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
“It is certainly for the interests of the service that a cordial
interchange of civilities should subsist between superior and inferior
officers. Therefore it is bad policy in superiors to behave toward their
inferiors as though they were of a lower species. Men of liberal minds,
who have long been accustomed to command, can ill brook being thus set
at naught by others who pretend to claim the monopoly of sense. The
rude, ungentle treatment which they experience, creates such
heart-burnings as are nowise consonant with that cheerful ardor and
spirit which ought ever to be a characteristic of an officer. Therefore,
whoever thinks himself hearty in the service, is widely mistaken when he
adopts such a line of conduct in order to prove it. To be well obeyed it
is necessary to be esteemed.”
Two courts-martial were held on board the Alfred. The captain of the
Providence was dismissed from service. Lieutenant Jones was promoted to
the captaincy of that sloop. The little fleet, having received a
reinforcement of two hundred men, sailed from Providence, Rhode Island.
The vessels having been refitted, it was necessary to enlist more men
before any important enterprise could be undertaken. As most of the
seamen had enlisted in the army, it was found very difficult to obtain
men fit for naval service.
On the 18th of May, Captain Jones, after a passage of thirty-six hours,
arrived in New York, where he devoted his time to shipping mariners. He
was greatly interested in everything relating to the creation of a navy
for the new nation of the United States, just entering into being. He
wrote to Hon. Mr. Hewes:
“In my opinion a commander in the navy ought to be a man of strong and
well-connected sense; a gentleman, as well as a seaman in theory and in
practice. Want of learning, and rude, ungentle manners, are by no means
characteristic of an officer.”
Captain Jones, having at length obtained the number of men required, in
obedience to orders sailed for New London, where he took from the
hospital all the seamen who had been left there sick, but who had
recovered, and sailed for Providence, Rhode Island. Scarcely had he
arrived there when he received orders from the commander-in-chief to
come immediately down Narragansett Bay, to attack an English
sloop-of-war, then in sight. He obeyed with alacrity. But the sloop had
disappeared before he reached Newport. He was then ordered to
Newburyport, to convoy a vessel with a cargo of cannon to New York, and
then, returning, to convoy some vessels from Stonington to Newport.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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