"John Paul Jones, a citizen of the United States." ; "The fame of the brave outlives him his portion is immortality." Iam by the day's Post, honored with yours of. which appears yours of the 13th Bunde to have been intended to have bun forwarded by Mi Carnes. Jesteem myself particularly obliged by that attention; but, as there is mark of your and it is therefore that thave I had the honor to write. th no mention made you of the 30th Ult. I presume it has mixing? now written the foregoing of this month, finding a Shige hene bom dicitly for Philadelphia, Joint a Copy of Monsieur de Soulanges's Letter to Mr. Jay for the information of Congres. an the 17th to inform you that I was just thin toto that two of the Seamen formerly of the Alliance Frigate, who Breg belonging to Boston, have been wrought upon by an expectation their Prize money, to desire of immediately miving that Mr. Puchilbing might in their Name object to sending the Prize money of the Allianed to Amercia. That Brig is now at Port-Louis, and will for Boston it is supposed to Morrow morning. His Exulliney Jam with are now here in a with great extem & respect. most obedient and most Gaverones Thomas Jefferson Ray. Minister Plenipotentiary of the limited dates at the Count gthanas A Letter from John Paul Jones to Thomas Jefferson. From the original at the Lenox Library. CHAPTER XI THE YEAR 1779 IN AMERICAN WATERS LUCKY RAIDS ON BRITISH TRANSPORTS AND MERCHANTMEN-DISASTROUS EXPEDITION ΤΟ THE PENOBSCOT-THE TRUMBULL'S GOOD FIGHT WITH THE WATT-THE FIRST YANKEE LINE-OFBATTLE-SHIP-WHEN NICHOLSON, WITH A WRECKED SHIP AND FIFTY MEN, FOUGHT FOR AN HOUR AGAINST TWO FRIGATES, EACH OF WHICH WAS SUPERIOR TO THE YANKEE SHIP-CAPTAIN BARRY'S EXASPERATING PREDICAMENT IN A CALM-THE LAST NAVAL BATTLE OF THE REVOLUTION. WHILE John Paul Jones was moving heaven and earth to get away to sea with his famous Bonhomme Richard, the American naval ships in home waters were by no means idle, even though British successes, with combined land. and naval forces, had seriously reduced the fleet. On March 18, 1779, a squadron consisting of the frigate Warren, thirty-two guns, Capt. John Burroughs Warren; the Queen of France, twenty-eight guns, Capt. Joseph Olney, and the famous old Ranger, of eighteen guns (she that whipped the Drake), under Captain Simpson, sailed from Boston. A few days later a privateer was captured. From her crew it was learned that a fleet of armed transports and storeships had sailed with supplies from New York for the British army in the South. How the Yankee squadron crowded on sail in pursuit of this fleet; how the ships of the fleet were sighted two days later, jogging along at the ordinary pace of the slowest; and how they came to the wind or squared away or tacked or wore ship in a confused effort to escape at the sight of the Yankees would have been something worth seeing by any one interested in ocean races. There were nine of the transports, and seven were taken. These included the Jason, twenty guns; the Maria, sixteen guns; the Hibernia, eight guns, and four unarmed transports. Captain Campbell and twenty other English army officers were in the fleet en route to join their regiments, and these were by no means an unimportant part of the capture when one recalls the treatment Americans were receiving from the British when captured. The Captain Hopkins who had this good luck was a son of Esek Hopkins, the first American naval captain. He carried his prizes into port at once. Then, in May the frigate Queen of France, under Capt. John P. Rathbourne; the Ranger, under Simpson, and the Providence (twentyeight guns), under Capt. Abraham Whipple, went on a cruise. Whipple, it will be remembered, was the leader of the party disguised as Indians who, with paving stones as their chief weapons, captured and destroyed the schooner Gaspé in the first salt-water conflict of the war (1772). Captain Rathbourne was he who, in the little brig Providence, captured New Providence Island on January 27, 1778, with six vessels that were in the harbor. For two months this squadron did nothing, but early in July they fell in with a great fleet of merchantmen escorted by a ship-of-the-line (seventy-four guns) and a number of frigates. Notwithstanding the efficiency of this guard, the Yankees cut out eleven of the merchant ships and carried them into port. It is recorded that the cargoes of these ships were worth over a million dollars in gold, and that this cruise was financially the most profitable of the war. Meantime there was a fight between brigs that shows at once the wonderful courage and endurance of the Anglo-Saxon seaman, no matter on which side of the Atlantic his home is found, and the further fact that in 1779 the Yankee sailor was becoming somewhat skilled as a man-o'-war'sman. The American brig Providence, Capt. Hoysted Hacker, fell in with the English brig Diligent, Capt. Thomas Davyson, May 7th. At the end of an hour the Diligent struck her colors, but she had lost twenty-seven in killed and wounded out of her crew of fifty-three before she did so. The Providence lost only four killed and ten wounded. The Diligent was at once taken into the American service, but disaster overtook the squadron in which she sailed. The enemy Jaw with great Request your Excelleneys Brumbler seurant Haystond Hachow Signature of Hoysted Hacker. From a letter at the Lenox Library. had established a fort on the Penobscot for convenience as a base for operating against Massachusetts. Accordingly 1,500 militia were sent with a fleet of transports and privateers to capture it. With this fleet went the frigate Warren, Capt. Dudley Saltonstall; the brig Diligent, and the old brig Providence, that had seen service from the first. The expedition reached the Penobscot on July 25, 1779, and found not only a fort, but three warships, aggregating forty-nine guns, |