|
The Softer Side of John Paul Jones |
Seacoast History Blog #46
May 5, 2009
Everywhere you go, the saying goes, there you are. But it's different for me. No matter where I travel, I seem to stay enmeshed in Seacoast, NH. Take this week when we are, technically, at Cape Cod. I'm shipping this blog in from Falmouth, MA where a family member is recovering from a severe battle with pneumonia. Checking Gmail, I find a letter from a reader who lives on a mountain top somewhere in California. Checking the phone machine back home, he has been calling about a painting he bought at yard sale. He thinks it shows the battle of the Bonhomme Richard. That would be John Paul Jones, and JPJ, like Portsmouth, follows me wherever I go. (Continued below)
Patton says patriot, not privateer
I get at least one John Paul Jones inquiry a week. Jones only spent 18 months in New Hampshire, but he his brief visit is turning into a lifetime of work for me. I've become his answering service, at least until the next historian comes along. Years ago I gave a talk entitled "How John Paul Jones Stole My Life". He's still at it.
VISIT OUR John Paul Jones section
Most letters are from people named Jones, determined that they are descended from the captain with the famous name. Of course, most are not, as I never cease to point out, because his name was not Jones and he had no (legal at least ) descendants. The second largest group of contactees believe they may own something of great value -- usually a tattered reproduction flag, an old document, old weapon, old book or painting. The guy on the mountain in California had a nice painting and sent a photo.
I'm handicapped in this regard by a total lack of knowledge about art and about sea battles. Naval war paintings all look the same to me. One ship is in better shape than the other. The sea rages. Smoke furls. Flags flutter. This particular image looked very familiar, and even I could tell from the scan that it wasn't old, certainly 20th century, and possibly an amateur copy or a print on textured paper. Novices often believe that a painting in a gilt wooden frame is as old as the battle itself -- as if the painter was stationed on a nearby ship recording the event on canvas like an early photographer for the AP.
Since I was distracted with family troubles, I sent the picture to the smartest maritime guy I know. Melbourne Smith has designed dozens of naval vessels from the Niagra to the Pride of Baltimore. I was embarrassed to receive his quick reply. My reader was the proud owner of a knock-off of one of the most famous paintings in the JPJ canon (that's cannon with one "n"). It showed a John Paul Jones ship all right, as depicted more than a century after the famous captain had died by Edward Moran. The 1898 painting is Moran's imagined view of the Ranger, built at Portsmouth, NH. The painting is on the cover of Joe Sawtelle's book and I've probably seen it a thousand times. It shows the French salute to the Ranger off Quiberon Bay on February 14, 1778, reportedly the first foreign recognition of American sovereignty.
Sitting for hours among the bleeping machinery deep within the ICU of Falmouth Hospital, I passed a few hours reading. I downloaded a copy of "Patriot Pirates" by Robert Patton onto my Kindle and let the robot voice read to me through a dangling set of earphones. Patton, of course, mentions Portsmouth, NH more than a dozen times. He is kind to our John Langdon, picturing him less as a privateer, than as one of the few patriots who tried to work by the rules that he himself helped devise for the evolving Continental Navy. He describes Langdon as a "prickly patriot", mellow and righteous in comparison to the "The Browns" or Rhode Island who tired to squeeze every nickel out of the Revolution. Langdon certainly profited too, but he risked more and paid his dues by kicking off the war and serving in various government posts at great risk to life and limb.
John Paul Jones too comes off more patriot than pirate, although the author's research tends toward the most modern popular accounts and he relies on the new biography of Jones by Evan Thomas. Although Jones has long been called a pirate and soldier of fortune by some, Patton places Jones clearly in the category of patriot (albiet a patriot from another country) who spurned the privateers as gold-diggers who valued money above liberty. An odd sentiment, perhaps, for a man who made his early fortune as a slave trader. But by the Portsmouth period in his life, and I think Patton is right, Jones was more in search of glory than money. He should be happily rolling around in his tomb at Annapolis over his treatment in Patton's book. And as soon s we get home, I'll see Captain Jones has received any more fan mail.
