John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography by Samuel Eliot Morison

John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography Reviews

• 
  Jamie Smith

  Samuel Eliot Morison was one of the great historians of the 20th century, and the finest to write about the United States Navy. His won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for a biography of Christopher Columbus, and another for this one of John Paul Jones. He also wrote the standard history of the U.S. Navy in World War II, fifteen volumes long and still cited today. He was known for his extensive research and ability to clearly describe complicated situations. His biography of Jones is interesting, insightful, and well worth reading.
  
  John Paul started from humble beginnings (‘Jones’ was added apparently in an attempt to conceal his identity after he killed a member of one of his crews – probably in self defense, but he did not stick around to see if he would be exonerated). His father was a gardener for the local minor lord, and Jones went to sea as a young man, quickly proving his abilities and rising to command merchant vessels. He settled in the colonies just as the ferment for revolution came to a boil, and offered his services to the fledgling government. His talents could not be denied, but he was regularly passed over for command of ships by men with less ability but better social and political connections. It did not help that he was a hard man to get along with, endlessly offering good but unwanted advice, and forever complaining about slights, real or imagined. He demanded perfection from his crew, which is not unreasonable in time of war, but often failed to give them credit for their efforts.
  
  Part of the problem was that his crews, when he could find sailors at all, were accustomed to the more relaxed discipline of merchant ships. Good sailors could always find work on privateers, which paid better wages than the Continental Congress could offer, as well as larger shares of the proceeds from captured ships. They were also paid as soon as the prizes were sold, but sailors in the Continental Navy might have to wait months or years to get their money. The American crews constantly complained about their discipline and living conditions under Jones, and he regularly had to deal with mutinous sailors. He had much better luck with foreign born crews.
  
  He was an excellent strategic thinker, and came up with plans that might have made a big impact on the war effort if they had been adopted. He realized that privateers could never be more than an annoyance, and the Continental Navy was too small to make much of a difference against the Royal Navy. His plan was to attack Britain not only in her home waters, but to land troops ashore for raids and destruction of ships and waterfront infrastructure. His attack on Whitehaven resulted in little damage (mutinous crewman tried to abandon him ashore but were stopped by a French officer who was guarding their boat), but caused a sensation in Britain, with cities throughout the islands demanding that the government provide soldiers and Royal Navy ships to defend them. His daring also caught the public’s attention and he became what would be known today as a media sensation, the subject of ballads and poetry from fans, and angry letters and editorials in British newspapers.
  
  Following the attack on Whitehaven, he landed a raiding party near where he had grown up, intending to kidnap the local lord to ransom him for captured American sailors. The lord was not there, but his crew demanded loot so he allowed them to steal the silverware. They did not do any other looting, and were polite to the lady of the house. Later Jones bought back the silver with his own money and returned it.
  
  More than anything Jones wanted a fast, well armed ship, but what he got was a runaround. The Continentals were broke, so they were largely dependent on the good graces of the French, who had other priorities. Ben Franklin was the American diplomatic liaison in Paris, and he recognized Jones’s abilities and helped him as much as possible, but there were endless delays and petty backstabbing by American rivals. Jones himself spent much of his time away from his crew courting ladies in Paris, sometimes to the detriment of his mission to get back to sea and fight.
  
  He finally got the Bon Homme Richard and put to sea with a small force of ships, including one captained by a Frenchman named Landais who was apparently a genuine madman. The battle with HMS Serapis was the highlight of Jones’s career, an amazing piece of tactical maneuvering fought at night under an almost full moon. Serapis was faster and much more heavily armed than Bon Homme Richard, so Jones knew his only chance was to grapple alongside and fight hand to hand. His French marines up in the rigging used muskets and grenades to clear the British off the main deck, but down below their heavy cannons continued to pour broadsides in his ship, reducing it to a wreck. They were so close together the British gunners had to reach inside the American ship to swab down their guns. A lesser man would have struck his colors but Jones, of course, had not yet begun to fight, and held on till Serapis surrendered. During this time Captain Landais had taken no part in the action other than to sail around the fighting, occasionally firing his guns, mostly at Bon Homme Richard.
  
  After that Jones was a hero in France and America, honored and feted wherever he went. His fame did not help him get a better ship and back to sea, and he again spent months in port trying to get back into the fight. He returned to the United States and was given command of the largest ship in the Continental Navy, then still under construction, but after the Battle of Yorktown it was taken from him and given to the French Navy as a show of gratitude for their help in the war (it was so poorly built the French scrapped it after only three years). Jones went back to Europe and eventually found brief employment as an admiral in the Russian Navy of Catherine the Great fighting the Turks, but it was another case of under utilization of his talents. Surrounded by scheming incompetents, he accomplished little and soon lost Catherine’s support. His final years were in Paris, a has-been hero living in rented rooms. He was only forty-five when he died, and it was not until decades later that the United States brought his body home to be enshrined in honor in Annapolis.
  
