John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones
The Bonhomme Richard vs. The HMS Serapis

John Paul was born in the small fishing village of Arbigland, Scotland on July 6, 1747. To his parents John Paul and Jean MacDuff he was the fourth child. They had seven children but unfortunately all but two died in infancy. The family was originally from Fife but John Paul's father had taken the family and moved to Arbigland where William Craik, the owner of a large estate their had met him and hired him to be his gardener.
John Paul grew up on this estate and to those who watched him grow up, it seemed that he always had a fascination and a passion to sail something. Whether it was a leaf as a child or a bit of wood blown by a small paper sail, John Paul was a seaman from birth. He attended Kirkbean School but spent much of his time at the small port of Carsethorn on the Solway Firth. As he grew up others often found him teaching his playmates to maneuver their little boats to mimic a naval battle, while he, taking his stand on the tiny cliff overlooking the small river, shouted shrill commands at his imaginary fleet.
At the age of thirteen he boarded a ship to Whitehaven, which was a large port across the Solway Firth. There he signed up for a seven year seaman's apprenticeship on The Friendship of Whitehaven, whose captain was James Younger, a prosperous merchant and ship owner. His first voyage took him across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados and Fredericksburg, Virginia at which he ...

John Paul Jones

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