Introduction
Following the Declaration of Independence in 1776, American resentment towards King George III’s dastardly oppression reached such a pitch that they made common cause with that champion of republican liberty, King Louis XVI of France. One mustard-keen revolutionary, John Paul Jones, even buccaneered around Britain’s coastline harassing merchant shipping convoys, until the Royal Navy stepped in.
IN September 1779, John Paul Jones,* an officer in the American Continental Navy, led a makeshift flotilla of French ships around Scotland and down into the North Sea, harassing commercial shipping as far as Bridlington.
There, on September 23rd, Jones spied a convoy of over fifty trading vessels bound for the Baltic, with only HMS Serapis and a smaller escort for bodyguards. His own five ships burst out expectantly from behind Flamborough Head, but suffered the worst of it until a grenade scored a lucky hit on Serapis’s gunpowder store. Seeing the convoy already safe in harbour, Serapis’s captain, Richard Pearson, surrendered to save further bloodshed.
Given Jones’s advantage in numbers and surprise, his failure to trouble the convoy, and the fact that his own ship sank, any victory he might claim was of the Pyrrhic kind.* Nevertheless, news that his adversary had received a knighthood rankled. “I’d like to meet him on the high seas again” growled the American. “I’ll make him a lord!”
Rear Admiral John Paul Jones (1747-1792), a Scotsman in the service of the American revolutionaries. He had adopted the surname Jones in an attempt to mask an unsavoury reputation, which he had earned during a career that some felt had bordered on piracy. He had spent a year in the service of the Russian Empire, until British naval advisers to Catherine the Great threatened to resign en masse if he remained in it. On Britain’s contribution to the Russian navy, see Samuel Greig.
See the story A Pyrrhic Victory.
Précis
On September 23rd, 1779, an American revolutionary named John Paul Jones led five French ships in an attack on a convoy of some fifty trading vessels near Bridlington. Although the convoy was successfully defended by two British warships including HMS Serapis, the captain of Serapis was forced to surrender – a tactical victory for the Americans, but a strategic draw. (59 / 60 words)
On September 23rd, 1779, an American revolutionary named John Paul Jones led five French ships in an attack on a convoy of some fifty trading vessels near Bridlington. Although the convoy was successfully defended by two British warships including HMS Serapis, the captain of Serapis was forced to surrender – a tactical victory for the Americans, but a strategic draw.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: if, may, must, ought, unless, until, whereas, whether.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Given. There. Trading.
2 Around. Continental. Out.
3 Bodyguard. Further. Lead.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
stps (5+1)
isotopes. steeps. steps. stoops. stops.
stoups.
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