The best known picture is one published in London, Aug. 22, 1776, by Thomas Hart, of which a reproduction is given in Smith's Brit. Mezzotint Portraits, and in the United Service (xii. 137, 300), Feb., 1885, accompanying a memoir by Admiral Geo. H. Preble. (Cf. Preble's Hist. of the U. S. Flag.) It represents "Commodore Hopkins" standing on his deck, sword in hand, with two ships in the background, one bearing a Liberty Tree flag with the motto "An appeal to God;" the other having a striped flag with a serpent across the stripes, and the motto "Don't tread on me." (Cf. E. M. Stone's Our French Allies, p. 12, and Lossing's Field-Book, ii. p. 844.)—Ed.
On his way home, Hopkins took a tender of six guns and a bomb brig off Long Island, and on the 6th of April, with a part of his squadron, engaged the English ship-of-war "Glasgow", of twenty guns. He did not take her, but the audacity of the attack, made by vessels each of which was her inferior, pleased the country, and it was at first represented as a great victory. When it was learned that Hopkins had five vessels, however small, to the Englishman's one, a reaction of public feeling took place, from which he never recovered. He was honorably acquitted by a court-martial, but never regained full public confidence, and he does not appear in the public naval service afterwards. This hasty public condemnation seems to have been unjust, and to have cost the country the service, in its national navy, of a skilful and brave commander.[1237]
While Hopkins was undergoing his trial, on the 10th of May, 1776, Paul Jones was appointed to the command of the "Providence", in place of Hazard, who did or did not fight her as he should have done in the engagement with the "Glasgow." Through the summer, Jones was engaged in cruising. At one time he ran as far as Bermuda, and afterwards to the eastward as far as Canso. In this summer cruise he made sixteen prizes, and his reputation as a favorite dates from this time.
On the 10th of October a resolution of Congress fixed the rank of captains in the navy. James Nicholson[1238] was first, Manly second, McNiel third, Saltonstall fourth, Lambert Wickes eleventh, John B. Hopkins fourteenth, and Paul Jones eighteenth on a list of twenty-four.[1239]
Jones was not pleased that his rank was not higher, but eventually his achievements were such that his reputation probably now stands higher as a successful officer than that of any of the number.
While he was cruising at the East, Nicholas Biddle,[1240] in the "Andrea Doria", a little brig carrying fourteen 4-pounders, took two armed transports filled with soldiers, and captured many merchantmen. On returning from his cruise he was appointed to the "Randolph" (thirty-two guns), which had been built that summer in Philadelphia and was launched in the autumn. Biddle's reputation was high in consequence of his success, and early in 1777 he sailed on the "Randolph's" first cruise. He captured four Jamaica-men when he was three days out, one of which had an armament of twenty guns, but he was then blockaded in Charleston by an English force through the summer.[1241]
In the autumn of 1776, Jones, at Newport, took command of the "Alfred" (twenty-four guns) and "Providence" (twelve guns), and in the month of November went to sea. He was fortunate enough to take the armed ship "Mellish", with stores for Burgoyne's army. But while returning to Boston with her, he met the "Milford" (thirty-two), an English frigate. He succeeded in turning her away from his prize and brought it into Boston harbor. The "Mellish" had ten thousand suits of uniform on board, in charge of a company of soldiers. It was when he arrived that Jones found that he was only eighteenth on the list of captains, and this really meant that there was hardly a ship which he could expect in the service, and that if he found any it would be even inferior to the "Alfred."
On this occasion he first used Poor Richard's rule, "If you want a thing done, do it yourself." He went to Philadelphia to urge his own claims on Congress or its naval committee. But they could not work impossibilities, and it was not till some months later that he was appointed to the "Ranger." He believed that she was the first armed vessel to display the national American flag. It was not till November, 1777, that he got to sea with her. He hoped to carry out the great news of Burgoyne's surrender. But the government of Massachusetts had been too quick for him. They had commissioned the brigantine "Perch", with a special messenger, Jonathan Loring Austin, and he had arrived in France with the news some days before Jones appeared.
Lambert Wickes, the eleventh on the list of captains, had been the first officer to carry a national cruiser across the ocean. He was directed to take Dr. Franklin to France in the "Reprisal", and did so,—in a voyage which gave Franklin a high opinion of his ability. Several times he beat to quarters when an attack from a hostile force seemed possible, but with such a passenger he did not, of course, court an action. When near the coast of France he made two or three prizes and brought them in with him.