On this day, September 23, 1779, John Paul Jones said, "Sir, I have not yet begun to fight!"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, Wikipedia

USS Bonhomme Richard (1765)



Bonhomme Richard, formerly Duc de Duras, was a warship in the American Continental Navy named for Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. She was originally an East Indiaman, a merchant ship built in France for the French East India Company in 1765, for service between France and Asia. She was placed at the disposal of John Paul Jones on 4 February 1779, by King Louis XVI of France as a result of a loan to the United States by French shipping magnate Jacques-Donatien Le Ray.

{snip}

Battle of Flamborough Head

Main article: Battle of Flamborough Head



Bonhomme Richard on fire

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.

{snip}

[sl8]

1. Thanks for the post. Here's the"Serapis" or "John Paul Jones" flag:

It has an interesting backstory (below).



A painting, currently at the Chicago History Museum, depicting a sketch of the flag flown from prize HMS Serapis

===============



================''=

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serapis_flag

Serapis flag

[...]

At the 1779 Battle of Flamborough Head, U.S. Navy Captain John Paul Jones captured the Serapis, but his own ship, the Bonhomme Richard, sank, and her ensign had been blown from the mast into the sea during the battle. Jones, now commanding the Serapis without having a U.S. ensign to fly on it, sailed to the island port of Texel, which belonged to the neutral Dutch United Provinces. Officials from Britain argued that Jones was a pirate, since he sailed a captured vessel flying no known national ensign.

A year earlier, Arthur Lee, U.S. commissioner in France, wrote in a letter to Henry Laurens that the U.S. ships' "colors should be white, red, and blue alternately to thirteen" with a "blue field with thirteen stars" in the canton.[1] Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, ambassadors to France, wrote a similar description of United States flags:

It is with pleasure that we acquaint your excellency that the flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen stripes, alternately red, white, and blue; a small square in the upper angle, next the flagstaff, is a blue field, with thirteen white stars, denoting a new constellation.[2]

Apparently based upon this description, a recognizable ensign was quickly made to fly aboard the Serapis, and Dutch records edited to include a sketch of the ensign to make it official. The Dutch could, therefore, recognize the flag and avoid the legal controversy of Jones' captured ship. The Dutch records survive and provide the original sketch of the ensign.[3] The sketch is labeled "Serapis" and dated 5 October 1779, just one day after the Francis Hopkinson style flag, labeled "Alliance" (a ship in Jones' fleet), was entered.[4]

[...]

[Chainfire]

2. The famous words were the middle finger of the age.

[Effete Snob]

3. Was the loan repaid?

[IA8IT]

5. Lafayette, We are Here....Long term payment plan?

https://www.pritzkermilitary.org/explore/museum/past-exhibits/lest-we-forget-doughboys-sammies-and-sailors-great-war/lafayette-we-are-here

[Effete Snob]

6. Lafayette didn't make the loan

I’m not sure Louis XVI is impressed with the repayment schedule.

[IA8IT]

7. LOL Good One!

[The Magistrate]

4. There Is, Sir

The doubtless apocryphal story of the marine on board who heard the famous cry and said 'There's always some sunovabitch slow to get the word.'