John Paul Jones / Transatlantic cable / Brocklebanks / Tobacco trade / Ben Franklin /

Caribbean Rum and Sugar
There is a palm fringed Whitehaven beach on the island of Barbados that boasts temperatures from 75 F to 85 F (24 C to 30 C) and refreshing Trade Winds 7 - 8 miles per hour.
The island's history had great links with Cumbria. English explorer John Powell discovered the then-uninhabited island of Barbados in 1625, and it was colonized by English settlers two years later.
Barbados is home to the only complete sugar windmill in the Caribbean at Morgan Lewis Sugar Mill, typical of those which crushed cane from the 17th to 19th centuries, and made Barbados one of
Britain's most prized possessions. No doubt some of that sugar and rum sailed home to Whitehaven! Hence the Rum Tongue and Sugar Tongue piers in the old harbour.

George Washington

John Gale an Irish Non-Conformist, came to Whitehaven in 1663 and became one of the town's most influential citizens. One of his grandsons, George Gale, visited Virginia, where he met and married Mildred Warner Washington, a widow with three young children. The family returned with him to Whitehaven. The two sons Augustine and John became pupils at Appleby Grammar School. Tragically Midred died in childbirth in January 1701, only a year after her marriage to Gorge Gale. She was buried in St Nicholas Churchyard in the centre of Whitehaven. Her gravestone has not survived but a commemorative plaque can be seen in the tower of the church, the only part left standing after a fire in 1971. After her death a dispute over her will resulted in her children being taken back to America in 1704. This move could well have affected the course of history as in 1732 Augustine became the father of George Washington.
*Number 151/152 Queen Street may have been erected for William Gale, a merchant who had ships trading with the then booming American tobacco growing colonies.
The house is one of the earliest large house in town to survive with its ground floor accommodation intact, it has latterly been owned by the Bonnar family.
The impressive house was occupied by William Gale until his death in July 1774. The back courtyard was originally the setting for the Gale's own warehouse and a counting house for counting all the money he must have made in meeting the new craving for tobacco. These buildings were restored by the Bonnar family.
Thought to have been built in 1733 for its time and location, the house was a grand residence. It remains Whitehaven's best preserved example of a Georgian house still with its original features intact, including floor to ceiling wood panelling.
Inside the renovation work will ensure the magnificent original wood panelling and ornate carved plaster ceiling features are well preserved for the future.
The Gale Mansion, a Grade II star listed building, has a blue plaque outside, outlining its American connections for the local tourist trail, The Quest.
As is well know there was also a historic link between the Gale family and George Washington, the first President of the USA.
William was the brother of George Gale who married Mildred Warner, Mildred had previously been married to Lawrence Washington and a son by this marriage (Augustine) was to become the father of George Washington. It is thought the young Augustine and his brother and sister may have played at the Gale Mansion, while visiting as children. The brothers, following the death of their mother, were sent to Appleby Grammar School but following pressure from the Washington family in Virginia they were subsequently returned to America.
Mrs Nellie Bonnar and her three daughters, Fiona, Anne-Marie and Christine are paying for the important renovation works.
The house was passed down to Mrs Bonnar by her family, who had bought it in the 70s.

Mrs Nellie Bonnar and her three daughters, Fiona, Anne-Marie and Christine are paying for the important renovation works.
The house was passed down to Mrs Bonnar by her family, who had bought it in the 70s. Commenting on the reroofing and other works, Mrs Bonnar said: *After 300 years it is no surprise the house could do with a new roof!
* Mrs Philomena O'Hare adds:"151 and 152 are not linked. 152 came later though it is Georgian.
151 is on a map of 1725 though the outbuildings were not build by then and the garden seems to have stretched to Irish Street.
The outbuilding in the back yard were from left to right; A stable for 2 horses with drains and hay racks, A coach house for the coach, A coachman’s cottage.
Above all of this was a loft with a door through which hay would have been hauled up and with access to the horses hay racks.
There is a barrel vaulted cellar, presumably for storage of the rum etc which Gale imported. There is a spiral staircase from the kitchen to the attic where the bell for the maid/cook was still in place when I lived there. The house has a double roof. The house belonged to my parents Frank and Julia O’Hare from 1949 till it was bought by Nellie Bonnar’s aunt at a date I am unsure of."

A surviving 5th generation relative of John Gale, Alton Rogers, was based in Texas.

Ben Franklin seems to have enjoyed more than his fair share of abilities. He was a statesman who helped guide the infant United States. He spent some years in Britain before the American War of Independence. In 1772 he visited Whitehaven to see William Brownrigg, the leading scientist in the area. He descended one of the local coal mines and studied the fossils found underground.

John Paul Jones

On 6 July 1997 the US Navy commemorates the 250th anniversary of the birth of John Paul Jones, who helped establish the traditions of courage and professionalism that the United States Navy proudly maintains today. In life and battle he exemplified a hero's determination and upheld America's ideals of liberty and independence from tyranny.

The man whom Thomas Jefferson later described as "the principal hope of America's future efforts on the ocean" was born on 6 July 1747 in the gardener's cottage of the Arbigland Estate, Kirkbean, Scotland.

