The Celtics and the Spirit of John Paul Jones

I came across this little piece of history. It sort of reminds me of the spirit of Danny Ainge and the entire Celtics organization these past 12 months. Worcester

John Paul Jones
By Dennis M. Conrad

John Paul Jones personifies the fighting spirit and the never-say-die attitude of the United States Navy. This spirit was never more evident than at the Battle off Flamborough Head, one of the most desperate sea-fights in naval history and the most famous engagement involving an American vessel fought during the American Revolution.
In September 1779, Jones served as captain of Bonhomme Richard, an old converted merchant vessel, and commanded a "fleet" of three smaller warships in the waters off Scotland and northern England when he encountered a British convoy carrying naval stores to England from the Baltic Sea region. Acting as an escort to this convoy were two British warships. The largest of these warships, which Jones engaged, was Serapis, a 44-gun vessel - though at the time carrying fifty guns - with a crew of 284. A ship of that size and firepower occupied a place in the eighteenth-century Royal Navy equivalent to a cruiser in its twentieth-century counterpart. From the battle's onset, Bonhomme Richard was at a disadvantage fighting a ship with superior firepower and maneuverability. Moreover, an accident that occurred early in the engagement greatly increased the odds against an American victory. On the second broadside fired by Bonhomme Richard, two of its biggest guns exploded. (At least one expert believes only one gun may have exploded, but that two neighboring guns were dismounted by the blast.) In a memoir that he later penned, Jones wrote that many of the officers and men working those guns, "who had been selected as the best of the crew," were killed, wounded, "or so frightened that none of them was of any use during the remainder of the engagement." This accident completely silenced Bonhomme Richard's biggest guns and left the ship vulnerable to being pounded to pieces by Serapis.
Understanding immediately that it would be suicidal to continue to trade broadsides with Serapis, Jones by superior seamanship moved Bonhomme Richard close to the enemy ship, allowing his crew to use grapples and lines to secure Bonhomme Richard to it, thus negating some of the advantages enjoyed by Serapis. Even with the ships locked together, however, the British gunners, the British gunners continued to fire into Bonhomme Richard until the hull and lower decks of the American ship were so battered that it resembled more a raft than a fighting ship. In fact, the British gunners wreaked such devastation with their broadsides that they had to reposition their guns continually or their cannonballs would pass through Bonhomme Richard without hitting anything solid.
As the sea poured in through the holes punched in its hull by British cannonballs, the hold of the ship filled with water. As the long battle neared its climax, Bonhomme Richard lay half submerged and was kept afloat only because the master at arms released one hundred British prisoners who were told to man the pumps and pump for their lives or the vessel would sink and they would drown. Even their efforts could not keep pace with the incoming sea. In short, the American ship was sinking.
As if this situation were not dire enough, fires raged both aloft in the sails and rigging and below decks. In fact, fighting at times ceased so the crews of both vessels could combat these out-of-control blazes. Finally, the continued pounding inflicted by Serapis had left half of Jones' crew dead or wounded.
At this point in the battle, the senior warrant officer of Bonhomme Richard and the ship's carpenter, unable to see their captain or the first lieutenant and assuming both were dead, decided to surrender their sinking, burning ship. They called for a ceasefire and ran to haul down the ship's pendant at the head of the mainmast - the signal that an eighteenth-century ship was giving up the fight. Hearing their calls for surrender, an enraged Jones drew his pistols and ran at them, shouting, "shoot them, kill them!" The two would-be surrenderers abandoned their attempt to lower the ship's pendant and turned to flee when they spied Jones approaching them. Jones, finding his pistols unloaded, hurled his empty guns at the carpenter, the slower of the two fleeing men, striking him on the head and knocking him unconscious. The captain of the British warship, who heard the calls for surrender, yelled across to the Jones, "Have you struck? Do you call for Quarter?" Jones then replied, "I have not yet begun to fight," - words that have defined he American navy ever since. With that, the battle continued.
Jones' fighting spirit and determination were contagious. Though the odds against victory remained formidable, Jones' will to win reinvigorated his crew. They renewed the battle "with double fury" and succeeded in repelling a British boarding party that attempted to capture the American vessel just after the surrender incident. The key moment of the battle then occurred. A Scottish seaman serving in Bonhomme Richard climbed down from the top of the mainmast, moved along a spar to a point above Serapis' decks and began to throw the eighteenth-century equivalent of hand grenades onto the deck of the enemy. One of these "grenades" rolled down a partially opened hatch and landed near cartridges that had been stacked along the portside guns of the Serapis. Because of the position of the two ships, these guns were not in action and these spare cartridges were piled behind them. The grenade's explosion ignited these cartridges, which in turn ignited other cartridges on the gun deck creating a flash-fire, which had a devastatingly horrible effect in the cramped gun deck filled with men and officers. Twenty crewmen died instantly and another thirty were badly injured. Several of these men - their clothes burned off, their skin seared, and their hair on fire - jumped out of the ship's gun ports into the sea. With this disaster, the big guns of Serapis fell silent.
When news of the disaster was conveyed to the captain, Richard Pearson, he decided to surrender and save his remaining crew from slaughter. Calling for quarter, he personally made his way to the rear of the warship and hauled down the battle ensign. Thus ended the three-and-one-half-hour battle. Jones and his crew had prevailed and had captured the enemy's vessel, which was fortunate since the badly damaged Bonhomme Richard sank shortly after the battle. Against long odds and a formidable foe, they had achieved a remarkable victory.

Worcester,

One of my favorite American Revolution stories.

You're right; it does apply well to the spirit of the Celtics this season. Just when everyone thought we were sunk...

Regards

Great story Worcester. Of course I'd heard his famous statement, and I knew they had won the battle. But the details are fascinating.

I have one question. If the Bonhomme Richard sank, how did its remaining crew capitalize on their victory? Were they able to salvage the conquered British ship?

Let's hope the Three Amigos have the same sentiment in mind and in unison.

Sam

Sam, Yes they boarded the British vessel and made it their own. Just like the Celtics will take to the boards at Staples Center and make that court our own. I doubt the Lakers will have any balloons hung in the rafters next week.