  Jones was a hard man to get along with, egotistical, thin skinned and easily offended, often critical even of the friends who were trying to help him. However, it has long been observed that the kind of men who win wars are not necessarily the kind who function well in peacetime society. Jones was a warrior, and one of the best ever. He accomplished great things, and could have done much more if he had been given the support that his talents and drive clearly warranted.
• 
  Keith

  For anyone looking for a thorough, detailed and unvarnished biography of the man known today as the father of the U.S. Navy this must be the quintessential volume. Born in poverty to a Scottish estate gardener in 1747 and christened John Paul, he later added Jones as a surname to facilitate his legal entry into America after an unfortunate adventure in the Caribbean. An avid patriot and supporter of the American revolution he became a mythical figure as a naval strategist. He was hated by the British for his arrogant raids on British soil and his embarrassing defeat of the much larger and better armed HMS Seripas at the battle of Flamborough Head, near the English coast. A proud and egotistical man he made as many enemies in Congress as patrons and therefore seldom achieved the recognition or appreciation that he felt he was due. Congress never granted him flag rank in the continental navy and as the war drew to a close he sought what he thought would be appropriate respect from France and then ultimately was made a rear admiral in an ill fated exploit with the Russian navy under Catherine the Great. He referred to himself as a “citizen of the world” and his reputation in the court of Louis XVI as a lover and courageous naval hero only angered his enemies more. Although famous for his quote: “I have not yet begun to fight” his battle ended in France at age forty five; deserted by his friends, forgotten by his country and basically penniless, John Paul died alone and broken. A sad end for an American hero but a fascinating story.
• 
  Karen

  John Paul Jones, "the father of the U.S. Navy" could also be known as the first social media celebrity--through the medium of the day, ballads, and with his rousing quote "I have not yet begun to fight." The author has a clear and engaging style and I particularly enjoyed the first part of the book which made colonial America, with the broad acceptance of slavery, the importance of connections in getting ahead and references to many of the founding fathers and people new to me such as Phillis Wheatley, come to life. I skimmed through a lot of the second half which was more about sea battles and less about people.
• 
  James Henderson

  John Paul Jones is a name that is part of American mythology. As an officer in the Continental Navy, he became the new country's greatest naval hero. Yet he often complained, was impatient with supervisors, and was haughty toward his peers and a tyrant among his crews. He prided himself on defending "the violated rights of mankind", yet after the American Revolution he went on a venture battling the Turks in the service of the Russian Tsar. He was in many ways a paradox and his idiosyncrasies made him one of the most fascinating figures in all American history.
  
  Samuel Eliot Morison demonstrates his mastery of American history with this biography of the heroic sailor of the eighteenth century. Morison loved the sea, and this biography is a tribute to that love. The author goes beyond a narrow naval context to establish Jones as a key player in the American Revolution, something not done by previous biographers, and explains what drove him to his achievements. At the same time, Admiral Joseph Callo fully examines Jones's dramatic military achievements—including his improbable victory off Flamborough Head in the Continental ship Bonhomme Richard—but in the context of the times rather than as stand-alone events.
  
  The book also looks at some interesting but lesser-known aspects of Jones's naval career, including his relationships with such civilian leaders as Benjamin Franklin. This is a great biography from one of America's finest historians.
• 
  Richard Derus

  The Book Report: Rear Admiral Morison, USNR, was also a professor of American History at Harvard back when that meant something. His reconsideration of the life of Scottish naval hero John Paul Jones did much to strip away false and misleading stories accreted around the American Revolution's most famous navy man, and issuer of the famously defiant "I have not yet begun to fight," which has ensured his place in the American Pantheon of Heroes. What emerges is not quite a modern warts-and-all diminishment of Jones, but a close cousin to it. Jones's many character flaws are not shied away from, nor are they "glorified" in any way. They're merely reported, and even commented upon, as the inevitable consequence of heroes being humans first.
  
  My Review: Informative. Precise. Very well handled in its absence of hero worship or iconoclasm.
  
  Breathakingly boring. The literary equivalent of Xanax. Would not be any more effective at inducing heavy-eyed torpor if one were to be struck repeatedly with it about the head and shoulders. To be avoided unless one is passionate about American Revolutionary figures, and is unfamiliar with Jones's legend. If already familiar with legend, stick to that as there is NOTHING INTERESTING ABOUT THIS MAN.
  