1760

At the age of 13 John Paul as he was then called, was apprenticed to John Younger a Whitehaven tobacco merchant to learn the art of seamanship. His first voyage was aboard Younger's 170 tonn brig @Friendship@ which sailed to Barbadoes and Virginia in 1761. During the third of his voyages to America in 1763 John Younger became bankrupt and John Paul's apprenticeship came to an abrupt end. However impressed by the youth's abilities Younger obtained for him the post of third mate aboard the slave ship "King George". Later Jones became commander of another slave ship the "Two Friends" of Kingston, Jamaica but Jones hated "this abominable trade" and by 1768 he returned from Kingston as a seaman aboard the 60 ton brig"John", During the voyage, the captain and mate died of yellow fever and the 21 year old Jones took command. On his reaching Kircudbright his captaincy was confirmed by the owners.

1773

On the Caribbean island of Tobago, where his ship Betsy ended her outward voyage, Jones decided to invest money in return cargo rather than pay his crew for their shore leave. One sailor, known as "the ringleader," attempted to go ashore without leave. Jones drew his sword on the man to enforce his orders, but the man set on his captain with a bludgeon. In response to the attack Jones ran him through with his sword. Jones immediately went ashore to give himself up, but the death of the ringleader had so stirred up local sentiment that John Paul's friends prevailed upon him to escape to Virginia at once.

1775

In December 1775 Jones received his lieutenant's commission from the Continental Congress for its navy. On 3 December 1775, as first lieutenant of Alfred, he hoisted the Grand Union flag for the first time on a Continental warship. The flag's Union Jack in the upper left canton and thirteen red and white stripes represented a united resistance to tyranny but loyalty to the English King.

1776

In February 1776 John Paul Jones participated in the attack on Nassau, New Providence Island. Jones was appointed to command Providence on 10 May 1776; his commission as Captain in the Continental Navy was dated 8 August 1776. The 12- gun sloop departed for the Delaware Capes on 21 August. Within a week she had captured the whaling brigantine Britannia. Near Bermuda, she fell in with a convoy escorted by the 28-gun frigate Solebay. In a thrilling chase lasting ten hours, Jones saved Providence from the larger warship by an act of superior seamanship. By 22 September he had captured three British merchant vessels. While anchored he burnt an English fishing schooner, sank another, and made prize of a third. Jones would later declare that his best crew had been on board Providence; he had received sound financial rewards from the prizes, making this venture the most enjoyable of his career.

1777

In November 1777, John Paul Jones sailed for France in Ranger, carrying word of Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga. Admiral La Motte-Picquet returned Jones' salute at Quiberon Bay on 14 February 1778, the first time the Stars and Stripes were recognized by a foreign power. Ranger later captured the British sloop of war Drake off the coast of Ireland on 24 April and pillaged the British coast.

1779

The French king loaned Jones the Bonhomme Richard, which Jones had renamed after Poor Richard's Almanac, in honor of Benjamin Franklin. On 14 August 1779, in command of four other ships and two French privateers, Jones continued his raids on English shipping. In his most famous engagement, 23 September 1779, Jones engaged the British frigate Serapis off Flamborough Head, Yorkshire. Serapis was a superior ship compared to Richard. She was faster, more nimble and carried a far greater number of eighteen pounders. The two ships fired simultaneously. At the first or second salvo, two of Jones' eighteen pounders burst, killing many gunners and ruining the entire battery as well as blowing up the deck above. After exchanging two or three broadsides, and attempting to rake the Serapis' bow and stern, the commodore estimated that he must board and grapple, a gun-to-gun duel seeming futile. Serapis' Captain Pearson repulsed the boarders, and attempted to cross Richard's bow to rake her. During this stage of the bloody and desperate battle, Pearson, seeing the shambles on board Bonhomme Richard, asked if the American ship had struck. Jones' immortal reply, "I have not yet begun to fight," served as a rallying cry to the crew. The two ships grappled and Jones relied on his marines to clear the enemy's deck of men. To Jones' disgust, Alliance, under the Frenchman Pierre Landais, fired three broadsides into Richard. Landais later stated that he wanted to help Serapis sink Richard, then capture the British frigate. Even though his ship had begun to sink, Jones determined he would not strike his colors. He used his remaining guns to weaken Serapis' main mast. It began to tremble, Pearson lost his nerve and decided to strike his colors. When the battered Bonhomme Richard sank on 25 September, Jones was forced to transfer to Serapis. For his victory, Congress passed a resolution thanking Jones, and Louis XVI presented him with a sword.

1779

One of Jones' midshipman on board the Bonhomme Richard was Beaumont Groube. He acquired fame as the "Lieutenant Grub" of chapbooks (comics), supposedly shot by Jones for striking the colors during battle, an action which would have signified the Richard's surrender.

1783-1790

After the Revolutionary War, Commodore John Paul Jones was active in negotiating prize money claims in Paris. In 1788 he entered the service of the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia as a rear admiral. He hoped that command of a battle fleet in Russia would qualify him for higher command if and when the United States built a permanent Navy. Although he successfully commanded the Black Sea Squadron in the Dnieper River, court intrigues forced Jones to leave Russia.

1790-92

John Paul Jones returned to Paris in 1790 where he died 18 July 1792.

 

Legacy of John Paul Jones