The crypt of John Paul Jones beneath the Naval Academy Chapel. Jones’ remains were brought to the Academy in 1906 and laid to rest in its current location in 1913. Photo courtesy of USNA Photo Lab.

The festivities will include fife & drum performances, cannon-loading demonstrations and a presentation on the life of John Paul Jones, among many other activities. Guided walking tours celebrating the life and achievements of Jones will take place every half hour from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. In addition, visitors may explore exhibits on the second deck of the Visitor Center and also in the Lobby. Free activities for young mariners are also available from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., ranging from knot-tying to a scavenger hunt.

''It really is a family event,'' says Mianna Jopp, Manager of the Visitor Center.

Jones is arguably one of the most iconic members of American naval lore, a larger-than-life hero due to his daring and often reckless exploits. Born John Paul in Scotland in 1747, Jones first went to sea at age 13 as an apprentice and commanded a merchant ship by age 21—a remarkable achievement in itself, especially since Jones did not possess the social connections customarily needed for swift promotion in 18th-century Britain.

After immigrating to Virginia in 1773 and joining the fledgling Continental Navy as one of its earliest lieutenants in 1775, he terrorized the British merchant lanes and even raided the English coast over the next several years, according to two-time Pulitzer-winning biographer Samuel Eliot Morison (Rear Adm., USNR). Jones became famous in America as the young nation’s first naval hero, and infamous in Britain, which branded Jones a pirate. However, his skill at sea came not only through his outstanding personal seamanship but also through his abilities as a leader of men at sea.

‘‘What was important about him was his ability to adapt and his ability to do the best he could with what he had. He had that intuitiveness to follow through,” said John Wilson, historian and John Paul Jones reenactor who contributed ship models, period uniforms and historical expertise to the exhibits.

‘‘He was able to take hold of a situation and make the best out of it,” said Wilson, ‘‘and do almost the impossible and take some chances and calculated risks.”

''He always strove to better himself and his men,'' says James Cheevers, Associate Director of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum.

The incident that forever cemented Jones’ name into American history came on the night of September 23, 1779. On that fateful day, Jones, in his ship the Bonhomme Richard (an homage to his friend Benjamin Franklin’s famous book ‘‘Poor Richard’s Almanac”) faced off with the British frigate Serapis at Flamborough Head, off the northeastern coast of England. The result is one of the most documented duels in naval history.

The duel itself is famous for the circumstances under which it was fought, and also the heroic deeds of Jones and his crew. The Bonhomme Richard had not been designed as a fighting ship; a former merchant vessel, she had been refitted by the French into a warship and given to the Continental Navy. The Serapis, by contrast, was newer, faster and deadlier, possessing easily more than three times the firepower of the Bonhomme Richard.

After the Richard had taken devastating damage, the Serapis’ captain, Richard Pearson, yelled to Jones, asking if he would strike his colors--thereby indicating his surrender. Jones gave the famous retort ‘‘I have not yet begun to fight!” and, in a ferocious 3_ hour duel, forced the British to admit defeat—though not without great cost to himself and his crew. This battle remains the crowning achievement of Jones’ career.

But the adventures of John Paul Jones did not end with his death in 1792. More than 100 years after his burial in an unmarked grave in Paris, President Theodore Roosevelt encouraged a search for Jones’ body as part of a great American naval expansion. Following his discovery by U.S. Ambassador to France Horace Porter in 1905, Jones’ remains were ceremonially returned to the United States aboard USS Brooklyn (CA-3), escorted by three additional cruisers. Upon reaching the American coast, seven battleships joined the procession up the Chesapeake Bay, firing naval salutes as the ships reached Annapolis.

In April of 1906, Jones’ coffin was interred in Bancroft Hall following a ceremony presided over by Roosevelt. Seven years later on January 26, 1913, Jones was laid to rest in a bronze sarcophagus, modeled after the tomb of Napoleon, in a crypt beneath the Naval Academy Chapel, where the tomb remains to this day.

John Paul Jones Day is free and open to the public. Visitors are reminded that only vehicles with Department of Defense stickers may drive onto the Naval Academy, and every person over 16 must have a photo ID. For more information, call the Visitor Center at 410-293-8687.