Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II THE REVOLUTION (CONTINUED)—THE CRUISES OF JOHN PAUL JONES Jones's Earlier Cruises Paul Jones's early career during the Revolution may be briefly told. On May 10, 1776, he received the 12- gun brig Providence as his first independent command. On this vessel he carried troops and convoyed merchantmen, and so skilful was he in eluding the numerous British cruisers, that Congress promoted him in August to the full rank of captain, with orders to cruise for prizes along the Atlantic coast. In September, 1776, by a bold maneuver, he escaped from the 28-gun frigate Solebay. He later eluded the British frigate Milford, captured sixteen prizes, and destroyed other vessels. Some time after this, while in command of the Alfred, Captain Jones took the British brig Mcllish, laden with military supplies. On the way home, Jones was again chased by the Milford, and as he was accompanied by a convoy of prizes, he skilfully lured the Milford away from the prizes, under cover of night, so that the latter got safely to an American port, and then Jones, by superior seamanship, escaped from his pursuer. Captain Jones was, on June 14, 1777, put in command of the new 18-gun ship, Ranger, built at Portsmouth, N. H. What the motives were for sending Jones to foreign waters is not quite clear. His knowledge of British shores and his success in American waters, were doubtless contributing factors. Jones was looked upon From the painting by Cectlta Beaux, copyrighted. 1-x1i. hy Vj. IJaval JAjatits1y,, Paul Jones .--.I,.r by some of his colleagues as lukewarm to America, because he was a native of Scotland and had, from natural motives of generosity, been lenient to British prisoners. Also he had often boasted of his being a citizen of the world and of his having drawn his sword for t...