On the British side, the earliest connected narrative is that in the fourth and fifth volumes of Robert Beatson's Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain, 1727-1783 (London, 1804). Among the later books are C. D. Yonge's Hist. of the British Navy,[1258] and Allen's Battles of the British Navy.[1259]
I. Paul Jones.—In respect to the lives of Paul Jones, Sabin's (ix. nos. 36,546, etc.) enumeration includes many anonymous and unimportant ones not now to be mentioned. The earliest biography of any original authority was one issued at Washington in 1825 (second ed. 1851), Life and Character of John Paul Jones, by John Henry Sherburne, register of the U. S. navy, and this was reprinted in an abridged form at London, the same year as The life of Paul Jones from original documents in the possession of John Henry Sherburne, register of the Navy of the U. S. This life was based upon documents in the naval archives of the government, upon some letters contributed by Thomas Jefferson, and upon some papers brought to light in a baker's shop in New York (No. Amer. Rev., Oct., 1826, p. 292). These papers had been left by Jones, when he went to Europe, in the hands of his friend Ross, of Philadelphia. At Jones's death, and on his heirs' orders, these papers were handed over to Robert Hyslop, and, upon this gentleman's death, came into the charge of his cousin, John Hyslop, the baker, in whose shop they were found by Mr. George A. Ward, of New York, by whom they were put at Sherburne's disposal. This biographer, hearing of other papers in Scotland, applied for them, but was refused, as it was intended to use them in another memoir. This other narrative appeared as Memoirs of Rear Admiral Paul Jones, now first compiled from his original journals and correspondence (Edinburgh, 1830, in 2 vols.; London, 1843, in 2 vols.). The author of it referred rather slightingly to the New York MSS. as "a few fragments", and claimed that Jones took to Europe the essential part of his papers, which by his will passed to his sisters in Scotland, and eventually to his niece, Miss Janette Taylor, of Dumfries, who possessed several bound volumes of them, beside other loose papers. Some of Jones's papers are in the possession of J. C. Brevoort, of Brooklyn; others are among the Force Papers in the library of Congress; and others in the Lee Papers in the libraries of Harvard College and of the University of Virginia. Franklin's letters to him are in Sparks's ed., vol. viii. The Taylor MSS. were the original material mentioned in the title of this Edinburgh edition, which was reprinted, under the editing of Robert Sands, in New York (1830) as The life and Correspondence of Paul Jones from original letters and manuscripts in the possession of Miss Janette Taylor. The Sparks Library has a copy of this book, with Miss Taylor's MS. annotations. Based upon the same material, but with some alterations and additions, was the Life of Rear Admiral John Paul Jones, compiled from his original Journals and Correspondence (Philad., 1845, 1847, 1853, 1858, 1869), which appeared under the editing of B. Walker. The Life of Paul Jones by Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (Boston, 1841, in two vols.) was written at the instance of Jared Sparks, and its merit is that it has sifted all the existing material, making a more readable and better constructed narrative than the others. Mackenzie acknowledges his use of the preceding lives, but says he has used guardedly a Memoir of the Life of Capt. Nathaniel Fanning, an American naval officer, who served during part of the American Revolution under Commodore John Paul Jones (New York, 1808), which is known in another edition as A narrative of the Adventures of an American Naval Officer (New York, 1806). Fanning is said to have been Jones's private secretary, though he is also spoken of as a midshipman on the "Bon Homme Richard." Thomas Chase, of Chesterfield, Va., published Sketches of the life, character, and times of Paul Jones (Richmond, 1850), which is of small extent, and in part derived from stories told by the author's grandfather, who had served with Jones.
A French Mémoire de Paul Jones (Paris, 1798) purports to be a translation under his own eyes, by "Citoyen André", of a narrative written by Jones himself. Poole's Index, p. 695, gives various periodical references to articles on Jones; and his career is the subject of J. F. Cooper's novel of The Pilot, and of its sequel, Dumas' Capitaine Paul. Cf. Herman Melville's Israel Potter. The Rev. E. E. Hale gives a chapter (no. xiv.) to his career in his Franklin in France.
