Who commanded the 'USS Bonhomme Richard' which sank after the 'Battle of Flamborough Head' in 1779?
Flamborough Head seabirds from below the lighthouse, or later in the autumn comb the hedges and valleys for landbird migrants. Flamborough Head has a bird observatory. A Franco-American squadron fought the Battle of Flamborough Head with a pair of Royal Navy frigates in the American Revolutionary War on 23 September 1779. In the engagement, USS "Bonhomme Richard" and "Pallas", with "USS Alliance", captured HMS "Serapis" and HM hired ship "Countess of Scarborough", the best-known incident of Captain John Paul Jones's naval career. The toposcope at the lighthouse commemorates the 180th (1959) anniversary of the battle. Danes Dyke is a long ditch that
USS Bonhomme Richard (1765) 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