Richard Jones

“ The Richard is fearfully short of officers at best; Landais, who has the Alliance, is crazy and a coward; Cottineau in the Pallas is an unknown quantity, and the rest have fled. Jones has only Richard Dale and a lot of midshipmen with him upon whom he can absolutely depend, and there are over two hundred prisoners in the hold. He needs me. If this breeze hold on, I think we may intercept the Richard before the battle is joined. Pray, dearest, as never before, for the success of our arms! It means life, and you, for me. ”

“ The English broadside men respond with such goodwill that they literally cut the Richard in two between decks with their tempest of solid eighteen-pound shot.
While this smashing battery work goes forward, hammer and anvil, the Serapis’ twelve-pounders are tearing and rending the Richard’s upper decks, piling them in ruins. Every twelve-pounder belonging to the Richard is rendered dumb. Only three long-nines remain in service. These are mounted on the quarter-deck, under the eye of Commodore Paul Jones. ”

“ A vine which grows at the back of the house, half conceals the windows with its luxuriant branches; and some fresh flowers in the rooms are fit emblems of those who reared them.” [227]
Mr. Jones acquired fame both as an actor and author, but in his later years employed himself as a teacher of elocution. He died in Chapel Street, and lies buried in St. Peter’s vaults. A marble tablet to his memory, at the entrance to the Church, bears the following inscription:—
“Beneath rest the mortal remains of Richard Jones, for more than forty years in public life, a dramatic performer, he was admired ”

“ By this exploit Jones became a great hero in the eyes of the French, just beginning a war with Great Britain. With the rank of commodore he was now put at the head of a squadron of five ships. His flagship, the “Duras,” a re-fitted East Indiaman, was re-named by him the “Bonhomme Richard,” as a compliment to Benjamin Franklin, whose Poor Richard’s Almanac was then popular in France. On the 14th of August the five ships sailed from L’Orient, accompanied by two French privateers. ”

“ The little captain of the Bon Homme Richard was dead, worn out, fretted away, broken down, at the age of forty-five! "The hand of a conqueror whom no human power can resist had been laid upon his shoulder, and for the first time in his life the face of Paul Jones was turned away from the enemy." [53] Fitting, indeed, would it have been if from the deck of the war ship the soul of the sea king had taken its flight; but, after all, he was at rest at last--"in peace after so many storms, in honor after so much obloquy." ”

“ Jones was well-nigh petrified with astonishment when at short range the Alliance poured in a raking broadside, of which the Richard received the brunt, though it was apparently discharged impartially at the two ships. As Landais drew past the stern, the helm of the Alliance was shifted. She swung parallel to the Richard, poured in another broadside, circled the Richard forward, and raked her again! The last discharge was a frightful one. The shot at close range swept the crowded decks of the American ship, which seemed actually to quiver and flinch at this treacherous blow. ”

“ Note.—His 2 son Alexander Manson Jones b. 15 July 1845, d. 5 Oct. 1881, was a civil engineer, he invented an automatic levelling machine called the ‘Temnograph.’
JONES, Thomas Wharton (son of Richard Jones of H.M.’s customs, Scotland) . b. St. Andrews 1808; ed. at univ. of Edin.; F.R.S. 30 April 1840; F.R.C.S. 1844; lecturer on physiology at Charing Cross hospital; Fullerian prof. of physiology in Royal Institution of Great Britain 1851–54; Emeritus prof. of ophthalmic medicine and surgery, Univ. coll. hospital, London; granted civil list pension of £150, 31 Oct. 1881 ”

“ S. R. 1568–9. ‘A ballett the lenger thou leveste the more ffoole thow.’ Richard Jones (Arber, i. 386) .
N.D. A very mery and Pythie Commedie, called The longer thou liuest, the more foole thou art. A Myrrour very necessarie for youth, and specially for such as are like to come to dignitie and promotion: As it maye well appeare in the Matter folowynge. Newly compiled by W. Wager. William Howe for Richard Jones. [Prologue.]
Editions by Brandl (1900, Jahrbuch xxxvi. 1) and J. S. Farmer (1910, S. F. T.) .
A Protestant moral of 1,977 lines, with allegorical characters, arranged for four actors. ”

