Defence of Captn Pearson in his Majesty’s Ship Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough Arm’d Ship Captn Piercy, against Paul Jones's Squadron, 23 September 1779, by Richard Paton. | |
History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Serapis |
Ordered | 11 February 1778 |
Builder | Randall & Brent, Rotherhithe |
Laid down | 3 March 1778 |
Launched | 4 March 1779 |
Fate | Taken by American Bonhomme Richard, assisted by other vessels |
United States | |
Name | Serapis |
Fate | Transferred to France |
France | |
Name | Sérapis |
Fate | Wrecked in 1781 off Madagascar |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Roebuck-class fifth-rate ship |
Tons burthen | 87926⁄94 (bm; as designed) |
Length |
|
Beam | 37 ft 9+1⁄2 in (12 m) |
Depth of hold | 16 ft 4 in (5 m) |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement | 280 (300 from 1780) |
Armament |
|
HMS Serapis was a Royal Navy two-decked, Roebuck-class fifth rate. Randall & Brent built her at Greenland South Dockyard, Rotherhithe [2] and launched her in 1779. She was armed with 44 guns (twenty 18-pounders, twenty 9-pounders, and four 6-pounders). Serapis was named after the god Serapis in Greek and Egyptian mythology. The Americans captured her during the American War of Independence. They transferred her to the French, who commissioned her as a privateer. She was lost off Madagascar in 1781 to a fire.
Serapis was commissioned in March 1779 under Captain Richard Pearson. On 23 September she engaged the American warship USS Bonhomme Richard under the command of Captain John Paul Jones in the North Sea at Flamborough Head, England. At the time of this battle, the ship carried 50 guns, having an extra six 6-pounders. [3] The two vessels exchanged heavy fire and Bonhomme Richard lost most of her firepower, but by attaching the two ships together, Jones was able to overcome much of Pearson's advantage of greater firepower (although the Bonhomme Richard was a larger ship with a considerably greater crew). [4] The famous quote, "I have not yet begun to fight!" [4] was Jones's response to Pearson's premature call for Bonhomme Richard to surrender. The battle raged on for three hours as the crew of Bonhomme Richard tenaciously fought Serapis, raking her deck with gunfire. Eventually, USS Alliance, a frigate in Jones's squadron, began firing at both the attached ships indiscriminately. Bonhomme Richard began to sink, but Captain Pearson, unable to aim his guns at the frigate because he was tied to Jones's ship, surrendered, handing Serapis over to the Americans. [4]
Jones sailed to the neutral Dutch Republic, but diplomatic complications arose because the Dutch authorities did not recognize the United States. Jones renamed his capture Serapis. An improvised Serapis flag was secretly entered into the Dutch records to avoid the charges of piracy. Serapis and her consort, HM hired armed ship Countess of Scarborough, were later declared as French captures.
Although the two British vessels had lost the battle, they had succeeded perfectly in protecting the very valuable convoy, and both captains were well rewarded.
Between October and December 1779 Serapis was in the Texel. By September 1780 she was probably at Lorient. [1]
The French Royal Navy commissioned Sérapis, and loaned her to a civilian master named Roche who planned to use the ship against the British in the Indian Ocean. [5]
On 31 July 1781, Sérapis was at Madagascar, trading spirits and arak for rice, [6] when the load master, lieutenant de frégate L'Héritier, [7] had candles taken out of their fire-proof lanterns. The candles ignited alcohol vapour in the hull. [6] The crew fought the fire for two and a half hours, but the flames eventually burned through the walls of the spirit locker and reached a powder magazine. The resulting explosion ripped the stern off the ship, sinking her. While eight men lost their lives, 215 people survived. The privateer Daliram returned them to Île Sainte-Marie, Madagascar. [1]
In November 1999, American nautical archeologists Richard Swete and Michael Tuttle located the remains of Serapis at Île Sainte-Marie.
USS Vengeance has been the name of two ships in the United States Navy.
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.
Nathaniel Fanning was an officer in the Continental Navy and later the United States Navy, who served aboard Bonhomme Richard during its 1779 battle with HMS Serapis.
The Fantasque was a Lion-class 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She is famous for being captained by the French commander Pierre-André de Suffren during the American Revolutionary War.
HMS Hannibal was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Adams of Bucklers Hard and launched on 26 December 1779. The French ship Héros captured Hannibal off Sumatra on 21 January 1782.
The Battle of Flamborough Head was a naval battle that took place on 23 September 1779 in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire between a combined Franco-American squadron, led by Continental Navy officer John Paul Jones, and two British escort vessels protecting a large merchant convoy. It became one of the most celebrated naval actions of the war in America, despite its relatively small size and a considerable dispute over what had actually occurred.
Bellone was an Iphigénie-class 32-gun frigate of the French Navy on plans by Léon-Michel Guignace. She took part in the American Revolutionary War in the Indian Ocean with the squadron under Suffren, and later in the French Revolutionary Wars. She was present at the Glorious First of June.
Sir Richard Pearson (1731–1806) was a British naval officer who was captain of the ship HMS Serapis during the American Revolution.
The Vengeur was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy designed by Antoine Groignard. She saw action with Bailli de Suffren during the American War of Independence.
Orient was an 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, built by Antoine Groignard.
The Roebuck-class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker warships of the Royal Navy. The class carried two complete decks of guns, a lower battery of 18-pounders and an upper battery of 9-pounders. This battery enabled the vessel to deliver a broadside of 285 pounds. Most were constructed for service during the American Revolutionary War but continued to serve thereafter. By 1793 five were still on the active list. Ten were hospital ships, troopships or storeships. As troopships or storeships they had the guns on their lower deck removed. Many of the vessels in the class survived to take part in the Napoleonic Wars. In all, maritime incidents claimed five ships in the class and war claimed three.
Countess of Scarborough was launched at Whitby in 1777. The Royal Navy hired her as a hired armed ship in 1777. She participated in the capture of two privateers before she and HMS Serapis succumbed to a small American flotilla off Flamborough Head in 1779. She briefly became a French privateer. Her subsequent fate is unknown.
The Pourvoyeuse was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She is notable as one of the earliest attempts at building a frigate armed with 24-pounders on the artillery deck, rather than the 18-pounders typical of the day.
Brillant was a 64-gun Solitaire-class ship of the line of the French Navy.
Ajax was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
USS Vengeance (1779) was a former merchant ship that served under the command of John Paul Jones in the Revolutionary War. The French Royal Navy purchased her at Bordeaux in 1779 for Jones and sold her when she arrived at Dunkirk in January 1780 after the battle between Bonhomme Richard and the rest of Jones's squadron on the one side, and HMS Serapis and HM hired armed ship Countess of Scarborough on the other.
Expédition was originally a British civilian 16-gun cutter, either a merchantman or a privateer, that the French captured in July 1778. They brought her into French service as the corvette Expédition.
HMS Fortune was a British 14-gun sloop launched in 1778 that the French captured in April 1780. She then served with the French navy under the same name.
Osterley was an East Indiaman launched on 9 October 1771 by Wells, Deptford. She made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before the French frigate Pourvoyeuse captured her on 21 February 1779 while she was on her third voyage. She then sailed for a few years as a French merchantman.
Naïade was a 20-gun Coquette-class corvette. She took part in the Indian theatre of the Anglo-French War with the squadron under Suffren. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1783 but never commissioned her; it sold her in 1784.