John Paul Jones: I have not yet begun to fight!
We've all heard his famous response, in the early phase of the Battle of Flamborough Head, 23 September 1779, to an inquiry by his opponent Captain Richard Pearson of the Royal Navy ship HMS Serapis as to whether he was surrendering his ship USS Bon Homme Richard as recounted in the reminiscences of Jones' First Lieutenant, Richard Dale, as published in The Life and Character of John Paul Jones, a Captain in the United States Navy (1825) by John Henry Sherburne:
...the USS Bon Homme Richard, having head way, ran her bows into the stern of the Serapis. We had remained in this situation but a few minutes when we were again hailed by the Serapis, "Has your ship struck?" To which Captain Jones answered, "I have not yet begun to fight!"
In Naval terminology to "strike the colours" means to haul down the ship's flag to signify surrender.
John Paul Jones' much less famous response, in the late phase of the Battle of Flamborough Head, to Captain Pearson's inquiry as to whether he was surrendering the USS Bonhomme Richard, which was by this time very seriously damaged is no less telling than his first reply
Captain Jones' determination and steadfast refusal to surrender should be an inspiration to us all. We cannot surrender to current trends in our Nation and we should fight to throw out the current regime in Washington.
