Bodleian Broadsides Johnson 247

An American frigate, call'd the Richard by name, Mounted guns forty-four, from New York she came, To cruise in the channel of old England's fame, With a noble commander, Paul Jones was his name. We had not cruised long, before two sails we espied, A large forty-four, and a twenty likewise, Fifty bright shipping, well loaded with stores, And the convoy stood in for the old Yorkshire shore. 'Bout the hour of twelve, we came alongside With long speaking trumpet; whence came you, he cried. Come answer me quickly, I hail you no more, Or else a broadside into you I will pour. We fought them four glasses, four glasses, so hot, Till forty bold seamen lay dead on the spot, And fifty-five more lay bleeding in gore, While the thund'ring large cannons of Paul Jones did roar. Our carpenter being frightened, to Paul Jones did say, Our ship she leaks water since fighting to-day Paul Jones he made answer in the height of his pride, If we can do no better, we'll sink alongside. Paul Jones he then smiled, & to his men did say, Let every man stand the best of his play, For broadside for broadside they fought on the main, Like true buckskin heroes we return'd it again The Serapis wove round our ship for to rake, Which made the proud hearts of the English to ache, The shot flew so hot, we could not stand it long, Till the bold British colours from the English came down. Oh no my brave boys, we have taken a rich prize, A large forty-four, and a twenty likewise; To help the poor mothers have reason to weep, For the loss of their sons in the unfathomed deep.

Paul Jones is a song about Captain John Paul Jones and his ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard which he named in honor of Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac. The ship was built in 1765 and loaned from King Louis XVI of France to be used against the British in 1779. Captain Jones’s success was a deciding factor in winning French support for the Revolutionary War. Despite winning the Battle of Flamborough Head on September 23, 1779, the heavily damaged ship could not be saved.

The Traditional Ballad Index entry for this song includes a hefty and illuminating collection of notes for this song and its background. It shows up in broadside collections at some time before 1839. Laws classified it as an American song, but it is included in British and Scottish broadside prints as well.

The solemn, patriotic chorus in Killen’s version is:

Hurrah! Our country, forever, hurrah!

Jones’s life after the Revolution took unexpected turns. In 1788, Catherine the Great hired him as a rear admiral in the Russian Navy to fight the Turks in the Black Sea. He won engagements at Liman but was driven out by jealous Russian officers and false accusations. He returned to Paris, where he died largely forgotten on July 18, 1792, at the age of forty-five. He was buried in an unmarked grave in a small Protestant cemetery. Over a century later, in 1905, his body was identified and brought back to the United States with a naval escort; he now lies in a bronze and marble sarcophagus at the Naval Academy chapel in Annapolis.

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