Battle of Flamborough Head
Who Fought
History & Significance
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.
On 14 August 1779 a squadron of seven ships departed Groix off L’Orient in France, nominally under the command of American Continental Navy Captain John Paul Jones. The squadron voyaged from a brief stop off Ireland, round the north of Scotland, and down the east coast of Britain, creating havoc wherever possible. Although sailing under the American flag, all the vessels were loaned or donated by France, with French captains, except for the Alliance, which had been built in Amesbury, Massachusetts, specifically for the Continental Navy (although it had an originally French captain too: Pierre Landais). The crews included Americans, French volunteers, British sailors previously captured by the Americans and offered the chance to get out of captivity, and many others seeking glory or prize money. By mid-September, four of the ships remained in the squadron.
On the evening of 22 September, Jones in Bonhomme Richard (an armed former French East India Company trading vessel he had reluctantly adapted for military use), accompanied by the little brigantine Vengeance under Captain Philippe Nicolas Ricot, had been off Spurn Head, hoping to catch a few prizes emerging from the Humber estuary, but he decided to head northward during the night and rendezvous with his frigates Alliance and Pallas, which had parted company from him further up the coast. Shortly after midnight, two vessels were seen, so signal lanterns were set. The strangers did not give the response that would identify them as members of his squadron. Jones's crew was called to quarters, but when daylight approached, about 5:30 am, and a chequered flag was hoisted on the mizzen mast, the mystery vessels finally identified themselves as the Alliance and Pallas. Captain Denis Nicolas Cottineau de Kerloguen of the Pallas later reported that Captain Pierre Landais of the Alliance had advised a rapid retreat if the approaching warship proved to be British—not a reassuring suggestion, given that his frigate, which had been acclaimed as the best warship yet made in America, was by a fair margin the faster and more manoeuvrable of the two.
Early in the afternoon, the reunited squadron sighted a brig in Bridlington Bay, so at about 3:30 pm, a small schooner, captured the previous day, was sent with a 15-man boarding party. There is a discrepancy at this point between Jones's official report and Bonhomme Richard’s log, but the reason for sending the schooner may have been not because the brig was in very shallow water, but because the main squadron was on its way to investigate a sighting of a ship further north near Flamborough Head. Shortly after the schooner was dispatched, Alliance, which had been somewhat ahead of the others, hoisted a signal and set off at speed. At least two large vessels had been sighted in the distance, so the schooner was immediately recalled by firing a signal gun, and the entire squadron headed towards the potentially rich prizes.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Flamborough Head lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.
- ~170 killed or wounded; 1 ship sunk
- >117 killed or wounded,; survivors captured; 2 ships captured
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- Battle of Flamborough Head · Wikipedia