1747

The man whom Thomas Jefferson later described as "the principal hope of America's future efforts on the ocean" was born on 6 July in the gardener's cottage of the Arbigland Estate, Kirkbean, Scotland.

1760

Apprenticed to a merchant at age 13, John Paul went to sea in the brig Friendship as a cabin boy to learn the art of seamanship and voyaging between Whitehaven, England, Barbados, and Virginia with cargoes of rum, sugar, and tobacco. While in Virginia, he stays with his older brother, William in Fredericksburg.

1768

At the age of 21 he received his first command on the brig John. His career was quickly and unexpectedly advanced when both the captain and a ranking mate suddenly died of yellow fever. John Paul managed to successfully navigate the ship back to a safe port and in reward for this impressive feat, the vessel’s grateful Scottish owners made him master of the ship and its crew, giving him 10 percent of the cargo.

1770

He is admitted into the St. Bernard Lodge of the Master, Wardens and Brethren of Free and Accepted Masons in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, on 27 November.

1773

On the Caribbean island of Tobago, where his ship Betsy ended her outward voyage, John Paul decided to invest money in return cargo rather than pay his crew for their shore leave. One sailor known as "the ringleader," attempted to go ashore without leave. John Paul drew his sword on the man to enforce his orders, but the man set on his captain with a bludgeon. In response to the attack John Paul ran him through with his sword. John Paul immediately went ashore to give himself up, but the death of the ringleader had so stirred up local sentiment that John Paul's friends prevailed upon him to escape to Virginia at once. He fled the islands to escape trial and changed his name to John Paul Jones.

1775

In December, John Paul Jones received his lieutenant's commission from the Continental Congress for its navy. On 3 December, as first lieutenant of Alfred, he hoisted the Grand Union flag for the first time on a Continental warship. The flag's Union Jack in the upper left canton and thirteen red and white stripes represented a united resistance to tyranny but loyalty to the English king, George III.

1776

In February John Paul Jones participated in the attack on Nassau, New Providence Island. Jones was appointed to command Providence on 10 May; his commission as Captain in the Continental Navy is dated 8 August 1776. The 12- gun sloop departed for the Delaware Capes on 21 August. Within a week she had captured the whaling brigantine Britannia. Near Bermuda, she fell in with a convoy escorted by the 28-gun frigate Solebay. In a thrilling chase lasting ten hours, Jones saved Providence from the larger warship by an act of superior seamanship. By 22 September he had captured three British merchant vessels. While anchored he burnt an English fishing schooner, sank another, and made prize of a third. Jones would later declare that his best crew had been on board Providence; he had received sound financial rewards from the prizes, making this venture the most enjoyable of his career.

1777

John Paul Jones is assigned the newly constructed USS Ranger on 14 June the same day the new Stars and Stripes flag was adopted. He sailed for France on 1 November with orders to assist the American cause however possible. His fast ship managed to slip past the British fleet blockading the American coast, a fleet which managed to capture most American warships trying to get out into the open ocean.

1778

Admiral La Motte-Picquet returned Jones' salute at Quiberon Bay on 14 February, the first time the Stars and Stripes were recognized by a foreign power. On 17 April, John Paul Jones persuaded his crew to participate in an assault on Whitehaven. Contrary winds forced the abandonment of the attempt, and drove Ranger towards Ireland, causing more trouble for British shipping on the way. On April 20, Jones learned from captured sailors that the Royal Navy sloop-of-war HMS Drake was anchored off Carrickfergus, Ireland. The ships, roughly equal in firepower, engaged in combat on April 24 and the Drake was captured after an hour-long gun battle which cost the British captain his life. It had been the first major naval battle fought under the newly adopted quote "starred and stripes" flag and had resulted in Jones' capture of an important warship in Great Britain's home waters.

