Character in Real Life
FOUR-MINUTE TESTIMONIALS
For BOLDNESS vs Fearfulness
Faith Committee, Character Council of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
www.charactercincinnati.org
Boldness is confidence that what I have to say or do is true, right, and just.
THE STORY OF JOHN PAUL JONES
Long Version
By Steve Withrow
Pastor, Editor -- Charlotte, NC
“I have not yet begun to fight!”
Most of us recognize these words of John Paul Jones, and know they were courageously spoken in the heat of battle. Here’s the story of the bold actions that put him in such a position.
Around the year 1759 or 60, at the age of twelve, John Paul Jones sailed as a shipboy aboard a merchantman bound for Virginia where his older brother William was in business. He fell in love with America, and as war began breaking out, in December 1775 he was commissioned as a first lieutenant on the frigate Alfred. He later rose to the rank of captain, on both the Alfred, and on the sloop of war, Providence, and gained fame for his bold skill in harrying the British as he destroyed many of their fisheries and vessels. In June of 1777 he was given command of the Ranger and sailed to France. He sailed to the coasts of England where he attempted to burn their shipping and capture hostages to exchange for American prisoners. In April of 1778 he captured the Drake, the first victory of a Continental vessel over a British warship.
When he returned to Brest, the French port, he was eager to undertake more ambitious enterprises in larger ships, but the ship he eventually received was an old and slow merchantman, ill suited either to fight or escape in hit-and-run raiding. But he outfitted it with 42 guns, and it was renamed the Bonhomme Richard* in honor of the revered Benjamin Franklin, and his “Richard” in Poor Richard’s Almanac.
On September 23rd, 1779 the Richard engaged two British warships, the Countess of Scarborough with 22 guns, and the Serapis with 50 guns. Early in the battle disaster struck the Richard. As she swung around for her first broadside, two of her old 18-pound guns exploded, killing and wounding many men. Jones realized his position was so compromised he could not fight the enemy on equal terms. He would have to outwit the Serapis. He responded with a bold move. Feigning retreat, as the British pursued, he moved the Richard alongside the Serapis in an attempt to board and win the battle hand-to-hand, but failed.
On his second attempt he lashed the two ships together. The Serapis fired away at point blank range in the full moonlight. The Richard was on fire with its guns silenced and water rising in the hold. It had been blown clear through. A gunner on the Richard heard that Jones had been killed and called to the Serapis to offer surrender. Captain Pearson loudly responded, “Do you ask for quarter?” Jones appeared out of nowhere and boldly proclaimed, “I have not yet BEGUN to fight,” and punctuated it by hurling two pistols at the head of his own gunner.
The tide turned when an American grenade created a tremendous munitions explosion on the Serapis. Jones and his crew boarded and took control. Shortly thereafter they unlashed the two ships and watched the Richard sink, stern up with colors still flying. Jones had also captured the Countess of Scarborough, and escaped with both ships to Holland.
In 1781 he returned to America, and was promoted to rear admiral shortly before the war ended.
Jones is widely referred to as “the Father of the American Navy. His bold and courageous actions, which refused to surrender in the face of overwhelming odds, created a legacy of heroism, which still inspires the U.S. navy today.
NOTE: * Pronounced BAHN-hohm rih-SHARD
SOURCE: See the article entitled, John Paul Jones “Father of the American Navy” at:
www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/JONES.HTM.
Boldness is welcoming any suffering that comes from doing what is right, because it will produce a greater power of love.