Posted on 12/10/2019 10:05:19 AM PST by Perseverando
"I have not yet begun to fight!" shouted John Paul Jones when the captain of the 50-gun British frigate HMS Serapis taunted him to surrender.
Their ships were so close their cannons scraped and masts entangled, yet his American ship Bonhomme Richard, named for Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, refused to give up.
When two cannons exploded and his ship began sinking, John Paul Jones lashed his ship to the enemy's to keep it afloat.
After 3 more hours of fighting, the British surrendered.
This battle took place SEPTEMBER 23, 1779.
John Paul Jones is called the "Father of the American Navy," a title shared with Commodore John Barry.
John Paul Jones had commanded the Continental Navy's first ship, Providence, in 1775.
With 12 guns, it was the most victorious American vessel in the Revolution, capturing or sinking 40 British ships.
(Excerpt) Read more at myemail.constantcontact.com ...
He was also a good bass player.
So this means no Zep reunion?
He admitted debauching a 12 year old Russian girl.
Well, that certainly negates every good or heroic thing he ever did.
Erase him from history.
An old chief, wounded. lying on the deck, hears the "I have not yet begun to fight"
He mutters, "There's always the 2% that don't get the word".
Imperial Russia hired him when the American Congress ignored his work in the Revolution. He served with distinction as a Russian Admiral and was awarded the medal of St. Anne. What he was most proud of was the respect he won from the Cossack People he was in league with in the war on the Turks. Russia won the war. Putin should name a new frigate “Admiral John Paul Jones.”
I expect him to give “No Quarter”.
“I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”
“To the victor belongs the spoils.”
Add these two to the above quote and that’s what I got out of a $60,000 liberal arts degree 35 years ago.
The Battle of Flamboro Head was probably the only naval battle in which the ship that won sank while the loser stayed afloat.
Interestingly, the US Navy did not have an admiral until 1862.
and keyboards as well...
jpj never said that. the british captain called for his surrender and he said no, then the britich captain said “you’ll sink”, and jpj said “then i’ll sink, but damned if I surrender’. the comment was sanitized to fit the sensitivities of the day.
from the museum of our national heritage, Lexington mass.
JPJ: “And She’s buying a stairway to heaven...”
JPJ: “And She’s buying a stairway to heaven...”
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