Quote:
Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
It seems like getting an accurate telling of a battle's actions is often impossible and has made many a historian quite drowsy trying to do so. John Paul Jones' letters to Ben Franklin often brought that out. There is quite a lot of irony in the uncertainty surrounding the words most associated with Jones may never have actually been said by him. There is an outage of fact checkers in pretty much any battle because of the fog of war and the truth often gets pruned and very dramatic sounding legends put in their place.
http://www.thehistorychannelclub.com...begun-to-fight
From above linked article about The Battle of Flamborough Head involving the flagships Serapis and the Bonhomme Richard |
During the Battle of Flamborough Head, Pierre Landais, Captain of
Alliance had fired on both
the Serapis as well as
the Bonhomme Richard as they were locked in a struggle. Pierre Landais was a Continental Naval Captain supported by Arthur Lee. Franklin got involved with this lengthy and bitter dispute about who should captain the
Alliance now that the
Bonhomme Richard lay sunk off the Yorkshire coast. This internecine fray did not
cease until Landais commandeered the
Alliance and sailed away.
http://youtu.be/z0gHj9TxVRc
After the battle, however, on another front in the struggles Jones had with social acceptance, Franklin provided
young Jones with just the right
weapon in an initiation into the Nine Sisters Masonic Lodge as well as a visit to King Louis XVI. We can just see Franklin and Jones
smooching the hand of the King.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Neuf_S%C5%93urs