Copyright (c) 2009 by J. Dennis Robinson. All rights reserved.
Joomla! Debug Console
session.client.forwarded ⇒ 10.3.184.74
session.client.browser ⇒ Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
password_clear ⇒
groups ⇒
com_rsfirewall.geoip ⇒
6.18 MB (6,483,888 Bytes)
57 Queries Logged
SELECT `data`
FROM `rabbul_session`
WHERE `session_id` = '23f8652601a1b0606bcba88eb903cf0a'SELECT folder AS type, element AS name, params
FROM rabbul_extensions
WHERE enabled >= 1
AND type ='plugin'
AND state >= 0
AND access IN (1,1)
ORDER BY orderingSELECT extension_id AS id, element AS "option", params, enabled
FROM rabbul_extensions
WHERE `type` = 'component'
AND `element` = 'com_languages'SELECT `query`
FROM `rabbul_admintools_wafexceptions`
WHERE (`option` IS NULL OR `option` = '')
AND (`view` IS NULL OR `view` = '')
GROUP BY `query`
ORDER BY `query` ASCSELECT `value`
FROM `rabbul_admintools_storage`
WHERE `key` = 'cparams'SELECT `path`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_ignored
WHERE `type`='ignore_folder' OR `type`='ignore_file'SELECT `file`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_hashes
WHERE `type`='protect'SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_configurationSHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_sef_config`SELECT *
FROM rabbul_sef_config
WHERE `id` = '1'SELECT non_sef_url,alias
FROM rabbul_sef_alias
WHERE published='1'
ORDER BY idSELECT m.id, m.menutype, m.title, m.alias, m.note, m.path AS route, m.link, m.type, m.level, m.language,m.browserNav, m.access, m.params, m.home, m.img, m.template_style_id, m.component_id, m.parent_id,e.element as component
FROM rabbul_menu AS m
LEFT JOIN rabbul_extensions AS e
ON m.component_id = e.extension_id
WHERE m.published = 1
AND m.parent_id > 0
AND m.client_id = 0
ORDER BY m.lftSELECT *
FROM rabbul_sef_redirect
WHERE CONVERT(source USING latin1) COLLATE latin1_general_cs = 'the-softer-side-of-john-paul-jones/?print=1&tmpl=component'
AND published='1'
LIMIT 1SELECT id
FROM rabbul_menu
WHERE alias='the-softer-side-of-john-paul-jones'
AND published=1SELECT id
FROM rabbul_categories
WHERE path='the-softer-side-of-john-paul-jones'
AND extension='com_content'SELECT id,catid
FROM rabbul_content
WHERE alias='the-softer-side-of-john-paul-jones'
AND state>0SELECT id,catid
FROM rabbul_content
WHERE alias='the-softer-side-of-john-paul-jones'
AND state>0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_menu
WHERE type='component'
AND published='1'
AND link LIKE 'index.php?option=com_content&view=article%&id=2330'
ORDER BY idSELECT id
FROM rabbul_menu
WHERE type='component'
AND published='1'
AND link LIKE 'index.php?option=com_content&view=categor%&id=258'
ORDER BY idSELECT `id`
FROM `rabbul_usergroups`SELECT parent.id, parent.lft, parent.rgt
FROM rabbul_usergroups AS parent
ORDER BY parent.lftSHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_assets`SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT b.rules
FROM rabbul_assets AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_assets AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt
WHERE (a.name = '')
GROUP BY b.id, b.rules, b.lft
ORDER BY b.lftSELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT rules
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE id = '1'SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT u.*
FROM rabbul_user_usergroup_map m
RIGHT JOIN rabbul_users u
ON (u.id=m.user_id)
WHERE m.group_id IN (6,7,8)
GROUP BY u.id
ORDER BY u.username ASCSHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_rsfirewall_logs`SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_hashes