• 
  Heman

  A biography that is based for a good part on hearsay, conjecture and rumor (accompanied with a good dose of ballads) is not much of a biography. Morison seems to have erred on siding too much with Jones here and summarily dismisses, as jealousy and spite, many of the disparaging tales told about Jones. These are mostly told or written by his own crew. But even Morrison can't do much for a man whose naval career includes such lows as marching to his own homestead in Scotland and stealing the Baron's silverware and losing command of his ship to a madman because he was gallivanting with ladies hundreds of miles away in Paris. Maybe Jones was a brilliant captain, but he had very little chance to be tested. His fame seems to be more inflated and self-promoted than much else.
  
  Post script: there is this work, that I came across many years later, that sheds more light on the character and characterization of Jones and mentions this and other biographies of Jones :
  https://pasttensejournal.files.wordpr....
  It is clear that Jones’ reputation and grand crypt at the Naval Academy owe much to 1900’s politics and search for national heroes, disregarding or glossing over the truth.
• 
  Erik Graff

  Father turned me on to Samuel Eliot Morison during high school, he having read the author himself in college and having served with the Signal Corps shipboard in both theatres covered by the historian in his series on naval actions during the war. John Paul Jones I'd heard about much earlier, he being a saint of the American secular religion inculcated into us during elementary school.
  
  This biography is both fun and an easy read. Morison seamlessly gives such background information as on the history of the formation of the U.S. Navy and as regards the payment of crews and commanders as is required to understand the subject of the biography. In discussing Jones, Morison adduces countless tales, many of a personal nature, that I'd never encountered previously.
  
  For instance, not only did he raid British shores, but in one case, while his crew was politely robbing the country estate of a Lord, he fell in love with the Lady of the house with whom he and his officers had tea. Buying back the silver from his crew while undergoing repairs in France, Jones returned the pelth with a love letter. More followed.
• 
  Gerry

  A decent biography, which, as the other reviewers here say, covers its subject flaws and all. What emerges is a real human being amid the challenges of a naval command in the American Revolution.
  
  What it doesn't reveal is why he's considered "father of the U.S. Navy." He sailed here, he sailed there, he fought fiercely, and won; but I found nothing that I could think of as a "founding" action. Perhaps his raw courage and fighting ability could be considered such in the example it sets?
• 
  Vance

  i make it a point to re-read this classic at least once per year. in my opinion, this is the best book on this US Navy Hero.
• 
  Mark Luongo

  My troubles with non-fiction lately aside, what strikes me most about this book is the comparison that I draw between the troubles encountered in this era and our own difficulties today. In reading something like this, it makes you wonder how independence was ever achieved.
  Paul Jones, the "John" used to mask his identify due to a misunderstanding he suffered as a young man, was beset by political intrigue, fractious & mutinous crews, jealous fellow officers, no funds, poor equipment, bad timing and horrendous weather. His own ego was also a hindrance.
  But the "fighting sailor" and outstanding seaman that he was showed itself in his actions against the H.M.S. Serapis. Fighting a ship (the Bonhomme Richard) that no one thought much of, Jones came away with the singular victory of his career and enhanced his reputation as a "pirate" along the coast of Britain. His actions involving the assault on New Providence in the Bahamas and his cruise in the Ranger earlier in the war are what brought him to the attention of Congress. Unfortunately they never got around to awarding him properly with rank and command. His reputation was such that he was offered a command in the Russian Navy by Empress Catherine the Great. Jones saw these commands, whether French or Russian, as opportunities to improve on his seamanship and command skills. Once again, despite victory over a Turkish foe in 1788 at the 2nd Battle of the Liman, he was shunted aside by politics and jealousy. Only returning to the United States briefly, he eventually died in Paris too late to assume the responsibility that President Washington and Secretary of State Jefferson conferred on him, commissioner and consul dealing with the Barbary State of Algiers.
  As I mentioned in the beginning, a lot of parallels can be drawn between those difficult times when a new nation was struggling with its birth and the sad times we are going through now. Human nature doesn't change and sadly we never learn to improve ourselves.
  But individuals like John Paul Jones somehow manage, "I have not yet begun to fight."
  
• 
  David Hill

  I've heard John Paul Jones called the Father of the US Navy, but before reading this book, I really had no idea who he was or what he did, other than the famous quote "I have not yet begun to fight!"
  
  I've also come across Morison's name quite often, although I've never before read any of his work. I occasionally toy with the idea of tackling his 15 volume work on the Second World War, but, in addition to being really, really long, I suspect more recent books cover the material better, given the amount of formerly secret resources more modern writers have access to. This book isn't subject to that fault.
  
  I found this work most entertaining. Paul Jones was quite the interesting figure. A swashbuckler, if you will. Born in Scotland, went to sea at 13, advanced to command at a young age, settled in the Colonies as the independence movement got rolling, had love affairs wherever he went, was fierce in combat, and so on.
  
  Morison never uses the term "father of the US Navy". I see now that people consider JPJ this way due mainly to manuscripts he submitted to the Naval Committee of Congress before he took command of any US Navy vessel. I understand that these documents are still worth studying today.
  
