I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight

He and his crew then captured the british ship.

I have not yet begun to fight this was the immortal retort of captain john paul jones to a request to surrender as he and his crew engaged in a desperate battle with a british frigate off the northern coast of england during the american revolution. Words attributed to the eighteenth century naval hero john paul jones. He answered i have not yet begun to fight. He was doing battle with a british ship when his own ship was badly damaged and the british commander called over to ask whether jones had surrendered.

I have not yet begun to fight in 1779 jones would go down in history as one of the greatest naval commanders of the revolutionary war.