WHERE (`type`='2.5.28' OR `type`='protect')
AND `flag`!='C'SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_snapshots
WHERE `type`='protect'SELECT `ip`,`reason`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_lists
WHERE (`ip`='10.3.184.74' OR `ip` LIKE '%*%')
AND `type`='1'
AND `published`='1'SELECT `ip`,`reason`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_lists
WHERE (`ip`='10.3.184.74' OR `ip` LIKE '%*%')
AND `type`='0'
AND `published`='1'SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_exceptions
WHERE `published`='1'SELECT extension_id AS id, element AS "option", params, enabled
FROM rabbul_extensions
WHERE `type` = 'component'
AND `element` = 'com_content'SELECT *
FROM rabbul_languages
WHERE published=1
ORDER BY ordering ASCSELECT id, home, template, s.params
FROM rabbul_template_styles as s
LEFT JOIN rabbul_extensions as e
ON e.element=s.template
AND e.type='template'
AND e.client_id=s.client_id
WHERE s.client_id = 0
AND e.enabled = 1SELECT b.rules
FROM rabbul_assets AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_assets AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt
WHERE (a.name = 'com_content')
GROUP BY b.id, b.rules, b.lft
ORDER BY b.lftSELECT extension_id AS id, element AS "option", params, enabled
FROM rabbul_extensions
WHERE `type` = 'component'
AND `element` = 'com_users'SELECT b.id
FROM rabbul_usergroups AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_usergroups AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt
WHERE a.id = 1SELECT a.id, a.asset_id, a.title, a.alias, a.title_alias, a.introtext, a.fulltext,
CASE WHEN badcats.id is null THEN a.state ELSE 0 END AS state, a.mask, a.catid, a.created, a.created_by, a.created_by_alias,
CASE WHEN a.modified = 0 THEN a.created ELSE a.modified END as modified, a.modified_by, a.checked_out, a.checked_out_time, a.publish_up, a.publish_down, a.images, a.urls, a.attribs, a.version, a.parentid, a.ordering, a.metakey, a.metadesc, a.access, a.hits, a.metadata, a.featured, a.language, a.xreference,c.title AS category_title, c.alias AS category_alias, c.access AS category_access,u.name AS author,(
SELECT MAX(contact.id) AS id
FROM rabbul_contact_details AS contact
WHERE contact.published = 1
AND contact.user_id = a.created_by) as contactid,parent.title as parent_title, parent.id as parent_id, parent.path as parent_route, parent.alias as parent_alias,ROUND(v.rating_sum / v.rating_count, 0) AS rating, v.rating_count as rating_count
FROM rabbul_content AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_categories AS c
on c.id = a.catid
LEFT JOIN rabbul_users AS u
on u.id = a.created_by
LEFT JOIN rabbul_categories as parent
ON parent.id = c.parent_id
LEFT JOIN rabbul_content_rating AS v
ON a.id = v.content_id
LEFT
OUTER JOIN (SELECT cat.id as id
FROM rabbul_categories AS cat JOIN rabbul_categories AS parent
ON cat.lft BETWEEN parent.lft
AND parent.rgt
WHERE parent.extension = 'com_content'
AND parent.published <= 0
GROUP BY cat.id) AS badcats
ON badcats.id = c.id
WHERE a.id = 2330
AND (a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2026-11-03 09:14:14')
AND (a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2026-11-03 09:14:14')
AND (a.state = 1 OR a.state =2)SELECT c.*,
CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(c.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(':', c.id, c.alias) ELSE c.id END as slug
FROM rabbul_categories as c
LEFT JOIN rabbul_categories AS s
ON (s.lft <= c.lft
AND s.rgt >= c.rgt) OR (s.lft > c.lft
AND s.rgt < c.rgt)
