In the summer of 1779 when
Jones, with a squadron of four ships, was haunting the British
coasts, every harbor was nervous. At Plymouth a boom blocked the
entrance, but other places had not even this defense. Sir Walter
Scott has described how, on September 17, 1779, a squadron, under
John Paul Jones, came within gunshot of Leith, the port of
Edinburgh. The whole surrounding country was alarmed, since for
two days the squadron had been in sight beating up the Firth of
Forth. A sudden squall, which drove Jones back, probably saved
Edinburgh from being plundered. A few days later Jones was
burning ships in the Humber and, on the 23d of September, he met
off Flamborough Head and, after a desperate fight, captured two
British armed ships: the Serapis, a 40-gun vessel newly
commissioned, and the Countess of Scarborough, carrying 20 guns,
both of which were convoying a fleet. The fame of his exploit
rang through Europe. Jones was a regularly commissioned officer
in the navy of the United States, but neutral powers, such as
Holland, had not yet recognized the republic and to them there
was no American navy. The British regarded him as a traitor and
pirate and might possibly have hanged him had he fallen into
their hands.
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