The book begins with a glimpse of the climax of Jone's life, his battle against long odds against the British warship, the Serapis off the coast of the British Isles. He was captain of the "Bonnehomme Richard" where he famously was supposed to have said when asked if he wanted quarter, "I have not begun to fight". He apparently said no such thing, but he did refuse to surrender, and managed somehow to force the other ship to surrender, although it was his own ship that ultimately foundered.
The book is a vivid look into the crude nature of naval warfare in the age of sail, and how the American revolution began and ended. The Americans were so outmatched in every way from the beginning, clearly, if it had not been for the support of Louis XVI of France, the revolution would not have met with much success. However the political blunders and arrogance of George III and the British in general had alienated a large segment of the American colonists, and the French were keen to avenge the loss of their possessions in Canada.
At the outset, America had no navy and few resources. Congress was then as now, a place of favoritism and preferment. A professional military based on actual competence seemed foreign to most participants in the continental congress, and the best commands were not distributed according to anything like true merit or competence. Nevertheless Jones suffered through such neglect and did his best. While other captains preferred preying on British merchantmen for the financial reward that was less likely to involve getting themselves hurt or the ships sunk, Jones was much more bellicose and ambitious. He longed to terrorize the British public and ransom US prisoners, he wanted command of a fleet of ships.
He began as a merchant captain for his native Britain, but problems with crews and persons supposedly under his command led to his being undermined by them. One crew member, unwilling to take orders from him was injured, and later died, and he had to go off to the Caribbean to gather witness testimony in his defense in Scotland just to defend himself against trumped up charges. Another crew member was run through with his sword in another port, which led to his fleeing for his life, since, the political climate of the island where most of the crew members came from and the natural sympathy of the justice system of the island was quite simply stacked against him. He had little chance of a fair trial.
And so he found himself in America, a wanted man, at the time just before the revolution. He subsequently acquired the commands and engaged in the exploits that propelled him to fame, culminating in the duel between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis.
But somehow, in spite of some of his glorious action, he was denied much of the rewards of competence and heroism. On board one ship he sailed the crew has curious ideas that a vote should determine the decisions made on board ship rather than merely those of the captain, clearly an intolerable situation in time of war. But tolerate he did.
His crews were often men who were more interested in money gained from captured ships and other property than the work of war. In another episode during which Jones planned to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk in order to ransom him for US sailors in British jails, but did not find the Earl at home. While his crew wanted to return to the house and rape, pillage and burn the place, to his credit Jones persuaded them to merely steal their silver plate. He felt bad enough about this to return the plate to the Earl years later.
The war effort, though ultimately successful, was hindered somewhat by the stinginess of the French and the the Continental congress in providing commands or ships. It was also hampered by the existence of a spy in the very midst of Ben Franklin's diplomatic mission in Passy. Delays tempted him to live it up and while he was the toast of the town after his victory over the Serapis, financial aid and new commands were not forthcoming.
His men were holed up in the Serapis, languishing and resentful, which they had taken as their own ship after the Bonhomme Richard had sunk. It was being repaired and masts replaced and renamed. Ships and payment for the sale of prizes were promised and then they were not kept. Professional rivalry with other persons in the navy and subversion by enemies nominally under his command led to severe problems. Transatlantic voyages to deliver supplies were delayed during the prime sailing season during the summer until the fall when fierce storms made the passage more perilous. Insubordinate captain Landay was court-marshalled but subsequently challenged Jones to a duel, but Jones did not accept it. Landay was let off through the efforts of John Adams. His fomenting of dissention among the crew led to a standoff as the ship was planning to sail away. Although the French were willing to block their exit under these circumstances, Jones allowed them to leave. Perhaps he felt he was well rid of both Landay and the insubordinate New Hampshire crew he had had to deal with.
Another ship he had been promised lay half-built at Portsmouth NH. The contractor apparently was delaying the project by selling off materials meant for the ship. Later, when a French ship went aground not far from there, the Americans, feeling responsible, gave the ship to the French.
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When the war ended, Jones was still eager for action of some kind, and was recruited by Catherine of Russia to lead her navy in the Black Sea against the Turks. This ended badly, as the incompetent Russian Navy, language barriers, and unscrupulous commanders undermined his authority and ignored his commands. When anything went right, they took credit for it, when anything went wrong it was Jone's fault. In the end, his chief rival in the naval arena, Prince de Nassau-Siegen attempted to frame him for the rape of a 12 year old girl. But as it turned out, although Jones admitted having "often frolicked" with the girl "for a small cash payment" (1), he had not raped her. Apparently the Prince de Nassau-Siegen had also made a cash payment to the girl in exchange for promulgating the lie, yet in spite of being denied competent legal counsel, he was exonerated ultimately as the girl's story fell apart. If not he might have been executed or sentenced for years as a galley slave.
Leaving Russia, he went to Poland and then to Paris, where, still trying to regain the favor of Catherine, he died of interstitial nephritis and was buried somewhat forgotten in the St. Louis Cemetery, which was later a site for burial of dead animals and mass burials of those guillotined during the terror, which blossomed soon after Jone's death (1). It was the summer of 1792.
More than a hundred years later, in 1905 his body was exhumed and identified, and transported to its present resting place in the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis. He is now considered one of the fathers of the US Navy.
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones
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