LEFT JOIN (SELECT cat.id as id
FROM rabbul_categories AS cat JOIN rabbul_categories AS parent
ON cat.lft BETWEEN parent.lft
AND parent.rgt
WHERE parent.extension = 'com_content'
AND parent.published != 1
GROUP BY cat.id) AS badcats
ON badcats.id = c.id
WHERE (c.extension='com_content' OR c.extension='system')
AND c.access IN (1,1)
AND c.published = 1
AND s.id=258
AND badcats.id is null
GROUP BY c.id, c.asset_id, c.access, c.alias, c.checked_out, c.checked_out_time,
c.created_time, c.created_user_id, c.description, c.extension, c.hits, c.language, c.level,
c.lft, c.metadata, c.metadesc, c.metakey, c.modified_time, c.note, c.params, c.parent_id,
c.path, c.published, c.rgt, c.title, c.modified_user_id
ORDER BY c.lftSELECT a.alias AS article
FROM rabbul_content AS a
WHERE a.id = 2330UPDATE rabbul_content
SET hits = hits + 1
WHERE id = 2330UPDATE `rabbul_session`
SET `data` = '__default|a:9:{s:15:\"session.counter\";i:2;s:19:\"session.timer.start\";i:1793697254;s:18:\"session.timer.last\";i:1793697254;s:17:\"session.timer.now\";i:1793697254;s:24:\"session.client.forwarded\";s:11:\"10.3.184.74\";s:22:\"session.client.browser\";s:103:\"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)\";s:8:\"registry\";O:9:\"JRegistry\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}}s:4:\"user\";O:5:\"JUser\":25:{s:9:\"\0*\0isRoot\";b:0;s:2:\"id\";i:0;s:4:\"name\";N;s:8:\"username\";N;s:5:\"email\";N;s:8:\"password\";N;s:14:\"password_clear\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"usertype\";N;s:5:\"block\";N;s:9:\"sendEmail\";i:0;s:12:\"registerDate\";N;s:13:\"lastvisitDate\";N;s:10:\"activation\";N;s:6:\"params\";N;s:6:\"groups\";a:0:{}s:5:\"guest\";i:1;s:13:\"lastResetTime\";N;s:10:\"resetCount\";N;s:10:\"\0*\0_params\";O:9:\"JRegistry\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}}s:14:\"\0*\0_authGroups\";a:1:{i:0;i:1;}s:14:\"\0*\0_authLevels\";a:2:{i:0;i:1;i:1;i:1;}s:15:\"\0*\0_authActions\";N;s:12:\"\0*\0_errorMsg\";N;s:10:\"\0*\0_errors\";a:0:{}s:3:\"aid\";i:0;}s:20:\"com_rsfirewall.geoip\";s:0:\"\";}'
, `time` = '1793697254'
WHERE `session_id` = '23f8652601a1b0606bcba88eb903cf0a'
36 Query Types Logged, Sorted by Occurrences.
SELECT Tables:
15 × SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets3 × SELECT extension_id AS id, element AS "option", params, enabled
FROM rabbul_extensions3 × SELECT id
FROM rabbul_menu2 × SELECT `ip`,`reason`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_lists2 × SELECT id,catid
FROM rabbul_content2 × SELECT b.rules
FROM rabbul_assets AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_assets AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt1 × SELECT rules
FROM rabbul_assets1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_hashes1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_snapshots1 × SELECT u.*
FROM rabbul_user_usergroup_map m RIGHT JOIN rabbul_users u
ON (u.id=m.user_id)1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_exceptions1 × SELECT c.*,
CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(c.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(':', c.id, c.alias) ELSE c.id END as slug
FROM rabbul_categories as c
LEFT JOIN rabbul_categories AS s
ON (s.lft <= c.lft
AND s.rgt >= c.rgt) OR (s.lft > c.lft
AND s.rgt < c.rgt)
LEFT JOIN (SELECT cat.id as id
FROM rabbul_categories AS cat JOIN rabbul_categories AS parent
ON cat.lft BETWEEN parent.lft
AND parent.rgt1 × SELECT a.alias AS article
FROM rabbul_content AS a1 × SELECT a.id, a.asset_id, a.title, a.alias, a.title_alias, a.introtext, a.fulltext,
