JONES, JOHN PAUL, was born July 6, 1747, at Arbigland, iu the parish of Kirkbean, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. The cause of his father, who was a gardener, was Paul ; the addition of Jones was assumed by the son after he grew up in life. He went to sea at the age of twelve, and after making many voyages to America and other parts, and for a time acting as mate of a slaver, he was, in 1768, made captain and supercargo of a vessel which he had shortly before brought safe into port, having, at the request of those on board, when he was sailing in her as a passenger, taken the command on the death of the captain and mate. Having in a few years made a good deal of money, ho settled in Virgiuia in 1773, ou a property which fell to him by the death of an elder brother, who had been for some years established there as a planter. After the declaration of their iudependeuce by the American colonies, he offered his services in the war against his native country, iu which he soon greatly distinguished himself. On being appointed to the command of the Providence, he cruised among the West India Islauda, and, as It is stated, made sixteen prizes iu little more than six weeks. In May 1777 he proceeded, by order of the congress, to France, where he was immediately appointed, by Franklin and his brother commissioners, to the command of the Ranger, in which the next year he sailed upon a cruise to the coasts of Britain, and, after making a descent by night at Whitehaven, where he spiked the guns of the forts and set fire to one or two vessels, besides plundering the house of the Earl of Selkirk on the opposite coast of Scotland, returned to Brant with 200 prisoners, and the boast that ho had for some time kept the north-western coast of England and southern coast of Scotland in a state of alarm with his single °hip. In the autumn of 1779 he set sail again, with an increased force, on a similar expedition for the eastern coasts of England and Scotland, in which his success and the terror he created were still greater thau on the former occasion. Among other exploits, having encountered the Baltio fleet, he, with a squadron of three ships of war and a brig antine, attacked its couvoya, the Serapis frigate and the Countess of Scarborough, off Flamborough Head, on the 23rd of September, and, after a sanguinary engagement, succeeded in capturing the first-men tioned of these vessels, though the commander, Captain Pearson, fought with the utmost resolution against Jones's superior force. Jones's own °hip, the Benhomme Richard, was no damaged iu the engagement that it sank two days afterwards. For this achievement
he was, on his return to Paris, presented by Louie XVI. with a richly ornamented sword, hearing a pompous inscription, was invented with the military order of Merit, and received iu every way the most dis tinguished reception both from the government, the oourt, and in general society. At this time it seems he wrote verses, and evinced a violent ambition to make a figure in the fashionable world. On his return to America, in Feb. 1781, a gold medal was voted to him by congress. He then stoned till the peace under the French admiral D'Eetaiug, after which be proceeded to Paris with the appointment of agent for prize money. Some years afterwards he entered the Russian service with the rank of rear-admiral; but disputes in which he became involved with the Russian naval authorities soon compelled him to retire, on which he returned once more to Paris, where he lived till his death, 18th of July 1792. Having brought himself into general discredit by his coarse, boastful, and quarrelsome habits, while many shunned him as one whose successes were not only gaiued against his native country, but in their kind savoured too much of piracy to be consistent with modern notions of legitimate warfare, he gradually sunk into poverty and neglect before he was attacked by disease. By American writers however he is regarded as a hero, and we find him sometimes spoken of as "the naval hero of the Americans iu their war for independeuce." Au inflated account of Jones, which professes to be translated from memoirs written by himself, was published during his life in Paris, Idnioires de Paul Jones, derits eu Auglain par lui-mdme et traduits sous aes yeux par la Citoyen Andrd,' Paris, tau vi. (1798); and a Memoir of Jones, by Mr. J. S. Sherburne, was published at Washington in 1828. Some account of his traditionary reputation may be found in a singular book entitled The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopmdia; by John Maetaggart, 8vo, London, 1824 (pp. 373-876). According to this writer, who tells us that he hail had his information about Jones "from the lips of many who personally knew him, and all about his eiugular ways," he was " a short thick little fellow, about five feet eight in height, of a dark swarthy complexion." "He was," continues the account, "a com mon sailor for several years out of the port of Kirkcudbright, and was allowed to be unmatched on that coast for skill in sea matters."