The Anchors Aweigh series was placed in honor of the men of the US Navy who have served in the defense of our country. Each cache is dedicated to one of the warships involved in battle. If you find all the caches in the series, you’ll reveal some nice GeoArt on your cache map. These are not difficult caches to find. If you cannot find a cache easily, it’s probably missing. Send me a picture (by email, not in your log) of where you think the cache should be, and I’ll accept the find and replace the cache.
Because of the difficulty in finding suitable locations for some of the caches, some puzzle caches were used (not this one) so that the find icon could be in a location separate from the cache. You should be able to solve the puzzles with information on this cache page. I suggest you solve the puzzles before you make your cache run, to help optimize the route.
USS Bonhomme Richard
The USS Bonhomme Richard, formerly Duc de Duras, was a warship in the Continental Navy. 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 the Orient. 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.
Jones renamed her Bon Homme Richard - usually rendered in more correct French as Bonhomme Richard, to honor Benjamin Franklin, the American Commissioner at Paris whose Poor Richard's Almanac had been published in France under the title Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard.
Battle of Flamborough Head
On 19 June 1779, Bonhomme Richard sailed from Lorient accompanied by Alliance, Pallas, Vengeance, and Cerf with troop transports and merchant vessels under convoy to Bordeaux and to cruise against the British in the Bay of Biscay. Forced to return to port for repair, the squadron sailed again 14 August 1779. Going northwest around the west coast of the British Isles into the North Sea and then down the east coast. The squadron took 16 merchant vessels as prizes.
On 23 September 1779, they encountered the Baltic Fleet of 41 sail under convoy of HMS Serapis and Countess of Scarborough near Flamborough Head. After 18:00 Bonhomme Richard engaged Serapis and a bitter engagement, the Battle of Flamborough Head, ensued during the next four hours that cost the lives of nearly half the American and British crews. At first, a British victory seemed inevitable as the more heavily armed Serapis used its firepower to rake Bonhomme Richard with devastating effect, killing Americans by the score. The Commanding Officer of Serapis then called on Jones to surrender, who replied, "Sir, I have not yet begun to fight!" Jones eventually succeeded in lashing the two ships together, nullifying his opponent's greater maneuverability and attempting to take advantage of the larger size and considerably greater 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 squadron joined in the fight (uncaringly causing serious collateral damage aboard the Richard) the British captain surrendered at about 10:30 p.m. Bonhomme Richard, shattered, on fire, and leaking badly defied all efforts to save her and sank about 36 hours later at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, 25 September 1779. John Paul Jones sailed the captured Serapis to the United Provinces for repairs.
Though Bonhomme Richard sank subsequent to the battle, the outcome of the battle convinced the French crown of the wisdom of backing the colonies in their fight to separate from British authority.
Bonhomme Richard's final resting location is the subject of much speculation. A number of efforts have been conducted to locate the wreck. As of 2005, these efforts have been unsuccessful. The location of the wreck is presumed to be in approximately 180 feet of water off Flamborough Head in Yorkshire, a headland near where her final battle took place. The number of other wrecks in the area and a century of fishing trawling operations have complicated all searches.