USS Bonhomme Richard (1765)
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | Bonhomme Richard |
Namesake | Benjamin Franklin |
Builder | French East India Company |
Laid down | 1765 |
Launched | 1766[1] |
Acquired | 4 February 1779 |
In service | 4 February 1779 |
Out of service | 25 September 1779[1] |
Fate | Sunk by HMS Serapis |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 998 |
Length | 152 ft (46 m)[1] |
Beam | 40 ft (12 m)[1] |
Draft | 19 ft (5.8 m)[1] |
Propulsion | Sail |
Complement | 380 officers and enlisted[1] |
Armament |
|
Bonhomme Richard, formerly Duc de Duras, was a warship in the American
Origin
Bonhomme Richard was originally an
Jones renamed her Bon Homme Richard (usually rendered in more correct French as Bonhomme Richard) in honor of Benjamin Franklin, the American Commissioner at Paris whose Poor Richard's Almanack was published in France under the title Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard.[1]
First patrols
On 19 June 1779, Bonhomme Richard sailed from Lorient accompanied by USS Alliance, Pallas, Vengeance, and Cerf with troop transports and merchant vessels under convoy to Bordeaux and to cruise against the British in the Bay of Biscay. Forced to return to port for repair, the squadron sailed again August 14, 1779. It went northwest around the west coast of the British Isles into the North Sea and then down the east coast. The squadron took 16 merchant vessels as prizes.
Battle of Flamborough Head
On 23 September 1779, the squadron encountered the Baltic Fleet of 41 sail under convoy of HMS Serapis and HM hired armed ship Countess of Scarborough near Flamborough Head. Bonhomme Richard and Serapis entered a bitter engagement at about 6:00 p.m. The battle continued for the next four hours, costing the lives of nearly half of the American and British crews. British victory seemed inevitable, as the more heavily armed Serapis used its firepower to rake Bonhomme Richard with devastating effect. The commander of Serapis finally called on Jones to surrender. He replied, "Sir, I have not yet begun to fight!" Jones eventually managed to lash the ships together, nullifying his opponent's greater maneuverability and allowing him to take advantage of the larger size and considerably more numerous crew of Bonhomme Richard. An attempt by the Americans to board Serapis was repulsed, as was an attempt by the British to board Bonhomme Richard. Finally, after another of Jones's ships joined the fight, the British captain was forced to surrender at about 10:30 p.m. Bonhomme Richard – shattered, on fire, leaking badly – defied all efforts to save her and sank about 36 hours later at 11:00 a.m. on 25 September 1779. Jones sailed the captured Serapis to the Dutch United Provinces for repairs.
Though Bonhomme Richard sank after the battle, the battle's outcome was one of the factors that convinced the French crown to back the colonies in their fight to become independent of British authority.[citation needed]
Search for the wreck
Bonhomme Richard's final resting location was the subject of much speculation. A number of unsuccessful efforts had been conducted to locate the wreck. The location was presumed to be in approximately 180 feet (55 m) of water off Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, a headland near where her final battle took place. The quantity of other wrecks in the area and a century of fishing trawler operations had complicated all searches.
A wreck was identified in 1974 off Flamborough Head and in 2001 it was concluded that there was a high possibility that the wreck was that of the Bonhomme Richard. The remains were designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act in 2002. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
One season's attempts to locate and retrieve the ship, or some artifacts from her, using
In 2018 remains were found after Merlin Burrows conducted 25 dives on the site, with 32 ships-timbers recovered and in excess of 140 non-recovered artifacts identified, believed by Merlin Burrows to be those of the Bonhomme Richard, in shallow water very close to the coast of Filey, North Yorkshire, England, by the Land and Sea search team Merlin Burrows.[6] However, the location of this wreck remains contentious with conflicting views between different research teams and some eyewitness accounts on land, stating that on the morning of 25 September 1779, the Bonhomme Richard disappeared out of sight over the horizon. Collaboration between Merlin Burrows and the United States Naval History and Heritage Command is ongoing where Merlin Burrows are sharing the entirety of their research data/works and recovered items.
See also
References
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Bonhomme Richard". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
- ^ "Le Duc de Duras." Archeologie & Modelisme d'Arsenal.. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
- ^ Hill (1905), pp. 23–24.
- ^ LE BONHOMME-RICHARD, Échelle 1/48 par Pierre et Jacques Maillière, Commentaires G.D.
- ^ "(USNS Grasp) Expedition continues search for 220-year-old shipwreck". www.msc.navy.mil. 30 October 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
- ^ "Remains of US warship found off Yorkshire". BBC News.
Sources
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
Bibliography
- Allen, Gardner Weld (1913). A Naval History of the American Revolution. Vol. II. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 2613121.
- OCLC 12104038.
- OCLC 197401914.
- Hill, Frederic Stanhope (1905). Twenty-Six Historic Ships. New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons. OCLC 1667284.
- Maclay, Edgar Stanton; Smith, Roy Campbell (1898) [1893]. A History of the United States Navy, from 1775 to 1898. Vol. 1 (New ed.). New York: D. Appleton. OCLC 609036.
- "Navy Searches for John Paul Jones' Ship". Navy News Service. 11 September 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
- Ryan, Melisa (Fall–Winter 2006). "Recapturing the Unsinkable Spirit of the Bonhomme Richard" (PDF). Wrack Lines Magazine. 6 (2). Groton: Connecticut Sea Grant. OCLC 48206014. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 July 2010.
- Smith, Roff (August 2008). "The Ghost Ship of Filey Bay". National Geographic. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. OCLC 6451257. Archived from the originalon 20 November 2010.
External links
- Search for the Bonhomme Richard - Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration
- Search for the Bonhomme Richard—Clive Cussler recounts his elusive search for the Bonhomme Richard.
- Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1000080)". National Heritage List for England.