| | In 1777 Jones was given command of the sloop ''Ranger'' and proceeded to France where he was promised command of a new, fast, well-armed frigate. In 1778, Jones sailed the ''Ranger'' to raid the British coast and captured the British sloop ''Drake''. After losing the ''Ranger'' in a legal dispute, the French gave Jones an armed merchant vessel which he named ''Bonhomme Richard'' (Good Man Richard) in honor of [[Benjamin Franklin]]. | | In 1777 Jones was given command of the sloop ''Ranger'' and proceeded to France where he was promised command of a new, fast, well-armed frigate. In 1778, Jones sailed the ''Ranger'' to raid the British coast and captured the British sloop ''Drake''. After losing the ''Ranger'' in a legal dispute, the French gave Jones an armed merchant vessel which he named ''Bonhomme Richard'' (Good Man Richard) in honor of [[Benjamin Franklin]]. |
| | On 23 September 1779, a Franco-American squadron under Jones was off Flamborough Head, England, looking for British merchant ships to capture, when the British frigates ''Countess of Scarborough'' and ''Serapis'' bore down on it. The American frigate, "Bonhomme Richard" engaged the "Serapis". In a particularly bloody, destructive fight, the English captain called out to inquire if the "Bonhomme Richard" had struck its colors. Jones cried out, "I have not yet begun to fight!" Upon raking the "Serapis", the crew of the ''Bonhomme Richard'' led by Jones boarded the English ship and captured her. Likewise, the French frigate ''Pallas'' captured her prize the ''Countess of Scarborough''. The action stuck out as an embarrassing defeat for the Royal Navy, who suffered the capture of two of her vessels in her own home waters, but goes down in history as the single most memorable ship-on-ship gun battle in history.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qT5MGeLzr3cC&pg=PA187&dq=bonhomme+serapis&lr=&num=30&as_brr=1 Edward Shippen, ''Naval Battles, Ancient and Modern'' (1883) p 187ff]</ref> | | On 23 September 1779, a Franco-American squadron under Jones was off Flamborough Head, England, looking for British merchant ships to capture, when the British frigates ''Countess of Scarborough'' and ''Serapis'' bore down on it. The American frigate, "Bonhomme Richard" engaged the "Serapis". In a particularly bloody, destructive fight, the English captain called out to inquire if the "Bonhomme Richard" had struck its colors. Jones cried out, "I have not yet begun to fight!" Upon raking the "Serapis", the crew of the ''Bonhomme Richard'' led by Jones boarded the English ship and captured her. Likewise, the French frigate ''Pallas'' captured her prize the ''Countess of Scarborough''. The action stuck out as an embarrassing defeat for the Royal Navy, who suffered the capture of two of her vessels in her own home waters, but goes down in history as the single most memorable ship-on-ship gun battle in history.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qT5MGeLzr3cC&pg=PA187&dq=bonhomme+serapis&lr=&num=30&as_brr=1 Edward Shippen, ''Naval Battles, Ancient and Modern'' (1883) p 187ff]</ref> |