hement letters about these
"skippers." To Joseph Hewes: "There are characters among the thirteen on
the list who are truly contemptible--with such, as a private gentleman,
I would disdain to sit down--I would disdain to be acquainted.... Until
they give proof of their superior ability, I never shall acknowledge
them as my senior officers--I never will act under their command." He
wrote to Robert Morris: " ... Nor will I ever draw my sword under the
command of any man who was not in the service as early as myself, unless
he hath merited a preference by his superior services or abilities." In
these and similar remarks, Jones did not show that sense of absolute
subordination which he had said, in his report on the qualifications of
naval officers, was of prime importance, and which he strenuously
demanded from his inferiors in rank. He was always jealous of any
superior in his own line, but, fortunately, after his first cruise, he
was always the ranking officer on his ship.

Jones protested, however, without avail, but on the 4th of November,
1776, he was put in command of the Alfred, and with the Providence in
company made a cruise of about a month, captured seven merchant ships of
the enemy, several of them carrying valuable supplies to the army, and
again cleverly avoided the superior British frigates. Complaining of the
action of the Providence, "which gave him the slip in the night," as he
put it, Jones wrote Hewes: "If such doings are permitted, the navy will
never rise above contempt!... the aforesaid noble captain doth not
understand the first case of plain Trigonometry." On the subject of the
navy he wrote Robert Morris, at a later period: "The navy is in a
wretched condition. It wants a man of ability at its head who could
bring on a purgation, and distinguish between the abilities of a
gentleman and those of a mere sailor or boatswain's mate." In still
another letter: "If my feeble voice is heard when I return to
Philadelphia, our navy matters will assume a better face." Again, as
late as 1782, he wrote Captain O'Neill: "I am altogether in the dark
about what has been done to reestablish the credit of our marine. In the
course of near seven years' service I have continually suggested what
has occurred to me as most likely to promote its honor and render it
serviceable; but my voice has been like a cry in the wilderness."

After his return from the cruise in the Alfred, Jones served on the
Board of Advice to the