Our original design, with John Paul Jones holding his saber aloft, with the Serapis flag tied to it, striding proudly printed on the front, and on the back of the shirt, his famous quote and other things from his life.
The shirt:
- Heather grey - Printed on a 4.3 oz 100% cotton shirt with a comfortable, relaxed fit compared to the v-neck shirt we've been using. This is a new shirt we've added in response to feedback, so if you prefer a women's v-neck shirt that is less fitted, this is the one for you. SIzes: S-3XL. See size chart.
Comes with a special hang tag written by author J.L. Bell that includes a historical background about John Paul Jones's immortal quote, "I have not yet begun to fight!" The full text is below.
This design is also available on a crewneck t-shirt and magnet.
Historical Background Behind the Design
John Paul, born in Scotland in 1747, went to sea at thirteen. By his early twenties, he was a captain - with a reputation for harshness after he killed a sailor in a fight over wages. To avoid legal troubles, John Paul adopted the surname "Jones" and sailed to America.
When thirteen British colonies allied to seek independence, John Paul Jons offered his maritime experience to their Continental Congress. As hard as Jones fought British armed ships, however, he feuded with other American captains more. Eventually Captain Jones was sent off to hunt British shipping in the eastern Atlantic alongside the French navy.
Jones's most famous fight was a ferocious battle off the English coast in September 1779. Invited to surrender his ship Bonhomme Richard, he declared, "I have not yet begun to fight," and captured the Royal Navy's Serapis. Jones sailed his new flagship into a neutral Dutch port.
At the time, American diplomats in Europe understood their flag to have a blue canton with thirteen white stars and "thirteen stripes, alternatively red, white, and blue." So that was how the Serapis's new flag was entered into Dutch records - not in accord with the Congress's 1777 guidelines.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, Jones received a French knighthood and became an admiral for Russia, but he still got into controversies. The mariner died on an American diplomatic mission in France in 1792. Historians drew on his reports and memoirs to make John Paul Jones a signal hero of the U.S. Navy
— John Bell, author, The Road to Concord and Boston1775 .
And thanks also to John for recommending the Serapis flag.