THE FIRST SHIP THAT CARRIED THE STARS AND STRIPES--DASH AT A CONVOY THAT FAILED--WHEN THE DUTCH WERE BROWBEATEN--THE _RANGER_ SENT ON A CRUISE IN ENGLISH WATERS--A SHIP TAKEN OFF DUBLIN--THE RAID ON WHITEHAVEN--WHEN ONE BRAVE MAN COWED MORE THAN A THOUSAND--THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT LORD SELKIRK’S SILVERWARE, WITH THE NOBLE LORD’S EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE WHEN HE GOT IT BACK--HOW CAPTAIN JONES MISSED THE _DRAKE_ AT FIRST, BUT GOT HER LATER ON IN A FAIR AND WELL-FOUGHT BATTLE. A most important date in the history of the United States is June 14, 1777, for on that day it was in Congress “_Resolved_, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white, in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” In the annals of the navy it is also important, from the fact that on that day Capt. John Paul Jones was appointed to the eighteen-gun ship _Ranger_, which had been built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Repairing at once to his post, Captain Jones, in placing his ship in commission, hoisted with his own hand the new-made flag of the Union, and that was the first occasion on which “old glory” was spread to the breeze on an American naval ship. Thereafter every effort was made to get away to sea, but the difficulties which the struggling Americans had to overcome in obtaining supplies were so great that the _Ranger_ did not sail until November 1st. The destination of the _Ranger_ was Nantes, France, and her mission in European waters was to carry on the work begun in such famous fashion by the _Reprisal_, the _Lexington_, the _Surprise_, and the _Revenge_. On the way over Captain Jones, when not far from the Azores, sighted a fleet of ten well-guarded merchantmen. The warships were too heavy for the _Ranger_, and the merchant ships kept so close to their protectors that it was impossible to cut one of them out of the fleet. The _Ranger_ was not swift enough for such a purpose. The Yankee ship-builder had not yet learned the art of building men-of-war. After leaving the convoy nothing happened save the capture of two small English brigs in the fruit trade, and on December 2d the _Ranger_ was at anchor in the harbor of Nantes, then one of the most flourishing of French ports. [Illustration: _From the Original in possession of Col. John H. Sherburne, Author of “The Life and Character of John Paul Jones.”_] At that time the American commissioners in France were Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee. The commissioners had been secretly building a fine frigate in Holland--the finest afloat it was to be--but the able British minister at Amsterdam discovered the ownership of the new vessel and made such a vigorous protest that the Dutch were obliged to refuse to let the Americans have her.