''Bonhomme Richard'', formerly ''Duc de Duras'', was a warship in the American

Continental Navy The Continental Navy was the navy of the United States during the American Revolutionary War and was founded October 13, 1775. The fleet cumulatively became relatively substantial through the efforts of the Continental Navy's patron John Ad ...

named for Founding Father

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

. She was originally an

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

, a

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

built in France for the

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in th ...

in 1765, for service between France and Asia. She was placed at the disposal of

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

on 4 February 1779, by King

Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

as a result of a loan to the United States by French shipping magnate Jacques-Donatien Le Ray.

Origin

''Bonhomme Richard'' was originally an

named ''Duc de Duras'', a

built at

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

according to the plan drawn up by the King's Master Shipwright Antoine Groignard for the

in 1765. Her design allowed her to be quickly transformed into a man-of-war in case of necessity to support the navy. She made two voyages to China, the first in 1766 and the second in 1769. At her return the French East India Company had been dissolved, and all its installations and ships transferred to the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

. As a naval ship she made a voyage to

Isle de France (Mauritius) Isle de France () was the name of the Indian Ocean island which is known as Mauritius and its dependent territories between 1715 and 1810, when the area was under the French East India Company and a part of the French colonial empire. Und ...

before being sold to private shipowners in 1771. She sailed in private service until she was purchased by King

in early 1779 and placed under the command of

on 4 February.Hill (1905), pp. 23–24. The size and armament of ''Duc de Duras'' made her roughly equivalent to half of a 64-gun

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

. Jones renamed her ''Bon Homme Richard'' (usually rendered in more correct French as ''Bonhomme Richard'') in honor of

, the American Commissioner at Paris whose '' Poor Richard's Almanack'' was published in France under the title ''Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard''.

First patrols

On 19 June 1779, ''Bonhomme Richard'' sailed from

accompanied by , ''Pallas, Vengeance,'' and ''Cerf'' with troop transports and merchant vessels under convoy to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

and to cruise against the British in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

. 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 The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...

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 and HM hired armed ship near

Flamborough Head Flamborough Head () is a promontory, long on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, with sheer white cliffs. The cliff top has two standing lighthouse towers, the ol ...

. ''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.

Search for the wreck

''Bonhomme Richards 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 of water off

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, J ...

near where her final battle took place. The quantity of other wrecks in the area and a century of

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets th ...

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 Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

. One season's attempts to locate and retrieve the ship, or some artifacts from her, using USNS ''Grasp'' were filmed for the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

's '' Mighty Ships'' series in 2011. The U.S. Navy's mission was unsuccessful. In 2012, an expedition with the Ocean Technology Foundation and the French Navy located a wreck of interest (called "Target 131") in 70 meters of water. The wreck is mostly buried, but some artifacts are visible on the seabed surface, including an anchor that would fit the dimensions and style of the kedge anchor on the ''Bonhomme Richard''. In 2014, the French Navy and Ocean Technology Foundation mounted an expedition to have the French Navy dive Target 131. Artifacts discovered by the divers included a deadeye block (part of a sailing ship's rigging), large sections of half-buried planking, and what appeared to be an iron spar hoop, with a few pieces of decomposing wood still encircled in it. No evidence of modern objects has been found on the site. The Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration (GFOE) has since continued the work of the Ocean Technology Foundation, leading an expedition with the French and U.S. navies in 2016, again aboard the USNS ''Grasp''. More

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Ear ...

was conducted, and researchers discovered additional objects within the wreck site that were deemed worthy of further investigation. A 2019 expedition involving GFOE, the French navy, and the U.S. Navy was planned, but was postponed indefinitely due to a disagreement among France and the U.S. about the ultimate ownership of the ''Bonhomme Richard''. The goal of this mission was to prove or disprove Target 131 as being the ''Bonhomme Richard''. In 2018 remains were found, possibly 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. However, the location of this wreck does not corroborate with multiple eyewitness accounts from observers on land, who noted that on the morning of 25 September 1779, the ''Bonhomme Richard'' disappeared out of sight over the horizon.

References

Notes Sources * Bibliography * * * * * * * *

External links