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SITE OF THE WEEK

Portsmouth is technically her home port. This was a city of privateers and the famous John Paul Jones, who sailed the original SLOOP PROVIDENCE. Keep track of the reconstructed training ship via their web site.

NOTE: This is a really old review. They have an entirely new Web site CLICK HERE

My personal addiction to the legends of John Paul Jones has been too often documented in these pages. His character is the subject of my unfinished novel. His images decorate the walls of my Portsmouth office on the grounds of the Paul Jones Museum. On my only vacation week this fall, I hope to tour, with the president of the Jones House, Jones birthplace cottage in Scotland on his beloved Solway Bay. Type his name into the Internet -- you find me.

Any true Jonesiac can list the chronology of his ships by rote -- Providence, Alfred, Ranger, Bonhomme Richard, Arial, Alliance, America. There were ships on either end of the list, but these are the ones that impacted American history. Of this historic fleet, only the reconstructed Providence plies the seas today. So imagine my thrill upon learning that the Providence will make its first visit to Seacoast, NH this month.

Piscataqua citizens proudly point out that the American Revolution really escalated into a sea battle in 1777 when Capt. Jones sailed the Portsmouth-built Ranger into harm's way along the coast of the British Isles. But Rhode Island residents have a prior claim. The Revolution, they say, began in Narragansett Bay. In December 1775, Paul Jones hoisted the Grand Union flag (predecessor to the Stars and Stripes) above the square-rigged sloop Providence. Aboard this converted merchant ship (formerly Katy), he defended the eastern seaboard from the invading Royal Navy in what many call the first ship of the what was to become the American Navy.

After capturing 40 British prizes in the Revolution, the original Providence went to the briny deep in 1779, scuttled by its own crew in a rear guard action. By then Jones had been to Portsmouth, raided Whitehaven in the Ranger, and was battling the Serapis in the Bonhomme off the coast of England. But my Rhode Island history is fuzzy and full of holes, so in anticipation of the arriving tall ship, I clicked over to the Providence web site for more background. It's a lovely site with a stylish corporate look in blues and gold.

But no Jones! The famous captain is mentioned only once on the homepage, and from what I could glean, never appears again. There is plenty of info about the Providence as a sail-training vessel, details on corporate and private leasing plans, facts on fund-raising. Visitors can click to a superb Public Radio clip about the vessel in which Jones is never referred to even in passing. It all reminded me of the lines penned by Walt Whitman on the assassination of President Lincoln:

THE WEB SITE MAKER

"We're not ignoring him," Robert Hofmann says of John Paul Jones. "We embrace, celebrate and point out our history. But our organization and our vessel are much more than one historical character."

Hofmann is executive director of the Providence Maritime Heritage Foundation, the group that maintains the sloop and its educational programs. Today the Providence teaches tough urban kids valuable life lessons about teamwork and discipline. Students learn how to raise a sail, fire a cannon, stock, maintain and sail a square-rigged ship. It's hard work that requires cooperation and sweat.

Providence web designer Marc Ardizzone (www.ardizzoneweb.com) says he built the site two years ago when he first got into the business. He was up for a maritime history project and got along famously with Hofmann and sloop captain Austin Becker, whom he describes as a passionate and dynamic leader.

Ardizzone says he too is a fan of Jones and Revolutionary figures like Sam Adams, Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen and other "thorns in the paw of the British lion" back in those heady days. The missing historic data on Jones, he says, is because the focus of the Foundation is on giving as many kids as many real-life experiences as possible. The Web comes second, although new history features are on the horizon according to Hofmann.

THE UP SHOT

Those planning to build a Portsmouth tall ship can learn a lesson from the Providence too. Built during the patriotic bubble of the American Bicentennial back in 1976, the reconstructed Providence was very much Capt. Jones' ship, his fame drove the project ahead. But the project eventually faltered. The city of Providence saved the tall ship that carried its name by bailing the vessel out of bankruptcy. Today the city supports 15-20 percent of the annual costs, Hofmann says.

To stay afloat, like the original Providence, the ship has to earn its keep. That means finding ways to entice corporate support.

"History can be two-dimensional. Sail-training makes it three dimensional,' Hofmann says. "Corporations are more interested in the educational goals we have in mind because we're doing something to make life better."

"Just because this was John Paul Jones’ first command as captain, doesn't really resonate with most people now," he explains. "What's more important is that it (Sloop Providence) can take a 14-year old inner city tough and show him how to cooperate."

The Ranger Foundation dedicated to building another Paul Jones battleship and reviewed here earlier, is also incorporating sail training into its $10 million fundraising program. But while we are often whipped to a patriotic fervor here over Jones’ connection with our region, as Hofmann points out, funding corporations are less emotionally motivated. The return on investment (ROI) is their bottom line. The web site reflects those goals and is targeted to those people.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Ranger Foundation failed to accomplish its goals and has disbanded.

In one practical training exercise aboard Providence, students are required to calculate the volume of cargo the ship will carry, then figure out what products can be most profitably shipped in the 18^th century. They learn the physics of hoisting sails, the astronomy of navigation, the science of weather prediction, the mathematics of business and the politics of international trade. It may not be as exciting as blasting British ships, but today, education is the coin of the realm. And once the kids get aboard the real ship and sail her, Hofmann says with pride, the hard-won lessons stick.