(July 6, 1747–July 18, 1792), was called the “Father of the American Navy.” He was noted for his courage in fighting larger and better equipped fleets. In 1779, he took command of the Bonhomme Richard (Poor Richard), which he named in honor of the Benjamin Franklin, author of Poor Richard’s Almanac. On September 23, 1779, the Bonhomme Richard attacked the British ship, Serapis, which was leading a convoy. The ships came so close to each other that the masts entangled and the cannon muzzles touched. After intense naval combat, which nearly destroyed the Bonhomme Richard, the British commander yelled, wanting to know if the Americans were ready to surrender. John Paul Jones responded:
I have not yet begun to fight.1346
The British convoy finally surrendered after three hours of fighting.
On February 13, 1905, in a message to Congress, President Theodore Roosevelt made comment as to John Paul Jones’ burial as a Protestant in France:
For a number of years efforts have been made to confirm the historical statement that the remains of Admiral John Paul Jones were interred in a certain piece of ground in the city of Paris then owned by the Government and used at the time as a burial place for foreign Protestants. These efforts have at last resulted in documentary proof that John Paul Jones was buried, on July 20, 1792, between 8 and 9 o’clock p.m., in the now abandoned cemetery of St. Louis, in the northeastern section of Paris. …
The great interest which our people feel in the story of Paul Jones’s life, the national sense of gratitude for the great service done by him toward the achievement of independence, and the sentiment of mingled distress and regret felt because the body of one of our greatest heros lies, forgotten and unmarked, in foreign soil, lead me to approve the ambassador’s suggestion that Congress should take advantage of this unexpected opportunity to do proper honor to the memory of Paul Jones.1347