h Jones was the first
lieutenant, the Columbus, the Andria Doria, and the Cabot, sailed in
February, 1776, against Fort Nassau, New Providence Island, in the
Bahamas. The only vessel of any force in the squadron was the Alfred, an
East Indiaman, which Jones had armed with twenty-four nine-pounders on
the gun-deck, and six six-pounders on the quarter-deck. The only officer
in the fleet who, with the exception of Jones, ever showed any ability
was Nicholas Biddle of the Doria. The expedition, consequently, was
sufficiently inglorious. A barren descent was made on New Providence
Island, and later the fleet was engaged with the British sloop of war
Glasgow, which, in spite of the odds against her, seems to have had the
best of the encounter. Jones was stationed between decks to command the
Alfred's first battery, which he trained on the enemy with his usual
efficiency. He says in his journal what was evidently true: "Mr. Jones,
therefore, did his duty; and as he had no direction whatever, either of
the general disposition of the squadron, or the sails and helm of the
Alfred, he can stand charged with no part of the disgrace of that
night."

A number of courts-martial resulted from this inept affair and from
other initial mistakes. Captain Hazard of the Providence, a sloop of war
of fourteen guns and 103 men, was dismissed from the service, and Jones
was put in command of the ship. "This proves," said Jones, "that Mr.
Jones did his duty on the Providence expedition."

Jones continued to do his duty by making a number of energetic descents
on the enemy's shipping. His method was to hunt out the merchant vessels
in harbor, whence they could not escape, rather than to search for them
on the open sea. In June, 1776, he cruised in the Providence from
Bermuda to the Banks of Newfoundland, a region infested with the war
vessels of the British, captured sixteen vessels, made an attack on
Canso, Nova Scotia, thereby releasing several American prisoners, burned
three vessels belonging to the Cape Breton fishery, and in a descent on
the Isle of Madame destroyed several fishing smacks. He twice escaped,
through superior seamanship, from heavy English frigates. One of these
strong frigates, the Milford, continued to fire from a great distance,
after the little Providence was out of danger. Of this Jones wrote: "He
excited my contempt so much, by his continued firing, at more than twice
the proper distance, that when he rounded to, to gi