“ I shall tell him that he may come if he will bring with him the Lady Hare and her daughter.'
"'More thrilling words were never spoken by Demosthenes,' I answered. 'But how about Jones and his Bonne Homme Richard? He is now a terror to the British coasts. They would fear destruction.'
"'I shall ask Jones to let them alone,' he said. 'They can come under a special flag.'
"Commodore Jones did not appear again in Paris until October, when he came to Passy to report upon a famous battle. ”

“ In but one consideration was the Richard superior to the Serapis, and that was in the personality of the man behind the men behind the guns! Pearson was a very gallant officer. There was no blemish upon his record, no question as to his capacity. In personal bravery he was not inferior to any one. As a seaman he worthily upheld the high reputation of the great navy to which he belonged; but as a man, as a personality, he was not to be mentioned in the same breath with Jones. ”

“ The sun goes down, night descends, and as yet our young commodore has not been able to get within reach of the foe; for at beating to windward the Richard is as dull as a Dutchman.
When darkness comes, it unlooses a land breeze. With that the merchantmen take heart of grace, and resolve to dare all and run for it. They rush out of Bridlington Bay, wind free, like a flock of seagulls. What is a fair wind for them is a headwind for the Richard and Pallas; with no one to molest them, the fifty timber ships show a clean pair of heels. Commodore Paul Jones makes no effort to chase ”

“ Commodore Paul Jones makes no least effort to resist it. Signaling the Pallas to close with and pull down the smaller ship, with his own eye on the Serapis, he begins manoeuvring for the upper hand. The sea is as smooth as glass; a great harvest moon shoots up in the cloudless sky. As when the Ranger fought the Drake, it is to be a fight by the light of the moon.
The Richard tacks starboard and port, the Serapis lying in wait. Decks cleared, guns shotted and run out, magazines open, men stripped and at their quarters, both ships are as ferociously ready as bulldogs. ”

“ Skinners were those who lived within the American lines, and professed attachment to their cause; but they were even more unprincipled than the former, often committing their depredations on friends as well as foes.
[51] Jones was an ardent man, and bore disappointment and delay with no good grace. Chance one day threw into his hands an old almanac, containing Poor Richard's Maxims, by Dr. Franklin. In that curious assemblage of useful instructions, a man is advised, "if he wishes to have any business faithfully and expeditiously performed, to go and do it himself—otherwise, to send." ”

“ Sixty lionhearts, who gave their lives for victory, are laid side by side on the deck. The petticoat flag flies proudly from the ensign gaff. Commodore Paul Jones, from the deck of the Serapis, watches the Richard to the last. The tears dim his sight, and he is driven more than once to dash them away; for a sailor loves his ship as though it were a woman. ”

“ The English cheek tingles still from the blow dealt upon it by the hot-handed sailor. Naturally, they did not love Paul Jones. The hatred, which after a hundred years still rankles, is evidence of what they feel--and what he did! As for us, we love the bold little captain for the enemies he has made.
It has been stated by unthinking people that the Bon Homme Richard was a privateer or a letter of marque: in one case an armed vessel owned by private individuals and authorized, under certain restrictions, to cruise at private expense to prey upon the commerce of the enemy ”

“ On the afternoon of the 16th, the squadron was sighted from Edinburgh Castle, slowly running in toward the Firth. The country had now been fully alarmed. It is related that the audacity and boldness of this cruise and his previous successes had caused Jones to be regarded with a terror far beyond that which his force justified, and which well-nigh paralyzed resistance. Arms were hastily distributed, however, to the various guilds, and batteries were improvised at Leith. On the 17th, the Richard, putting about, ran down to within a mile of the town of Kirkaldy. ”

