Bonhomme Richard — Ship Of The United States Navy.
Dec 13, 2021
The Bonhomme Richard was the flag-ship of John Paul Jones during his successful engagement with the Serapis off the coast of England on September 23, 1779.
Originally named the Duras, she was an old, unseaworthy French merchant ship that Louis XVI had given to the American government that year.
Jones refitted the ship with 40 guns and renamed her the Bonhomme Richard in honor of Benjamin Franklin, whose poor Richard’s Almanack was then popular reading in France.
Jones captured the Serapis after a three-and-a-half-hour battle, although the Bonhomme Richard, badly damaged in the fight, finally sank.
