Do you know John Paul Jones?

I would suggest to you, that if you are an American, Scottish, French, Dutch, British, Turkish or Russian that you should! Some of you may erroneously think I am referring to the musician of Led Zeppelin fame. I am in fact referring to a great American naval hero. What does he have to do with numismatics you might ask? Well, I am a numismatist; therefore I am a student of all things history. The study of our nations’ early coinage, currency and medals and therefore history has brought to my attention the Comitia Americana medal series; a very beautiful set of medals given to heroes of the American Revolutionary War. The medal I love the most is of non-other than Captain John Paul Jones and his victory over HMS Serapis. The medal pictured is an original comitia Americana medal struck by the Paris mint for the Continental Congress. There were many restrikes made by both the Paris Mint and the Philadelphia mint though all restrikes made at the Philadelphia mint lack the artist’s name, Augustin Dupre.
You might be asking yourself, what did a Scottish-born, son of a farmer due to earn his way on a medal celebrating American Revolutionary War heroes? Well, I will tell you. John Paul (he added the name Jones later in life) was born on July 6, 1747, at Kirkcubright, Scotland. He first went to sea at the age of 13 serving aboard a merchant ship named Friendship. Moving thru the ranks of various merchant ships he was later made a first mate of a slaver ship by the name of Two Friends in 1766. In 1768 Jones was suddenly made a captain aboard the brig John after the captain fell ill and died from yellow fever. When John brought the ship back to port the owners made him the permanent captain.
Jon ran into some trouble during December of 1773 when he had to kill a crewmember in self-defense. John traveled to his brothers estate in Virginia until a commission could be formed to hear his case. Upon arriving at Fredericksburg, Virginia, Jones discovered his brother had died so he took over the affairs and the estate. It was here that John added Jones to his name. In the summer of 1775 John travelled to Philadelphia to offer his services to the newly established Continental Navy. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant of the frigate Alfred.
On December 3, 1775, Jones became the first to hoist the US flag over an American warship. Jones was given the command of the sloop Providence, with the temporary rank of captain, on May 10, 1776. During his command of Providence, Jones captured sixteen British ships in a six week period. He brought back eight for prizes and burned the other eight. This ensured his permanent promotion to the rank of captain in the US navy. Jones was reassigned commander of the ship Alfred. That fall jones captured several additional British ships and brought back winter uniforms and coal for the weakly supplied and suffering continental army.
Jones, a poor politician, began feuding with his superior officers. Because of this, he was then assigned to 18 gun sloop-of-war named Ranger and was ordered to proceed to France and “assist the American cause in any way possible”. On February 14, 1778, while in Quiberon Bay, Ranger received the first recognition of the American flag by a foreign government when it was saluted by the French fleet! Tiring of his French mission, Jones sought to bring the war home to the British people and therefore forcing the Royal navy to withdraw it’s forces from American waters to protect their own. Boldly sailing into the Irish Sea, he landed his men at Whitehaven on April 22 and spiked the guns in the town’s fort as well as burned shipping in the harbor. He then landed at St. Mary’s Isle to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk who he believed could be exchanged for American POW’s. Unfortunately, the Earl was away so to placate the desires of his crew, he seized the family’s set of silver plate.
On April 24, 1778 Ranger encountered the 20 gun sloop-of-war HMS Drake. Jones captured the HMS Drake after only an hour long battle. HMS Drake became the first British warship to be captured by the Continental navy! Jones returned a hero and after some struggle he acquired a former East Indiaman which he converted into a 42 gun warship. Jones named the ship Bonhomme Richard which is French for Poor Richard; a tribute to Benjamin Franklin who published an almanac titled “Poor Richards Almanac”. On September 23, while commanding a five ship squadron; Jones encountered a large British convoy off Flamborough head escorted by HMS Serapis of 44 guns and HMS Countess of Scarborough of 22 guns. Jones headed for HMS Serapis while he commanded his remaining ships to go after HMS Countess of Scarborough. It was during this famous naval battle that Jones replied to a British demand for surrender with “Surrender? I have not yet begun to fight”. Jones eventually captured the HMS Serapis while his consorts captured the HMS Countess of Scarborough. This is the battle that is engraved on the reverse of Jones Comitia Americana medal.
At the end of the war, Jones was discharged from the navy and eventually grew restless. He readily accepted an offer to serve as Rear Admiral in the navy of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. Arriving in Russia in 1788, he served in that year’s campaign under the name Pavel Dzhones. While at the battle of Liman he reconnoitered the Turkish Fleet in a rowboat during the night; repulsed the Turkish attacks killing about 3000 Turks, destroying 15 vessels and taking over 1600 prisoners at a cost of one frigate and 18 killed. Again, politics not being his strong point; Jones was outmaneuvered by fellow Russian officers and was recalled to St. Petersburg.
Left without a command, he soon departed and returned to Paris in May of 1790. There he lived in retirement and died alone on July 18, 1792. Jones was embalmed with great care and temporarily interred in the Cemetery of the Innocents in Paris with the plan to eventually bury him in the United States of America. The cemetery was abandoned after the King ordered tens of thousands of bodies removed to remote catacombs, and streets and squares soon covered the site. In 1905, 113 years later an American expedition encouraged by President teddy Roosevelt began tunneling to seek his coffin. It was actually found and an autopsy pinpointed Bright’s disease the cause of death. Jones remains were returned to United States of America with full honors aboard the armored cruiser USS Brooklyn and three other cruisers. They were met off the coast by seven battleships and as a single column sailed into Chesapeake Bay. There, the first four battleships fired a 15 gun salute while the Brooklyn sailed on to Annapolis. In 1913, his body was finally laid to rest in an elaborate crypt within the United States naval Academy Chapel at Annapolis, MD. Dies and gold strikes of his medals are displayed nearby!
Sailors of the United States Navy can do no better than to emulate the spirit behind John Paul Jones’s stirring declaration: “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way” John Paul Jones (1747-1792)

