The Life and Adventures of Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones, Commonly Called Paul JonesAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
The Life and Adventures of Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones, Commonly Called Paul Jones
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Jones, John Paul, 1747-1792
Admiral Jones seems to have been born insensible to fear. Amidst the
most terrific scenes of death and destruction, he moved with as
unperturbed a spirit as if he were merely contending with an ordinary
storm at sea. Much of the time, he was in the same gun-boat with the
Prince of Nassau. The prince had the good sense to be guided by the
advice of the officer who was, in every respect, so vastly his superior.
The victory was decisive for the Russians. Two of the Turkish ships were
burned. The Turkish flotilla of fifty-seven vessels was driven from the
ground it had occupied, to seek protection under the heavy guns of the
squadron. As the battle was mainly conducted by the gun-boats, the
admiral left all the honor with the Prince of Nassau. Still, Admiral
Jones formed the plan, and guided in all the tactics of the strife. And
he could not prevent it from being whispered, that the honor of the
victory really belonged to himself. This annoyed the Prince of Nassau.
Alluding to this fact, Admiral Jones wrote, on the 11th of June, in a
letter to Mr. Littlepage, chamberlain of the King of Poland:
“Prince Potemkin wrote me a letter of thanks for the affair of the 7th.
If the honor had been ten times greater, I should have renounced it
altogether, in favor of the Prince of Nassau. But I am sorry to say he
is too jealous to be content with my self-denial. Perhaps he is
ill-advised without knowing it. There is nothing consistent with my
honor that I would not do, to make him easy. I am the more in pain, as I
understand he spoke favorably of me to Prince Potemkin before I arrived.
If he now becomes my enemy, I shall not imitate his example. It was my
intention to pay him a compliment, when I said in my letter to the
prince, ‘that he had taken my counsel in good part, in the affair of the
7th.’ I showed the Prince of Nassau that letter, and he seemed pleased
with it. In the affair, he embraced me, and said we “should always make
but one.“ But now I find a false construction has been put upon my
letter, and his jealousy supersedes every noble sentiment.”
Ten days after this, Admiral Jones again wrote to Mr. Littlepage, in
which letter he says:
“I have put up with more from the Prince of Nassau than, under other
circumstances, I could have done from any man who was not crazy. I can
no more reckon upon his humor than on the wind. One hour he embraces me,
and the next he is ready to cut my throat.”
As we have mentioned, the naval force of the Turks far exceeded that of
the Russians. The Turkish admiral, whose title seems to have been
“Capitaine Pasha,” was a man of decided ability. Admiral Jones had been
led to form a very high opinion of his character both as an officer and
a gentleman. He had formed the plan to make a sudden and unexpected
attack, with his whole force of ships and gun-boats, upon the Russian
flotilla and squadron; by running down the gun-boats and throwing a
shower of fire-balls upon the squadron, he hoped to destroy the whole
fleet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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