n the lucky officers and crews divided the plunder.
It was a very tempting field for the brave and enterprising Americans
and when, in March, 1776, Congress gave them permission to fit out and
sail privateers, they were quick to use the chance of securing prize
money as it was called. Those swift sailing vessels and their daring
crews sailed out of Salem, Cape Ann, Newburyport, Bristol and other
seacoast towns, and they did not have to hunt long before they found the
richest sort of prizes. In the single year 1776 these privateers
captured 342 British vessels and wrought great havoc among the English
shipping.

In January, 1778, one of these privateers entered the harbor of New
Providence, in the Bahamas, and captured the fort and a sixteen-gun
man-of-war. Many other valiant exploits were performed and before long
some of the more daring privateers boldly crossed the Atlantic and by
their deeds threw the coast of Great Britain into consternation.

Among the most remarkable of these naval heroes was a young Scotchman,
not quite thirty years old.

[Illustration]

He had been trained in the merchant service and had become a skilful
sailor before he removed to Virginia, where he made his home. He
devotedly loved his adopted country, and, when the war broke out between
the colonies and Great Britain, and the long, hard struggle for
independence began, he was among the very first to offer his services on
the side of liberty. His character was so well known and appreciated
that he was appointed a first lieutenant. I am sure you have all heard
of him, for his name was John Paul Jones, though since, for some reason
or other, he dropped his first name and is generally referred to simply
as Paul Jones.

His first service was on the _Alfred_, which helped in the capture of
the fort at New Providence, already spoken of. Jones with his own hands
hoisted the first flag displayed on an American man-of-war. It was of
yellow silk, with the device of a rattlesnake, and bore the motto,
"Don't tread on me."

Jones attracted such favorable attention during this enterprise that on
his return he was made commander of the twelve-ton brig _Providence_ and
was employed for a time in carrying troops from Rhode Island to New
York. Since he was by birth a citizen of Great Britain, which then
insisted that "once a British subject always a British subject," the
English cruisers made determined efforts to capture him. Many of the
officers decla