The Scotsman in Paris If there was ever a naval captain who had-or wanted to havea woman in every port, it was John Paul Jones . The bantam Scotsman was quite a ladies' m an, literally having at least one girl in every port. He freely gave away locks of his hair and wrote poems for the ladies, with his love for them interspersed with tales of his derri ng-do at sea. Jones was once enamored with the yo ung, African-born poetess Phyllis Wheatley of Boston, even writing a poem to her. 8 In command of the Continental sloop-of-war Ranger in 1778, Jones arrived in France and soon went in search of a Parisian mistress. In addition to companionship, American politicians and sailors alike deemed having a local mistress a great way to learn both French language and customs-and possibly further one's career. Benjamin Franklin immediately took Jones under his wing, promising the sea captain a taste of the French high life. Dining in fine hotels and halls with exquisite meals and expensive wine, Jones engaged in the conversation as bes t he could. Although he was hardly proficient in French, he could interpret the discussion-which often, directly or indirectly, revolved around the topic of sex-through the expressive gestures of his companions. Fellow Continental captain Thomas Thompson wrote him from !'Orient, hoping Jones would "Enjoy much Satisfaction in the pleasa ntries which Paris afourds." Doubtless Jones did.9 Jones took the latter rationalization a bit too far; his john Paul Jones (1747-1792). One first mistress was rumored to of the most famous navy captains in be Therese de C haumont, American history, he also had a reputa- whose husband had some tion as a ladies' man. influence at the court of Louis XVI and owned the Hotel Valentinois, the hotel where Jones lodged in Paris. If Madame C haumont was, indeed, Jones's first mistress, the affair proves that Jones was just as daring on land as he was at sea, for it was her husband, Jacques-Donatien Leray de C haumont, whom he implored to get a retired, lumbering French Indiaman placed under his command. De Chaumont did, and this was the ship he would rename as Bonhomme Richard.10 Jones also found himself in one affair where it was his stature that was sought after, not his lover's. Madame Charlotte-Marguerite de Bourbon was known for her beautiful singing voice, among her talents, and Jones a rdently pursued her. Her husband, the Count de Lowendahl, was an army general out of favor with the court, and she believed Jones might have enough influence to res tore her husband to active duty. When she learned Jones's celebrity was more surface than substance, she cut him off. "Touched by the feelings yo u have for me," she wrote, she couldn't answer them "without deceiving a gentleman [she] live[d] with"especially if Jones couldn't give her what she needed. 11
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Jon es's most embarrassing connection to a lady was an encounter that never happened. H e was at the port of !'Orient, refitting the Bon-
homme Richard, when a letter arrived from Franklin: a priest had reported to the ambassador and to Madame Chaumont with a lurid tale that Jones had "ravished" the wife of
The only known image ofMme. Chaumont is a terracotta cast.
a hotel gardener. Her sons planned to kill Jones when he returned. Once Franklin investigated the sto ry his mood swung from worry to laughter, "the old Woman being one of the grossest, coarsest, dirtiest and ugliest we may find in a thousand." Madame C haumont said "It gave a high Idea" of Jones's "strength of Appetite and Courage." In love and war, Jones never learned to accept defeat, but to be laughed at was even worse.12
Captains Flirtatious Embarrassed as Jones might have been, this tall tale paled in comparison to that of Samuel Nicholson and Joseph H ynson, two American captains who found themselves in England when war broke our. N icholson was described as "Idle for Want of Employment," but he wasn't that idle, having taken a mistress, Elizabeth Carter. Believing him to be her husband, her neighbors called the American sea captain "Mr. Carter." During a visit to Paris, Franklin and his colleague, Silas Deane, ordered Nicholson to comb the French and British waterfronts for a "fast ship" for them to buy and give him to command: orders that allowed him to have an occasional trys t with Mrs. Nicholson-a.k.a., Mrs.
Carter. 13 Enter Joseph Hynson, a Maryland captain also looking for a ship. H ynson was a known presence in England, with one British spy calling him, "one of the most stupid but at the sa me time conceited fellows living." He, too, had taken up a mistress, Isabella Cleghorn, who resided in the same boardinghouse in London as Hynson, run by one Elizabeth Jump. When Nicholson informed Hynson of his orders to find a ship and asked Hynson for assistance on such a top-secret mission, Hynson proceeded to regale Ms. Cleghorn and Ms . Jump of his "mission," to let them know just how important he was. 14 Hynson's ego-fueled outburst backfired. Once he left the drawing room, the ladies made their way to Downing Street where they met with John Vardill, former assistant rector of New York's Trinity C hurch and now a spy for William Eden, head of British intelligence. Vardill returned to the boardinghouse and confronted Hynson with a choice: the noose for his traitorous acts against the Crown, or become a loyal subject again and turn informer.
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