Passage Four John Paul Jones was one of the founders of the United States Navy. During the Revolution, the colonies were desperate. They needed men to lead their small ships against the British fleet. Jones was more than willing to fight. John Paul Jones had once been a captain of a British merchant ship. In 1773, his crew mutinied. One member of the crew tried to gain control of the ship. Jones shot the man to death. The mutiny took place near the port of Tobago, an island in the Caribbean. Authorities there decided to have a trial. This meant certain death for John Paul Jones, since the whole crew would testify against him. One night during a thunderstorm, he escaped from the jail. He fled to the United States and lived with a family named Jones. His real name was John Paul. He added the name of Jones to his, in honor of the family. He outwitted the British ships that were sent to hunt him down. When the American Revolution ended he went to serve in the Russian navy. There, he fought the Turks and achieved one of the few major naval victories in the history of Russia. He died in Paris at the age of forty-five. John Paul Jones is considered both an American and Russian hero, but the English considered him a fugitive. 48. John Paul Jones won a major victory for the Russian navy against the ______.