John Paul Jones John Paul Jones started out in the West Indies trade as a merchant skipper. He then joined the Continental Navy, and quikly worked imself up to the rank of captian. He loved sailing the open sea, and there wasn't much he enjoyed more than it. There were really only a couple of events that made John Paul Jones' name well known among the people of Europe. The first time his name came before the English public was when he and his crew raided Whitehaven Harbor, and burned a Britsh ship. Jones' plan was to destroy commerce shpping. He wanted to destroy more shoips in one night t