John Paul Jones
Picture Source: U.S. Navy

John Paul Jones was a great hero of the American Revolutionary War. He was born at Arbigland, Scotland. His birth name was John Paul and he was born on July 6th, 1747. At twelve years old he had finished with school and wanted to have a career at sea. He received his first command in 1773. He had to kill a sailor, who, in a mutiny attacked and tried to kill him. He had commanded a ship previously at the tender age of 21 years old, but that happened when the officers above him died of fever.

In 1775 he came to Philadelphia and offered to join the fledgling American Navy. He was the first person to hoist our new national flag, which was called the grand union flag. He was in many naval battles and even captured two ships on his way to France to meet with the government. He had the first battle with a British man of war that surrendered to an American ship. When the British shot his ship out from under him and demanded his surrender he boarded their ship and shouted "Surrender? I have not yet begun to fight."

When the war ended, he went to Russia and fought for Catherine II. He returned home to America a disappointed man. The intrigue was just too much for him. In 1790 in returned to Paris then on July 18th, 1792 he died there at the age of only 45 years old.

This was just a very small background, now on to the interesting part.

In 1845 a plan was hatched to have John Paul Jones' body returned to the U.S.. It fell through but in 1899 was adopted again. No one knew exactly where the body was. The search began. It wasn't until 1905 that the body was located. The president at the time was Theodore Roosevelt and he sent four cruisers to bring the body back to the U.S.. The ships were escorted up Chesapeake Bay by seven battleships.

His coffin was found under a Paris shop which had been build over an old cemetery. The coffin was made of lead. A very strange thing was noticed about the body, it was preserved in alcohol.Some body had taken the time and effort to preserve his corpse. Could it have been that one of his relatives or friends thought that John Paul would be famous some day and they would preserve the body in case someone came for it? The U.S. Government conducted an autopsy on the body which hastened the deteriorated Measurements were taken and compared to a bust of Jones made by Jean-Antoine Houdon in real life. The measurements were almost perfect with only extremely slight differences in only 2 of 6 areas. It seems that this was indeed the body of John Paul Jones.

The corpse of John Paul Jones
Picture Source: John Paul Jones, US Official Commemorative Book , US Government Printing Office 1907

On 26 January 1913, the remains of John Paul Jones were laid to rest in the crypt of the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Md. with a eulogy given by Teddy Roosevelt. Today, a Marine honor guard stands duty whenever the crypt is open to the public. Public visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

On the floor by his tomb is the following plaque:
JOHN PAUL JONES, 1747-1792, U.S. NAVY, 1775-1783. HE GAVE OUR NAVY ITS EARLIEST TRADITIONS OF HEROISM AND VICTORY. ERECTED BY THE CONGRESS, A.D. 1912

The crypt of John Paul Jones at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Picture Source: U.S. Navy