John Paul was born July 6, 1747 in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. Jones started his maritime career at the age of 13, sailing out of Whitehaven in the northern English county of Cumberland as an apprentice merchant aboard the …show more content…
(Badertscher) John took charge, stepping up to an exploration thought to be nearly impossible, but at most highly unlikely. In amazement, he managed to navigate the ship back to a safe port and, in reward for this impressive feat, the vessel's grateful Scottish owners made him master of the ship and its crew, giving him 10 percent of the cargo He then led two voyages to the West Indies trade system as a merchant skipper, before running into difficulty. (Badertscher) During his second voyage in 1770, John Paul viciously flogged one of his sailors, a carpenter, leading to accusations that his discipline was "unnecessarily cruel." (Jones) These claims initially were dismissed, but his favorable reputation was destroyed when the sailor died a few weeks later. John Paul was arrested for his involvement in the man's death, and was imprisoned in Kirkcudbright Tolbooth, but later released on bail. (Badertscher)The negative effect of this episode on his reputation is indisputable, although the man's death has been linked to other causes. The man who died of his injuries was not a usual sailor but an adventurer from a