For Jones's services in the "Ranger", see, beside the lives of Jones, the Annual Register (xxi. 176); Parton's Franklin (vol. ii.); a journal of Dr. Ezra Green in the N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., 1875, edited by Admiral Preble (whose own copy with additions is in the Mass. Hist. Soc.). A log of the "Ranger" is cited as belonging to a gentleman in Greenock in 1830; and one, Aug. 24, 1778, to May 10, 1780, is printed in the Granite Monthly, v. 64. The Memoirs of Andrew Sherburne, a pensioner of the navy of the Revolution (Utica, 1828; Providence, 1831) covers the service of a lad on the ship.
Of the remarkable fight of the "Bon Homme Richard" and the "Serapis" we have Jones's account in his letter from Texel to Franklin, also transmitted to Congress; the narrative of Dale, his lieutenant; and the letter sent to the admiralty by Capt. Pearson, of the English ship. These are given by Sherburne, the Edinburgh editor, and others. The account in Cooper's Naval History passed under the eye of Dale. The log-book of the "Richard" was in 1830 in the possession of George Napier, of Edinburgh. The statements about the progress of the fight are somewhat contradictory, and Dawson (Battles, 554) collates them. A letter of Jones to Robert Morris, Oct. 13, 1779, is in the N. Y. Hist. Coll., 1878, p. 442. Beside the accounts in the lives of Jones and the general histories, see Parton's Franklin (ii. 335); Analectic Mag. (vol. viii.); Allen's Battles of the British Navy; J. T. Headley's Miscellanies. The effect in England is depicted in Albemarle's Rockingham and his Contemporaries (ii. 381). The story of the flag of the "Bon Homme Richard" is told by Admiral G. H. Preble in his Three Historic Flags (N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Jan., 1874, and separately with additions, Boston, 1874,—the author's annotated copy being in the Mass. Hist. Soc.). There is a contemporary print of the fight by Peltro, after a painting by Robert Dodd (London, 1781). Cf. Barnard's Hist. of England, p. 693.
Jones accused Landais, who commanded the "Alliance", of failure to afford assistance, and of even firing into the "Bon Homme Richard." Landais published a Memorial to justify Peter Landais' conduct during the late war (Boston, 1784), and a Second Part (New York, 1787?), being his defence against the specifications of Charges and proofs respecting the conduct of Peter Landais (New York [1787]). Landais' quarrel with Jones and his subsequent career are traced in Hale's Franklin in France, ch. xvii. For Landais' claims on government, see B. P. Poore's Descriptive Catal. of govt. publications, pp. 61, 67, 82, 94; and Jones's claims can be traced in Ibid. Cf. Journals of Congress, iv. 796.
The Diplomatic Correspondence (vol. i.) shows the complications which the harboring of Jones and his prizes in Holland caused. For titles on this point, see Sabin (ix. 36,562, etc.) and Muller, Books on America (1872), p. 187, and nos. 1,181-1,187. The difficulty occasioned by the captures of Wickes and Conyngham, and their efforts to refit in French ports, as well as those of Jones, are set forth in Hale's Franklin in France.
II. Privateering.—The Provincial Assembly of Massachusetts, Nov. 13, 1775, authorized private-armed vessels to cruise, and established a court for condemning their prizes,—the law being drawn by Elbridge Gerry (Austin's Gerry, i. 92, 505; Barry's Mass., iii. 58, and references; Sparks's Washington, iii. 155; Frothingham's Siege of Boston, 261; Gent. Mag., Jan., 1776; Almon' s Remembrancer, ii. 149). For the provincial legislation, see Goodell's Provincial Laws, vol. v., under "Admiralty", "Letters of Marque", "Armed Vessels", and "Privateers", in the index.