The Life and Adventures of Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones, Commonly Called Paul Jones

by John S. C. Abbott

The empress returned to St. Petersburgh. Soon after this, Turkey declared war against Russia, with England for her adviser. An army of eighty thousand men was ordered to march instantly along the western shore of the Euxine, to the mouth of the Dnieper. Sixteen ships of the line, eight frigates, and a large number of gun-boats, passed through the Bosphorus into the Euxine. The Turks had drawn the sword, and thrown away the scabbard.

The news of this declaration of war by Turkey was received with great joy at St. Petersburg. It was just what the empress desired. At Cherson, Odessa, and other points at the mouth of the Dnieper, she had created quite a formidable fleet. At very short notice, she could launch on the waters of the Euxine, eight ships of the line, twelve frigates, and nearly two hundred gun-boats. Joseph II. of Austria had entered into alliance with the empress. Eighty thousand Austrian troops were sent to coöperate with the Russian arms, in Wallachia. Two Russian squadrons, under Admirals Kruse and Greig, were ready to coöperate in the Mediterranean. Such was the state of affairs between Russia and Turkey, at the time Commodore Jones accepted the invitation of the empress. He subsequently wrote a very carefully prepared journal of the difficulties he encountered, and of the results of this all-important enterprise.

This journal, very handsomely executed, was engrossed in the French language, and was accompanied by ninety-three Piéces Justificatives, or documentary proofs, of the accuracy of all his important statements. The truthfulness of this narrative has never been called in question. It was not published until after his death. Justice to Admiral Jones demands that I should quote freely from this very important document. The reader will thus obtain a more correct idea of the true character of the man, and of the adventures upon which he entered, than could be gained in any other way. After describing the circumstances under which he was led to enter into the service of the empress, he writes:

“In Denmark I put in train a treaty between that power and the United States, but it was interrupted by a courier from St. Petersburg, despatched express by the empress, inviting me to repair to her court.

“Though I foresaw many difficulties in the way of my entering the Russian service, I believed I could not avoid going to St. Petersburg, to thank the empress for the favorable opinion she had conceived of me. I transferred the treaty, going forward at Copenhagen, to Paris, to be concluded there, and set out for St. Petersburg, by Sweden. At Stockholm I staid but one night, to see Count Rasoumorsky. Want of time prevented me from appearing at court.

“At Gresholm, I was stopped by the ice, which prevented me from crossing the Gulf of Bothnia, and even from approaching the first of the isles in the passage. After having made several unsuccessful efforts to get to Finland by the isles, I imagined that it might be practicable to effect my object by doubling the ice to the southward, and entering the Baltic Sea.

“This enterprise was very daring, and had never before been attempted. But by the north, the roads were impracticable; and knowing that the empress expected me from day to day, I could not think of going back by Elsinore.

“I left Gresholm early one morning, in an undecked passage-boat about thirty feet in length. I made another boat follow of about half that size. This last was for dragging over the cakes of ice, and for passing from one to another to gain the coast of Finland. I durst not make my project known to the boatmen, which would have been the sure means of deterring them from it. After endeavoring, as before, to gain the first isle, I made them steer for for the south, and we kept along the coast of Sweden all the day, finding with difficulty room enough to pass between the ice and the shore. Toward night, being almost opposite Stockholm, pistol in hand I forced the boatmen to enter the Baltic Sea, and steer to the east.”

Here it is obvious to remark, that this was outrageously unjust. These poor boatmen, with parents, wives, and children perhaps, dependent upon them, had never promised at whatever hazard, to take him across that stormy sea. Indeed he had studiously concealed from them the peril of the enterprise upon which he had embarked. If the admiral were willing, in view of the fame and fortune which were enticing him beyond those tempest-tossed ice-fields, to incur the dreadful risks, he had no right to compel these poor men to peril their lives in a cause in which they had nothing to gain. If we understand the facts, as given by the commodore himself, the course which he pursued on this occasion is entirely unjustifiable. Admiral Jones continues:

“We ran toward the coast of Finland. All night the wind was fair, and we hoped to land next day. This we found impossible. The ice did not permit us to approach the shore, which we only saw from a distance. It was impossible to regain the Swedish side, the wind being strong and directly contrary. I had no other course but to make for the Gulf of Finland. There was a small compass in the boat, and I fixed the lamp of my travelling carriage so as to throw a light on it.