He afterward returned to Scotland, and at the age of nineteen sailed as an officer on a slave-trading ship to Africa, and carried a load of negroes away from their native land. Many people did not then think it wrong to do this, but John Paul hated the cruel business, and left the slave ship as soon as he reached Jamaica.
Made captain
On his way back to Scotland the officers of the ship died, and John Paul, although but twenty years old, had to take charge. The owners of the vessel were so pleased with the way he handled it that they made him captain, and he went on many voyages to different countries.
JOHN PAUL JONES
From a painting by Charles Wilson Peale in Independence Hall, Philadelphia
In Virginia again
After a time John Paul went to Virginia to take care of his dead brother's plantation. While he was living in Virginia he watched the quarrel between England and her colonies break out in open war.
Offers his services to Congress
101. John Paul Jones Enters the American Navy. He hastened to Philadelphia and offered his services to Congress. He knew England would send thousands of soldiers to America; and that she would send her war ships along our seacoasts and up and down our bays and rivers, to capture and burn our towns. He also knew that the Congress did not own a single war ship when the war began.