You can read more about this great American Hero and were I borrowed a lot of this information from at:
http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/jones_jp.htm
http://www.jpj.demon.co.uk/jpjlife.htm

 

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John paul Jones-Capture of the Serapis-Imprint of American Bank Note Company

 

Joe,

Terrific job of capturing the element of numismatics that makes it more than pressed bits of metal. Thanks for sharing this!

 

Scottish is British.
Jones was a traitor in my eyes. as was George Washington.

The USS Bonhomme Richard lies in deep water not far from my home as yet undiscovered after several British and US surveys.
I go metal detecting after storms on the nearby beach, this is the best time to recover heavy metals and they are usually found among a pile of washed up heavy stones lined on the beach.
I have yet to discover any debris from the BR but when I do,.......... watch this space.........

 

"A toast? Yeah. To high treason. That's what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration. Had we lost the war, they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered, and-Oh! Oh, my personal favorite-and had their entrails cut out and burned!"

 

Ah but the winners get to write the history. Thus traitors become Revolutionary hero's and get to die of old age rather than walking a plank or going to the gallows.

 

Beautiful coin..~~

 

LOL, look where the "Redcoat" is from!!

Great piece of information, Joe, it was fascinating!

 

I'm aware. That was the reason for the quote.

 

I guess history is taught a little differently across the way....

 

GREAT thread. I know that for me, one of the most fascinating aspects of numismatics is the history behind the coins, medals etc. Your thread does a great job of illustrating that history and bringing it to life.

As a side note, if any of you are near Annapolis MD, the U.S. Naval Academy and John Paul Jones' crypt are well worth the visit. Go on a Saturday this fall and you may even be able to time it with a home game to watch the fighting Midshipmen! They've got a good team this year.

 

Afraid I don't understand your confusion, Zach.

The Brit accused JPJ, Washington and their ilk of being traitors. I acknowledged the accusation with a movie quote, asserting that what the men were doing was, indeed, committing treason. Had they been caught, they would have suffered all manner of insults, verbal and physical, before being subject to violent death.

But, as LindeDad said...the winners write the history books, so they become heroes of the American Revolution, and found their way to military medals and our coins and currency.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us. Being born and raised in Maryland not far from Annapolis, I have had many opportunities to visit the Naval Academy and view the resting place of JPJ. Every time we crossed the Severn River on Rte. 50 heading to or coming from Ocean City, I always looked downriver at the Academy and thought of the history forged by such men.

Chris

 

Nice to learn about John Paul

This is an excellent thread & I thank you for sharing it!
I clicked & rated it excellent.

 

A traitor to some, a hero to others. It should be noted that the silver taken from the estate of the Earl of Selkirk ; was later purchased and returned by Jones himself along with a letter of apology to Helen, Countess of Selkirk. If you get the time I would urge you to read the websites along with all of the links. It really is a fascinating story.

 

John Paul Jones was a childhood hero of mine. He was remarkably competent and knew a boat like it was part of his body. I tried sailing once and know it's a difficult feat. He also was remarkably courageous which is an important, critical, trait in battle. He was a most remarkable man though my adult heros tend to be those who display such traits in the pursuit of peace or the advancement of humanity. He played a pivotal role in the war and the booty sent to the colonies probably averted serious defeats. Without him this country might speak English and have the queen on its coins today. Without him an important experiment in government wouldn't have been carried out and the world would be a far different place today.

I visited Annapolis 20 years ago and would have dropped in had I known he was there. I have a small collection of medals related to him and pick them up as available. There's even a gas token dedicated to John Paul Jones.

 

Please post some pictures of your medals if you can,I would love to see them.

 

I still haven't bought a camera.

If it's any consolation I don't have any scarce or important ones.

 

American, of course.

I can hardly imagine talking about bonnets, lifts, spanners, and flats and never pronouncing a vowel the same way twice.