after years--the foulest, because it attempted to rob a virtuous woman of her crown of honest motherhood and question the legitimacy of Jones' birth--was one which ascribed his paternity to the Earl of Selkirk. To the English snob of that day it may probably have seemed impossible that so much greatness could spring from so plain a stock, and in a left-handed descent from Lord Selkirk was sought an explanation of Jones' fame. The calumny was refuted not only by its antecedent incredibility, but by the testimony of persons in position to affirm as to the high personal character of Jean MacDuff Paul and by the loving and tender family relationship she ever sustained to her husband and children. The family was well known and highly respected. It may be noted, by the way, that the Earl of Selkirk was not conspicuous for ability or anything else, and if it had not been for a subsequent exploit of Jones' he would have been forgotten long since.] [Footnote 2: See Appendix I.] [Footnote 3: The Marine Corps was established by the Congress November 10, 1775.] [Footnote 4: A fictitious house, under the name of which the commissioners sent out military stores.] [Footnote 5: A coarse thin stuff, a very poor substitute for the ordinary canvas.] [Footnote 6: English accounts state their casualties at twenty-five.] [Footnote 7: Italics mine.]