Category: Historical Novels
This is in the long-ago, or, to be exact, in July, 1759. The new brig _Friendship_, not a fortnight off the stocks, is lying in her home harbor of Whitehaven, being fitted to her first suit of sails. Captain Bennison is restlessly about her decks, overseeing those sea-tailors,...
At Kingston, Captain Denbigh goes ashore with first mate Jack Paul, and pays over in Bank of England paper those one thousand pounds which represent that one-sixth interest in t...
14. CHAPTER XIV--THE SAILING OF THE “RICHARDCaptain Paul Jones goes down to l’Orient to begin the overhaul and refit of the _Richard_. The ship is twenty years old, and he finds it shaken and worn by time and weather. It...
2. CHAPTER II--IN THE BLACK TRADEThe sun is struggling through the dust-coated, cobwebbed windows, and lighting dimly yet sufficiently the dingy office of Shipowner Younger of Whitehaven. That substantial man i...
13. CHAPTER XIII--THE DUCHESS OF CHARTRESIt is a notable gathering that assembles at Doctor Franklin’s house in Passy. Mr. Adams and his wife have just arrived, and the doctor presents them to Madame Brillon and Madame...
10. CHAPTER X--THE COUNSEL OF CADWALADERPhiladelphia is experiencing a cool June, and in a sober, Quakerish way shows grateful for it. The windows of General Washington’s apartments, looking out into Chestnut Street,...
12. CHAPTER XII--HOW THE “RANGER” TOOK THE “DRAKEFour months slip by; it is April, and the idle _Ranger_ rides in the harbor of Brest. Morose, sore with inactivity, Captain Paul Jones seeks out Doctor Franklin at the philosoph...
7. CHAPTER VII--THE BLAST OF WARNorfolk is never more at peace than on the day succeeding the ball. There is no challenge, no duel. Planter Paul Jones waits to hear from Lieutenant Parker; at first hopefully;...
16. CHAPTER XVI--HOW THE BATTLE RAGEDCommodore Paul Jones drops overboard his cocked hat. Orderly Jack Downes rushes into the cabin and gets another. Returning, he offers it to Commodore Paul Jones, who waves it aw...
27. CHAPTER XXVII--THE HOUSE IN THE RUE TOURNONAnd now dawn many days of love and peace and plenty for Admiral Panl Jones, days in the midst of friends, glad days made sumptuous by a beautiful woman, who is a king’s daughter...
11. CHAPTER XI--THE GOOD SHIP RANGER“Captain Jones,” says the latter, speaking with a kindly gravity, “Mr. Morris and I have so pushed your affairs with the Marine Committee that to-morrow Congress will pass a dou...
8. CHAPTER VIII--THE PLANTER TURNS LIEUTENANTIt was Mr. Adams who opposed you. The best place I could make was that of lieutenant. Mr. Adams wouldn’t hear of you as a captain; and since, with General Washington, Virginia a...
19. CHAPTER XIX--NOW FOR THE TRAITOR LANDAISWhile the Dutch and Sir Joseph are debating as to whether Commodore Paul Jones is a rebel, a pirate or a disagreeable guest, that gentleman discovers Landais, with the Alliance,...
6. CHAPTER VI--THE FIRST BLOW IN VIRGINIAIt is a soundless, soft December evening. The quietly falling flakes are cloaking in thin white the streets and roofs of Norfolk. Off shore, a cable’s length, an English sloop o...
15. CHAPTER XV--THE “RICHARD” AND THE “SERAPISAs the _Richard_ goes into action, Commodore Paul Jones swings his glass along the eastern horizon. The _Pallas_ is going down the wind, in hot pursuit of the _Countess of Scarb...
4. CHAPTER IV--THE KILLING OF MUNGOCaptain Jack Paul and his _Grantully Castle_ see friendly years together. They go to India, to Spain, to the West Indies, to the Mediterranean, to Africa. While Captain Jack Pau...
17. CHAPTER XVII--THE SURRENDER OF THE “SERAPISMaster-at-arms John Burbank looks over the _Richard_‘s side, and makes a discovery. The ship has settled three feet below its trim. Thereupon he loses his head, which was never...
23. CHAPTER XXIII--THE WEDDING WITHOUT BELLSDoctor Franklin journeys down to Lyons, on some secret errand of his own; he will be gone a week. Commodore Paul Jones, at home with the good Marsan, drunk with love, forgets th...
5. CHAPTER V--THE SAILOR TURNS PLANTERThe wooded April banks of the Rappahannock are flourishing in the new green of an early Virginia spring. The bark _Two Friends_, Captain Jack Paul, out of Whitehaven by way of L...
22. CHAPTER XXII--THE FÊTE OF THE DUCHESS DE CHARTRESThe Duke and Duchess de Chartres give a grand banquet in honor of Commodore Paul Jones. The Duchess asks Doctor Franklin, whom she esteems, and calls “Monsieur le Sage” for his...
28. CHAPTER XXVIII--LOVE AND THOSE LAST DAYSAimee is right. Admiral Paul Jones, never his old sound self since that last cruise in the West Indies, is ill. Gourgaud says it is his lungs, and commands him to take care of h...
18. CHAPTER XVIII--DIPLOMACY AND THE DUTCHCommodore Paul Jones goes aboard the beaten _Serapis_. “Cut free that sta’board anchor!” he cries. The piled dead and wounded are lifted aside, and that fatal anchor, which for...
21. CHAPTER XXI--ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA“There is surely no reason why you shouldn’t know, my dear Commodore,” she says; “since all France knows. Aimee’s mother is of the de Tiercelins--a noble house, but impoverished...
25. CHAPTER XXV--CATHERINE OF RUSSIACommodore Paul Jones, nervously irritable with the loss of the _America_, asks leave of Congress to go as a volunteer with the French fleet, which hopes to find and fight the En...
1. CHAPTER I--HIS BAPTISM OF THE SEAThis is in the long-ago, or, to be exact, in July, 1759. The new brig _Friendship_, not a fortnight off the stocks, is lying in her home harbor of Whitehaven, being fitted to he...
9. CHAPTER IX--THE CRUISE OF THE “PROVIDENCEFour ships--the _Alfred_, Captain Saltonstall, in the van, with Commodore Hopkins in command of the squadron--sail away on a rainy February day. They clear Cape Henlopen, and tu...
24. CHAPTER XXIV--THAT HONEYMOON SUB ROSAThe Duchess kisses Aimee, and the good Marsan drives back to her palace with the blissful ones through the black midnight Paris streets. Commodore Paul Jones is in a trance of h...
26. CHAPTER XXVI--AN ADMIRAL OF RUSSIAAdmiral Paul Jones travels to the mouth of the Dnieper and joins Potemkin, who is a military fool. Suwarrow, old and cunning and vigilant and war-wise, is another man. He goes a...
20. CHAPTER XX--AIMEE ADELE DE TELISONIt is Christmas day. Out of the furious southwest blows a storm. The English ships, guarding the mouth of the Helder, are driven from their stations, and carried far out to sea....