Jones grew up in Scotland, became a sailor, and served as commander of several British merchant ships. After having killed one of his crew members with a sword, he fled to the Colony of Virginia and around 1775 joined the newly founded Continental Navy in their fight against Britain in the American Revolutionary War. He commanded U.S. Navy ships stationed in France and led several assaults on England and Ireland. Left without a command in 1787, he joined the Imperial Russian Navy and obtained the rank of rear admiral.\n', '

John Paul (he added "Jones" in later life to hide from law enforcement) was born on the estate of Arbigland near Kirkbean in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright on the southwest coast of Scotland. His father John Paul, Sr. was a gardener at Arbigland, and his mother was Jean McDuff (1708–1767). His parents married on November 29, 1733 in New Abbey, Kirkcudbright.\n', '

John Paul started his maritime career at the age of 13, sailing out of Whitehaven in the northern English county of Cumberland as apprentice aboard Friendship under Captain Benson. Paul\'s older brother William Paul had married and settled in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Virginia was the destination of many of the younger Jones\' voyages.\n', '

Return to John Paul Jones Autograph Profile