John Bull the past Navy blue, but more recently with the Union Jack colours). Britannia, or a lion, is sometimes used as an alternative in some editorial cartoons. As a literary figure, John Bull is well-intentioned, frustrated, full of common sense, and entirely of native country stock. Unlike Uncle Sam later, he is not a figure of authority but rather a yeoman who prefers his small beer and domestic peace, possessed of neither patriarchal power nor heroic defiance. John Arbuthnot provided him with a sister named Peg (Scotland), and a traditional adversary in Louis Baboon (the House of Bourbon in France). Peg
Hired armed cutter John Bull prior to 1 June, "John Bull", under the command of Lieutenant Kortwright, captured the French schooner "Elizabeth", which was carrying a cargo of sundries. In mid-September "John Bull" detained and sent into Plymouth two vessels: "Palinurius", Merrehew, master, from New York, and "Sirene", Horkendorf, master, from Bordeaux. On 8 March 1806 "John Bull", under the command of Lieutenant George Broad, captured the Spanish vessels "Legero" and "Los Animos". On 2 May "John Bull" arrived with dispatches from Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren concerning the British victory at the Action of 13 March 1806 Between 18 and 21 June, Admiral Warren