# Is there any evidence of John Paul Jones burning any towns on the British coast during the Revolutionary War? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322 "2023-06-30T01:48:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/1 "2023-06-30T01:48:36Z")
I had read that British towns were burned by the Patriots during their Revolutionary War. I couldn’t find any mention of that online. Did John Paul Jones burn any towns on the British coast? ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/2 "2023-06-30T02:01:21Z")
So he did set fire to Whitehaven. Any other towns? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/3 "2023-06-30T09:37:07Z")
I’ve read that he set fire to a few ships on the harbour, not exactly burning the town down. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/4 "2023-06-30T12:44:21Z")
I recall a visit to Windsor Catle decades ago, where the guide pointed out a fan of muskets on the wall of one of the main rooms. He said they were captured off American invaders. Apparently someone had gone to France with a bunch of Americans, and organized a landing party on the English coast. They didn’t get too far. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/5 "2023-06-30T13:05:22Z")
> [@Octagon](#): > > So he did set fire to Whitehaven. Any other towns? Reading his account, just the one. Then they tried to capture an Earl but couldn’t find him, so they robbed his silver and went home. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/6 "2023-06-30T13:53:09Z")
I had _no_ idea that any Americans attacked England during the war. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/7 "2023-06-30T13:54:32Z")
From their perspective that’s all we were doing. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/8 "2023-06-30T13:58:59Z")
I know but all I remember from school were the battles in the former thirteen colonies, plus some activity near present-day Canada and of course some sea battles. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/9 "2023-06-30T14:43:38Z")
I knew what you meant. I think I heard one sentence about this in 8th grade history class while our naval obsessed teacher did 2 weeks on Jones’ most famous sea battle. A cleverer student than I commented “He has not yet begun to stop talking about boats”. ETA: Did they ever tell you we lost the War of 1812? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/10 "2023-06-30T16:04:41Z")
John the Painter (real name James Aitken) was a Scottish-born ne’er-do-well who spent a few years in the American colonies and developed sympathy for the revolutionary cause. After his return to Britain, he set fire to the Rope House at the Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, which was destroyed. He also attempted other acts of sabotage and arson with less success. He was caught, tried, and hanged a few months after the Rope House fire. He had nothing to do with John Paul Jones as far as I know, but he did receive some sort of (probably minor) support from Silas Deane, then U.S. envoy to France. [Wikipedia article on John the Painter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Painter) [page about him from the Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust](https://portsmouthdockyard.org.uk/timeline/details/1776-jack-the-painter) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/11 "2023-06-30T22:04:51Z")
Augustus Buell’s biography of Jones, though used as the basis for the film with Robert Stack, is not to be relied upon (like all of Buell’s other biographical works). ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-john-paul-jones-burning-any-towns-on-the-british-coast-during-the-revolutionary-war/986322/12 "2023-07-01T22:21:01Z")
John Paul Jones carried out some raids in Ireland and captured some British vessels. I stayed a few times at a small hotel called “The Lanterns” in Glin, County Limerick, which was called after one of Jones’s exploits - I don’t remember the details but somehow he evaded the British in the Shannon Estuary and the story involved lanterns. On an unrelated (but also interesting) note, a naval battle of the US Civil War took place in the harbour of Cherbourg.