Battle of Flamborough Head

The Battle of Flamborough Head was the most famous naval engagement of the Revolutionary War and produced the most celebrated naval quote in American history. John Paul Jones commanded the aging, decrepit converted merchant vessel Bonhomme Richard against the British Baltic convoy escort HMS Serapis — a powerful new 44-gun frigate — off the Yorkshire coast of England itself.

In the opening broadsides, two of Bonhomme Richard's largest cannon exploded, killing their crews. Jones was outgunned and his ship on fire. He performed an extraordinary maneuver: lashing his ship directly to Serapis so they could not be separated, turning the battle into a close-range slugfest. The two ships, locked together, drifted through the night with cannon muzzles touching, men firing through gunports into opposite gunports, and the Bonhomme Richard visibly sinking.

When Pearson called out asking if Jones had struck his colors, Jones reportedly replied: 'I have not yet begun to fight!' Whether the exact words are accurate, the sentiment was certainly true. The battle raged for three and a half hours. Then a grenadier on Bonhomme Richard dropped grenades into an open hatch on Serapis, exploding loose cartridges in a devastating series of blasts. Pearson surrendered at 10:30 PM. Jones transferred his crew to the captured Serapis as Bonhomme Richard sank.

Jones had fought one of the greatest ship-to-ship battles in naval history within sight of the English coast. The impact on American morale and on British public opinion — that an American captain could humiliate the Royal Navy at the entrance to its own waters — was enormous.