Wallace Bruce

John Paul Jones: Father of the United States Navy Wallace Bruce

On the instructions of President Teddy Roosevelt, the preserved mortal remains of John Paul Jones were escorted back to the United States on the USS Brooklyn, surrounded by warships of the U. S. Navy, in 1905. This was a fitting tribute to the barefooted son of a Scottish gardener who, born in 1747, was destined to become the Father of the US Navy through his dogged determination and dauntless courage on the high seas. At an early age he went to sea as a cabin boy, becoming a captain in his own right at the age of twenty-one in the British merchant service. He ended up in Philadelphia and offered his services to the infant American navy, becoming its ablest and most dashing commander, raising "Old Glory" for the first time ever to the jackstaff of the USS Alfred, then attacking British ports in the US war of independence. His hour of glory was on the USS Bon Homme Richard when he engaged the Royal Navy off Flamborough Head. When all the odds were against him, and the. skipper of the HMS Serapis, Captain Pearson, demanded his surrender, his immortal reply was, "I have not yet begun to fight!" On return to the United States, he ended up supervising and launching his flagship, the USS America. This book will have you spellbound by the colorful narrative of his life.