John Paul Jones quote likely recalled wrong

I never realized that the most-quoted example of naval derring-do, "I have not yet begun to fight," attributed to John Paul Jones, is probably inaccurate.

Jones, or someone portraying him, will appear in Norfolk this week. On Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Chrysler Museum's Kaufman Theatre, William Young of Virginia Patriots will portray the dauntless commander. The performance, sponsored by the Norfolk Historical Society, is part of the Norfolk History Museum Series.

But back to the quote. The defiant line that every naval captain knows by heart was a distant recollection. Portsmouth's own Revolutionary War hero, Richard Dale, who served with Jones and led a boarding party against the British warship Serapis, cited the line in an interview with a Jones biographer 46 years after the famous battle.

The actual quote may have been even better.

This was the situation: Jones, in command of the Bonhomme Richard, engaged the Serapis off Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, on Sept. 23, 1779.

Serapis, a faster, better-armed ship, quickly took advantage, punishing the Richard with broadside after broadside. The American ship was burning and sinking, apparently hopeless, and the British captain, Richard Pearson, sent an inquiry, almost out of sympathy, "Have you struck? Do you call for quarter?"

Most accounts, written immediately after the battle, have Jones replying, "I may sink, but I'm damned if I'll strike" or something close to that, according to the Naval Historical Center.

One eyewitness put the line this way: "Ay, Ay, we'll do that (haul down our pennant) when we can fight no longer, but we will see yours come down first; for you must know, that Yankees do not haul down their colors till they have been fairly beaten."

Jones, a Scottish American, wrote that what he said was, "I do not dream of surrendering, but I am determined to make you strike!"

With that, to keep from sinking, Jones ordered his ship lashed to the enemy's and continued the battle. A well-placed hand grenade set off a ferocious explosion, and the British were forced to strike their colors.

Jones took charge of the Serapis, allowed the Richard to sink, then sailed home in triumph.

Jones' story is laced with intrigue and controversy that extends even to his name. Once just a ship's boy named John Paul, he made his way up the merchant ladder to captain. But on the island of Tobago, he ran a supposedly mutinous crew member through with his sword. Afraid of what local authorities would do, he retreated to Maryland and changed his identity by adding the third name.

After his brilliant Revolutionary War career, Jones was unable to resume command of a warship. He went to Paris to negotiate prize money claims, then hired himself out to the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia as a rear admiral. But even that didn't earn him much respect.

In "John Paul Jones, Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy," Evan Thomas quotes Thomas Carlyle in Paris: "In faded naval uniform, John Paul Jones lingers visible here; like a wine skin from which the wine is drawn. Like the ghost of himself."

Speaking of ghosts, although the great naval hero never set foot in, or sailed the waters of, Hampton Roads - at least not corporally - his likeness may have put in an appearance. According to naval scholar Alan Flanders, folklore has it that Jones' apparition sometimes descends the stairway at Building 33, the commander's quarters, at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

All I can say is, I have not yet begun to write.

Paul Clancy, paulclancy@msn.com, or www.paulclancystories.com