1779

The French king, Louis XVI, loans Jones Le Duras, which he renames Bonhomme Richard (after Poor Richard's Almanac) in honor of Benjamin Franklin, America's ambassador to France. On 14 August, in command of four other ships and two French privateers, Jones continues his raids on English shipping. In his most famous engagement, 23 September 1779, Jones commanding the USS Bonhomme Richard, fought and defeated the HMS Serapis, a somewhat better armed British warship. An unusual aspect to this battle is that Jones' ship was sunk, that he and his surviving crew, and British prisoners, sailed back to his base in France on the captured British ship. Serapis was a superior ship compared to Richard. She was faster, more nimble and carried a far greater number of eighteen pounders. The two ships fired simultaneously. At the first or second salvo, two of Jones' eighteen-pounders burst, killing many gunners and ruining the entire battery as well as blowing up the deck above. After exchanging two or three broadsides, and attempting to rake the Serapis' bow and stern, the commodore estimated that he must board and grapple, a gun-to-gun duel seeming futile. Serapis' Captain Pearson repulsed the boarders, and attempted to cross Richard's bow to rake her. During this stage of the bloody and desperate battle, Pearson, seeing the shambles on board Bonhomme Richard, asked if the American ship had struck. Jones' immortal reply, "I have not yet begun to fight," served as a rallying cry to the crew.

The two ships grappled and Jones relied on his marines to clear the enemy's deck of men. To Jones' disgust, Alliance, under the Frenchman Pierre Landais, fired three broadsides into Richard. Landais later stated that he wanted to help Serapis sink Richard, then capture the British frigate. Even though his ship had begun to sink, Jones determined he would not strike his colors. He used his remaining guns to weaken Serapis' main mast. It began to tremble, Pearson lost his nerve and decided to strike his colors. When the battered Bonhomme Richard sank on 25 September, Jones was forced to transfer to Serapis. For his victory, Congress passed a resolution thanking Jones, and Louis XVI presented him with a sword.

One of Jones' midshipman on board the Bonhomme Richard was Beaumont Groube. He acquired fame as the "Lieutenant Grub" of chapbooks (comics), supposedly shot by Jones for striking the colors during battle, an action which would have signified the Richard's surrender.

1780

Jones seeks approval of Congress before accepting the Ordre du Mérite Militaire from Louis XVI.

1783-1790

After the Revolutionary War, Commodore John Paul Jones was active in negotiating prize money claims in Paris.

1788

Jones enters the service of the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia as a rear admiral. He hoped that command of a battle fleet in Russia would qualify him for higher command if and when the United States built a permanent Navy. Although he successfully commanded the Black Sea Squadron in the Dnieper River, court intrigues forced Jones to leave Russia.

1790

Jones returns to Paris where he remained in retirement during the rest of his life, although he made a number of attempts to re-enter the Russian service.

1792

He returned to Paris where he remained without money and prospects. He died July 18 at the age of forty-five after months of suffering from jaundice and other diseases. Ironically, only days before his death, Jones had been named a commissioner to negotiate with the dey of Algiers concerning the release of American sailors held prisoner by the dey.

1845

Col. John H. Sherburne begins a campaign to return Jones' remains to the United States. He wrote Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft and requested the body be brought home aboard a ship of the Mediterrean Squadron.

1905

Following an impressive parade, a religious service in Paris and a special train arranged by the French government to the port of Cherbourg, the remains of John Paul Jones were transferred to the USS Brooklyn, flagship of a special naval squadron sent by President Theodore Roosevelt to bring Jones home to his "country of fond election" and to the nation for which he immeasurably helped gain independence. On July 24, 1905, the naval tug Standish carried the casket ashore at Annapolis, Md., for placement in a temporary vault across the street from the new U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, which was under construction.

1906

On April 24, elaborate and impressive ceremonies in commemoration of John Paul Jones are held in Dahlgren Hall, the new Naval Academy armory. President Roosevelt, Ambassador Porter, Admiral George Dewey, and many other dignitaries attend the ceremonies. France sends an entire naval fleet up the Chesapeake Bay to mark the occasion. Afterwards the casket of John Paul Jones is placed in the Academy's Bancroft Hall to await completion of his permanent tomb, in the new Naval Academy Chapel.

1913