Bonhomme Richard Wins: Jones Becomes Naval Legend

John Paul Jones was losing his ship and winning the battle. On September 23, 1779, his aging converted merchantman Bonhomme Richard engaged the British frigate HMS Serapis off Flamborough Head on the Yorkshire coast in one of the most ferocious naval actions of the American Revolution. When the British captain asked if Jones was ready to surrender, his reply became legend: "I have not yet begun to fight." The engagement was part of a daring raid along the British coastline. Jones, commanding a small Franco-American squadron, had been terrorizing merchant shipping in the North Sea for weeks. The Serapis and its escort, the Countess of Scarborough, were protecting a convoy of Baltic merchantmen when they intercepted Jones's force. The two ships closed to point-blank range and became entangled, their rigging locking them together in a death grip. For over three hours, the crews poured musket fire, grenades, and cannon shot into each other at distances measured in feet. The Bonhomme Richard was holed below the waterline and burning in multiple places. Water flooded her hold faster than pumps could manage. One of Jones's own cannons exploded, killing its crew. The turning point came when a seaman from the Bonhomme Richard crawled along a yardarm and dropped a grenade through an open hatch on the Serapis, igniting a chain of powder cartridges that killed or wounded dozens of British gunners on the lower deck. Captain Richard Pearson struck his colors shortly after 10:30 PM. Jones transferred his crew to the captured Serapis and watched the Bonhomme Richard sink the following morning. The victory made Jones the first genuine naval hero of the United States. Congress awarded him a gold medal, Louis XVI gave him a sword, and the battle proved that American warships could take on the Royal Navy in its own waters. Pearson, for his part, received a knighthood for saving his convoy. Jones supposedly quipped that if he ever met Pearson again, he would make him a lord.