  Having read all the Patrick O'Brian books, I couldn't help but wonder how he'd have told the stories of Paul Jones' engagements. O'Brian's heroes fought in different wars, a couple of decades later, but the ships and tactics are quite similar.
  
  Morison, of course, wasn't the first to write about JPJ. His deep research of his subject results in him spending a fair amount of time debunking many earlier biographers. One volume he suggests should be moved into the fiction section of libraries, so as not to lead readers astray.
  
  Morison won the Pulitzer for this book.
  
  There are numerous pictures and maps, and an index. There is no bibliography or end notes in the sense that I'm used to seeing them now. What he calls a bibliography sort of takes the place of notes.
• 
  David Little

  The author of this book did an excellent job doing thorough research and making it very clear when descriptions of events, motivations, etc. were clearly documented and when they were conjecture or assumption. But RADM. Morison is an excellent writer that presents all of the pertinent information in an efficient and engaging way. You learn a great deal not just of John Paul Jones, but of the time in which he lived.
  
  One of the best pieces of information gained from this book is how much politics and politicians, nepotism and more affected wars and smaller events back in the 18th century just as they do now. John Paul Jones may not have been a particularly likable person, but it's interesting to see how it was politics more than anything else that prevented him from better applying his tactical and strategic abilities in the American War of Independence and in other conflicts later. These problems are not new.
  
  Overall, a great read. Do not let ignorance of sailing stop you from reading this biography. I know very little of sailing, but still gained a great deal from reading this book.
• 
  Kevin

  The only knowledge I had of JPJ was that he was a commander during the revolutionary war and said, “I have yet begun to fight.”
  
  Turns out he was like a frat boy. He was no stranger to the company of loose women, but couldn’t land a lasting relationship. His family name was Paul. He added Jones in order to lay low from authorities for a while. He was a Mason who hung out at lodges. He was a competent strategist but struggled gaining any admiration from those who served with or under him. He was a Scot who thought much of liberty, but not democracy. He sold his maritime services to France and Russia and never really spent time in America after the revolution. He died at the age of 45, a few years after being accused of rape by a 12 year old Russian girl. He appears to have admitted to taking sexual favors from the girl, but denied he raped or took her virginity.
• 
  Tom

  Over 46 years this author has produced a number of highly regarded histories including the 13 volume History of US Naval Operations in WWII; the Gold standard. This terrific book, the biography of John Paul Jones, sets a similar high standard. In addition to providing a thorough, well documented history of J. P. J.'s life it is also a primer on the life of a tall ship master in peacetime commerce and in battle. The book provides a factual record of this somewhat flawed man, in some way his own worst enemy, and it is presented with honesty, with humor and with a perspective on more recent naval history. It's a very good and entertaining read.
• 
  Scott D.

  Everyone knows about the legendary battle with HMS Serapis, but few understand much more about JPJ's career. It's not as glorious as one might think.
  Morison does a fine job of research, cutting through the BS and propaganda, to bring us the REAL John Paul. He's an interesting mix of success and failure, of excess and ego, of bad luck and sheer grit. A great read for those who seek to know the man who became a household name in America, Britain, France, and at many European courts.
• 
  Mr. Kovach

  An interesting biography about the American naval hero who is nonetheless obscure to our times, except for one thing he famously said in battle (though even that is practically debunked here). Written in a clear and understated style, this book has been around for a long time which speaks to its value.
• 
  Mel

  Excellent biography of this iconic figure. Any Navy out there? Read about this guy. History buffs will also enjoy. Outstandingly researched and presented in readable style. I liked it and recommend to any & all interested in Western history.
• 
  Jwt Jan50

  Pulitzer bio/auto bio 1960. Once I'd finished Morison's History of US Naval Ops WW2, and having extended in the squadron, and the base library having a surfeit of naval biography; I started with Jones and worked my way forward to Nimitz. Much as I love O'Brian, Forester, etc, there's nothing like the real thing.
• 
  Walter

  John Paul Jones: a literate biography with blemishes and all
  By Walter H. Pierce on March 14, 2002
  
  A hero of my youth, this book appears to tell the full story. This is a scholarly work which reads easily. I only wish I would have read this book in my twenties. There are some wonderful life lessons in this biography. If you read it you will learn his flaws, his good and fine attributes, and some mysteries. This is first-rate biography and detective work by the author. I recommend it.
• 
  Tom Leland

  Found in front of a house in Toronto. Although this book won the Pulitzer, unless you're a huge fan, or VERY into naval history, this book doesn't offer much beyond financial doings, some mild political intrigue and a lot of minutia. Jones only ever fought in one exciting battle -- and as always, I find myself questioning many of the suppositions made by any historian.