“ The flagship, the Bonhomme Richard, was a worn-out old East Indiaman, which Jones refitted and armed with six eighteen-pounders, twenty-eight twelve-pounders, and eight nine-pounders—a battery of forty-two guns. The crew of 375, of many nationalities, contained, when the fleet sailed, only about fifty Americans; but fortunately, a few days later, Jones was compelled to put back to port, where he was unexpectedly able, owing to a recent exchange of prisoners, to get rid of some of his aliens, and to secure 114 American officers and sailors, who proved to be the backbone of the Richard's crew. ”

“ The Richard's men had lost practically everything except the clothes they stood in when their ship went down, and their personal needs were necessarily very great. The original crew of the Alliance were under the impression that Jones had reserved from the small sum he had received at Amsterdam a considerable portion for himself. There is not the slightest evidence to warrant this supposition. The commodore was the most prodigal and generous of men, and his whole career evidences his entire willingness to devote his own personal property to the welfare and wages of his men. ”

“ Whilst Pierce's loud cannon on the Richard did roar.
Our gunner, affrighted, unto Paul Jones he came,
"Our ship is a-sinking, likewise in a flame;"
Paul Jones he replied, in the height of his pride,
"If we can do no better, we'll sink alongside."
At length our shot flew so quick, they could not stand:
The flag of proud Britain was forced to come down,
[225] The Alliance bore down and the Richard did rake,
Which caused the heart of Richard to ache. ”

“ Jones Quain [q. v.] was his full brother, and Sir John Richard Quain [q. v.] was his half-brother. Richard received his early education at Adair's school at Fermoy, and, after serving an apprenticeship to a surgeon in Ireland, came to London to pursue the more scientific part of his professional studies at the Aldersgate school of medicine, under the supervision of his brother Jones. He afterwards went to Paris, where he attended the lectures of Richard Bennett, a private lecturer on anatomy and an Irish friend of his father. ”

“ He relates that the Richard suffered severely at the first of the battle, till Jones ordered his ship to be laid across the hawse of the enemy; in doing so the two ships swung broadside and broadside, the muzzles of the guns touching each other. Jones sent one of his men to lash the two ships together, and commenced with his own hand in making fast the jib-stay of the Serapis to the Richard’s mizenmast; when the sailors saw what he was about to do, Johnson, with two others, ran to his assistance, and soon performed the task. ”

“ The first thing Paul Jones did was to paint out the old name and give for a new one the French equivalent of Dr. Franklin's almanac name, Bon Homme Richard ("Poor Richard," or "Goodman Richard") ; for he gave the credit of his sudden success to Franklin's wise maxim.
248. The Battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis.—Our daring mariner soon sailed out with six other vessels, all flying the beautiful new American flag. The crew on the Richard numbered nearly four hundred men, a medley of sailors from almost every nation in Europe, and even including some Malays. ”

“ Jones, and kill him. Shortly thereafter the "Richard" captured a very valuable prize,—a ship mounting twenty-two guns, and loaded with sails, rigging, anchors, cables, and other essential articles for the navy Great Britain was building on the Lakes. By desertion and other causes, the crew of the "Richard" was greatly depleted, and not enough men could be spared to man the prize. Jones applied to Landais for aid. ”

“ The United States, however, were after the war lacking so completely in resources that a war with the pirates was impossible, and France was on the brink of her great Revolution, and had more important things to consider. So Jones died before the expedition for which he had so ardently hoped, and which brought so much honor, as he had [Pg 103] predicted, to the man who commanded it—Commodore Dale, once Jones's first lieutenant on the Bonhomme Richard—was dispatched. ”

“ The Pallas having also joined company again, on the 1st of September the Richard brought to the Union, a government armed ship of twenty-two guns, bound for Halifax with valuable naval stores. Before boats were called away and the prize taken possession of, with unparalleled insolence Landais sent a messenger to Jones asking whether the Alliance should man the prize, in which case he should allow no man from the Richard to board her! With incredible complaisance the long-suffering Jones allowed Landais to man this capture also, while he himself received the prisoners on the Richard. ”