CASE WHEN badcats.id is null THEN a.state ELSE 0 END AS state, a.mask, a.catid, a.created, a.created_by, a.created_by_alias,
CASE WHEN a.modified = 0 THEN a.created ELSE a.modified END as modified, a.modified_by, a.checked_out, a.checked_out_time, a.publish_up, a.publish_down, a.images, a.urls, a.attribs, a.version, a.parentid, a.ordering, a.metakey, a.metadesc, a.access, a.hits, a.metadata, a.featured, a.language, a.xreference,c.title AS category_title, c.alias AS category_alias, c.access AS category_access,u.name AS author,( SELECT MAX(contact.id) AS id
FROM rabbul_contact_details AS contact1 × SELECT b.id
FROM rabbul_usergroups AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_usergroups AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt1 × SELECT id, home, template, s.params
FROM rabbul_template_styles as s
LEFT JOIN rabbul_extensions as e
ON e.element=s.template
AND e.type='template'
AND e.client_id=s.client_id1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_languages1 × SELECT `id`
FROM `rabbul_usergroups1 × SELECT `path`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_ignored1 × SELECT `file`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_hashes1 × SELECT `value`
FROM `rabbul_admintools_storage`1 × SELECT `query`
FROM `rabbul_admintools_wafexceptions`1 × SELECT folder AS type, element AS name, params
FROM rabbul_extensions1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_configuratio1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_sef_config1 × SELECT id
FROM rabbul_categories1 × SELECT `data`
FROM `rabbul_session`1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_sef_redirect1 × SELECT m.id, m.menutype, m.title, m.alias, m.note, m.path AS route, m.link, m.type, m.level, m.language,m.browserNav, m.access, m.params, m.home, m.img, m.template_style_id, m.component_id, m.parent_id,e.element as component
FROM rabbul_menu AS m
LEFT JOIN rabbul_extensions AS e
ON m.component_id = e.extension_id1 × SELECT non_sef_url,alias
FROM rabbul_sef_alias1 × SELECT parent.id, parent.lft, parent.rgt
FROM rabbul_usergroups AS parent
OTHER Tables:
1 × UPDATE `rabbul_session`
SET `data` = '__default|a:9:{s:15:\"session.counter\";i:2;s:19:\"session.timer.start\";i:1793697254;s:18:\"session.timer.last\";i:1793697254;s:17:\"session.timer.now\";i:1793697254;s:24:\"session.client.forwarded\";s:11:\"10.3.184.74\";s:22:\"session.client.browser\";s:103:\"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)\";s:8:\"registry\";O:9:\"JRegistry\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}}s:4:\"user\";O:5:\"JUser\":25:{s:9:\"\0*\0isRoot\";b:0;s:2:\"id\";i:0;s:4:\"name\";N;s:8:\"username\";N;s:5:\"email\";N;s:8:\"password\";N;s:14:\"password_clear\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"usertype\";N;s:5:\"block\";N;s:9:\"sendEmail\";i:0;s:12:\"registerDate\";N;s:13:\"lastvisitDate\";N;s:10:\"activation\";N;s:6:\"params\";N;s:6:\"groups\";a:0:{}s:5:\"guest\";i:1;s:13:\"lastResetTime\";N;s:10:\"resetCount\";N;s:10:\"\0*\0_params\";O:9:\"JRegistry\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}}s:14:\"\0*\0_authGroups\";a:1:{i:0;i:1;}s:14:\"\0*\0_authLevels\";a:2:{i:0;i:1;i:1;i:1;}s:15:\"\0*\0_authActions\";N;s:12:\"\0*\0_errorMsg\";N;s:10:\"\0*\0_errors\";a:0:{}s:3:\"aid\";i:0;}s:20:\"com_rsfirewall.geoip\";s:0:\"\";}' , `time` = '1793697254'1 × UPDATE rabbul_content
SET hits = hits + 11 × SHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_rsfirewall_logs1 × SHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_assets1 × SHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_sef_config