John Paul Jones was born on July 6, 1747, in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. He was the son of a Scottish gardener and was originally named John Paul. At the age of 12 he entered the British merchant marine and went to sea for the first time, as a cabin boy. He sailed aboard merchantmen and slavers, becoming a first mate on a slaver brigantine by 1766 and receiving his first command in 1769. In 1773, as the commander of a merchant vessel, …
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…for his successes and resulted in his discharge. In 1790 he retired and went to live in Paris. In 1792 Jones was appointed U.S. Consul to Algiers, but on July 18 of that year he died before the commision arrived. He was buried in Paris, but in 1905 his remains were removed from his long-forgotton grave and brought to the United States where, in 1913, they were finally interred in the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel at Anapolis, Maryland.