Distinguished guests and colleagues,

Dear friends,

 

It is a great pleasure and honour to be here and to commemorate such a significant figure in the history of our countries. Born in 1775 here in Arbigland, Scotland, John Paul Jones managed to play a vital role not only in his own country but abroad by displaying exceptional courage and bravery on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

In Russia he is well known for his remarkable career in the service of the Empress Catherine the Great under the name Pavel Ivanovich Jones.

 

After gaining a formidable reputation as an able Naval Commander, he was invited by the Russian Empress to join the Navy. While serving under Prince Potemkin he displayed his military talent and strategic skills against the Turks in the Black Sea campaign. Commanding a modest flotilla Pavel Jones thwarted the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Liman in 1788. Adverse party lost 3,000 killed and 15 vessels compared to 18 lives and a single frigate.

 

After the battle he wrote: "I am delighted with the courage of the Russians, which is even more glorious because it lacks arrogance and conceit.»

 

John Paul Jones was awarded the Order of St. Anne for his services, and declared an honorary Cossack by his new brothers-in-arms. 

 

It is worth pointing out that the Scots were frequently seen in the Russian Armed Forces as early as the 16th century when Ivan the Terrible hired overseas mercenaries to fight on his side. This tradition was inherited by Peter the Great in the 17th century when he hired a staunch warrior Mr Patrick Gordon, from Aberdeen, who soon became a famous Russian General. Along with his military duties, Mr Gordon, a steadfast Jacobite, was commissioned to build the first Roman Catholic Church in Russia.

When Catherine the Great ascended the throne in 1762, she also looked to Scotland for military expertise and personnel. Among those invited was a Sir Samuel Greig of Inverkeithing, who is now celebrated as the founding father of the modern Russian Navy and the reformer of the Baltic Fleet.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the John Paul Jones Birthplace Museum Trust for doing the very important job of building up a legacy of such a unique historical figure. A remarkable person whose legacy up to this very day unites countries across the Atlantic and the Arctic Seas and makes us join each other in proud celebration and acknowledgment of the glorious life and  heroic deeds that this boy from Dumfries, so generously and selflessly dedicated to our nations.

Thank you for your attention.