followers took
live coals from a nearby house and with the aid of a tar barrel
succeeded in setting fire to one of the ships that was tied to the
wharf.

By this time it was early morning. Ordering his little band back into
their boats, Jones himself with drawn pistol stood off the curious and
frightened throng of people that had gathered around him. When the
flames arose to such an extent that it had become impossible to save
the ill-fated ship, and not till then, did the plucky commander seek
refuge. As he rowed away with his men the British rushed to the forts
to seek vengeance, where they found that the guns were spiked, and by
the time they had unearthed one or two old cannon the Americans were
well out of harm's way.

All England rang with the story, and the rage and consternation of the
British people is hard to describe. After having held themselves safe
from invasion for hundreds of years and boasting proudly that they
governed every sea, they liked it but ill that their peace should be
disturbed by a nation which was considered by them to be no more than
an insignificant group of revolting farmers. And the moral effect of
the bold raid by Jones exceeded by far any material advantage that he
gained.

While England was still buzzing like a hornet's nest as a result of
this exploit, Jones performed another deed that was even bolder than
the attack on Whitehaven. This was no less than a raid on the estate of
the Earl of Selkirk, where his uncle had worked as a gardener, and
where Jones himself had spent a part of his boyhood. His purpose was to
carry off the Earl as a prisoner of war, and, holding him as a hostage,
to effect the exchange of certain American prisoners who were being
cruelly treated in British prisons. But ill luck still pursued him.
Upon arriving at the Earl's estate he found that Selkirk himself was
away from home and that his mission was fruitless. On the insistence of
his men he took the silver plate that belonged to the Earl, but touched
nothing else on the estate. When the plate came up for sale and the
sailors were to receive their share of the prize money Jones bought the
plate himself and returned it to the Earl with a courteous letter,
explaining that only the exigencies of war and similar conduct of the
British on American territory had compelled him to take such a course.

With the captured plate safe in his vessel, Paul Jones then attacked
the twenty-gun British sloop of war, _Dra