However, the two American ships reached France, and loaded their supplies. On returning they took the southern route, hoping to meet some British merchant ships. They met, instead of merchantmen, two British men-of-war—the Ariadne of twenty guns and the Ceres of fourteen.
It happened that the two Americans were at the time (it was on March 9, 1778) far apart, the Raleigh being hull down to leeward. The two Britishers came down on the Alfred, and without making very much of a fight she surrendered. Seeing this, the Raleigh up helm and sailed for home, where, on his arrival, the captain was very properly relieved from the command of the ship. What John Paul Jones would have accomplished had he been in command of the Raleigh that voyage, instead of Thompson, may be inferred from what he did when a command was given him, as will be told in the next chapter.
CHAPTER VI
JOHN PAUL JONES AND THE RANGER
THE FIRST SHIP THAT CARRIED THE STARS AND STRIPES—DASH AT A CONVOY THAT FAILED—WHEN THE DUTCH WERE BROWBEATEN—THE RANGER SENT ON A CRUISE IN ENGLISH WATERS—A SHIP TAKEN OFF DUBLIN—THE RAID ON WHITEHAVEN—WHEN ONE BRAVE MAN COWED MORE THAN A THOUSAND—THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT LORD SELKIRK’S SILVERWARE, WITH THE NOBLE LORD’S EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE WHEN HE GOT IT BACK—HOW CAPTAIN JONES MISSED THE DRAKE AT FIRST, BUT GOT HER LATER ON IN A FAIR AND WELL-FOUGHT BATTLE.
A most important date in the history of the United States is June 14, 1777, for on that day it was in Congress “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white, in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” In the annals of the navy it is also important, from the fact that on that day Capt. John Paul Jones was appointed to the eighteen-gun ship Ranger, which had been built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Repairing at once to his post, Captain Jones, in placing his ship in commission, hoisted with his own hand the new-made flag of the Union, and that was the first occasion on which “old glory” was spread to the breeze on an American naval ship. Thereafter every effort was made to get away to sea, but the difficulties which the struggling Americans had to overcome in obtaining supplies were so great that the Ranger did not sail until November 1st.
The destination of the Ranger was Nantes, France, and her mission in European waters was to carry on the work begun in such famous fashion by the Reprisal, the Lexington, the Surprise, and the Revenge.
On the way over Captain Jones, when not far from the Azores, sighted a fleet of ten well-guarded merchantmen. The warships were too heavy for the Ranger, and the merchant ships kept so close to their protectors that it was impossible to cut one of them out of the fleet. The Ranger was not swift enough for such a purpose. The Yankee ship-builder had not yet learned the art of building men-of-war.
After leaving the convoy nothing happened save the capture of two small English brigs in the fruit trade, and on December 2d the Ranger was at anchor in the harbor of Nantes, then one of the most flourishing of French ports.
From the Original in possession of Col. John H. Sherburne, Author of “The Life and Character of John Paul Jones.”