John Paul Jones: The Captain Who Would Not Surrender

The night was dark and cold over the North Sea. The year was 1779, and the American Revolution was not just being fought on land. It was being fought on the water too, wherever brave sailors dared to carry the young nation's flag. Captain John Paul Jones stood at the helm of his ship, the Bonhomme Richard. He had named her after Benjamin Franklin's famous almanac, Poor Richard, as a salute to the man who believed any person could rise through hard work and courage. Jones believed that too. He had been born poor in Scotland, crossed the ocean with nothing but his own two hands and a burning dream, and made himself into the most feared sailor in the Continental Navy. On the evening of September 23rd, a lookout high in the rigging called down. Two British warships were approaching. The larger one, the Serapis, was one of the finest fighting vessels in the Royal Navy. She carried fifty guns. She was newer, faster, and stronger than the Bonhomme Richard. Jones looked at his crew. They were tired men, many of them ordinary sailors who had never imagined themselves at war. Some came from the American colonies. Some came from France, Ireland, even England itself. What they shared was a belief that freedom was worth fighting for. Jones said quietly, steady boys. Tonight we show the world what Americans are made of. The battle began at sunset and it was fierce. Cannons roared like rolling thunder. Smoke burned the sailors eyes. The Serapis pounded the Bonhomme Richard again and again. Holes opened in her hull. Water crept belowdecks. Fires broke out. The old ship groaned and shuddered. Then came the moment that would be remembered forever. The British captain, Richard Pearson, called out across the smoky water. He was certain the American ship was finished. He shouted, have you struck your colors? In those days, striking your colors meant lowering your flag. It meant surrender. Jones stood at the rail of his wounded ship, firelight flickering across his face. His ship was sinking beneath him. His men were exhausted. Any other captain might have said yes. But John Paul Jones was not any other captain. He cupped his hands around his mouth and he roared back across the water words that would echo through American history. I have not yet begun to fight! His crew heard those words and something lit up inside every one of them. They fought harder. They lashed the two ships together so they could not pull apart. American marines climbed the rigging and fired down on the British deck. Sailors battled through smoke and flame with pistols and pikes. The Bonhomme Richard was sinking, but her crew refused to let her spirit sink. For more than three hours the two ships blazed side by side under the stars. And then, at last, it was the British captain who lowered his flag. The Serapis surrendered to the Americans. Jones moved his crew onto the captured ship. The Bonhomme Richard, his brave battered vessel, slipped quietly beneath the dark waves the next morning. She was gone, but she had won. News of the battle spread across Europe and back to the thirteen colonies. People wept and cheered. A little American navy with an old leaking ship had defeated one of Britain's finest warships. It told the world that the United States of America did not give up. Not when it was hard. Not when the fire was all around. Not when the odds were impossible. Tonight, as you close your eyes and drift toward sleep, remember Captain John Paul Jones standing at the rail of his sinking ship, with everything against him, choosing to fight on. He did not fight for glory. He fought for the idea that ordinary people, brave and free, could do extraordinary things. And they did. And so can you.