Filey Bay

Basic Site Facts
Period: post medieval (1779)
Location: Filey Bay, North Yorkshire
Depth: 28m
Reason for designation: archaeological significance

Identification is far from certain but the wreck may be the 'Bonhomme Richard'. She was an elderly, high pooped, French East Indiaman of 900 tons originally named 'Duc De Duras'. In 1779, she was lying at L`Orient on the French Atlantic coast.

At the instigation of M. de Sartine, the French Minister of Marine, she was bought by King Louis XIV of France and put at the disposal of John Paul Jones of the American Continental Navy.

She was originally armed for protection against pirates in far eastern waters and carried twenty-eight 12-pound guns on one deck, with six 12-pounders, on the poop-deck and forecastle. Jones had ports cut in the gun room on the deck below where he mounted six 18-pounder guns making forty guns in all.

Jones renamed her 'Bonhomme Richard' in honour of Dr Benjamin Franklin, the American representative in France, who had used Richard as a pen-name. Four other vessels, mainly crewed by Frenchmen, the 'Pallas' (32), 'Vengeance' (12) an armed brig, a large cutter 'Cerf' and a warship 'Alliance' (32), were added to make a small squadron under the American flag, with Jones in command. The crew of the 'Bonhomme Richard' included 150 American seamen, 100 of whom had recently been exchanged as prisoners of war for captured English sailors.

The little squadron sailed from the Isle de Groix off L’Orient on 14 August 1779 and captured a trading brig and a brigantine in the English Channel. These were sent into a French port with prize crews totalling 16 officers and men. On 23 August there was no wind. To stop the ship drifting sideways on to a reef, two rowing boats were put in the water to tow the bow of 'Bonhomme Richard' so she was headed into the tide. The English prisoners in one boat overpowered their two American guards, cut the tow rope and made for the shore. Mr Cutting Lunt, with sailors and marines, set off in pursuit but the runways had too good a lead and Mr Lunt and his men were captured when they got close in shore. 'Bonhomme Richard's complement had been reduced by a further 23 officers and men, and two boats had been lost.

On 14 August, Jones was off the West coast of the Hebrides where he captured the British Letter of Marque, 'Union'. The valuable Government despatches she was carrying to Canada and New York were thrown overboard by her captain when 'Alliance' showed American colours.

A north-west gale prevented Jones making an attack on the port of Leith in the Firth of Forth so he moved further south in the North Sea hoping to fall in with a convoy of merchant ships from the Baltic to England.

He was contemplating attacking a fleet of colliers anchored in the mouth of the River Humber when 'Vengeance' told him that the Baltic fleet was waiting in Bridlington Bay on the English north-east coast for a shift in the wind. He signalled 'Pallas' and the two American ships beat up for the bay and, about midday on 23 September, discovered the fleet of merchantmen, with two escorting warships, coming towards them. All afternoon the American ships manoeuvred to get between the convoy and the land and eventually succeeded by sundown.

At seven o’clock, with a full moon, the 'Bonhomme Richard' found herself facing a small two-decked warship - the 'Serapis' (44), commanded by Captain Richard Pearson. The other British warship, the smaller 'Countess of Scarborough', with 20 guns and commanded by Captain Piercy, was tackled by the 'Pallas'. The British ships had succeeded in their aim of getting between the Americans and the convoy.

At quarter past seven the 'Bonhomme Richard' and the 'Serapis' were on parallel courses about 800 feet apart. Capt Pearson hailed once and then, as he hailed a second time, both ships fired their broadsides. Two of the 18-pounders that Jones had fitted in the gunroom jumped off their carriages as they were fired, wounding a number of the men and lifting the deck above.

Since, after this accident, the men could no longer be persuaded to work the guns, the Richard was now reduced to her original armament with a total weigh of metal in each broadside of 315lb. Pearson attempted to go round the bow of the Richard, rake her, (that is fire directly into an opponent’s bow or stern from a position where the enemy broadside cannot be brought to bear on the attacker) but Richard forged ahead and Jones was nearly able to grapple and board the Serapis. By this time over 80 of the 144 men working the gun deck battery of Richard were either killed or wounded and the deck was slippery with blood and fragments of bodies. She was riding two feet lower due to water entering through shot holes in the hull.

When 'Alliance' appeared on the scene Jones assumed that she had come to his rescue, but instead she fired a broadside into Richard`s stern and sailed away to the northward. Jones realised that his ship was being shot to pieces and his only hope was to board the enemy. The chance came when the anchor on 'Serapis' caught on 'Bonhomme Richard' and the French marine sharpshooters prevented the British from cutting it free. Because the American flag had been shot down, Pearson hailed to ask if they were surrendering, "No, I’ve not yet begun to fight!" was the reply. The master-at-arms, thinking Richard was about to sink, opened the hatch to release more than 200 prisoners held below, but when they tried to swarm on deck they were held back by Midshipman Potter and a few men.

The battle had now been in progress for over two hours and the ships were so close that the burning wads from the British guns had set fire to the wreckage on 'Bonhomme Richard’s' decks. Jones ordered Lieut Edward Stack to have some hand-grenades dropped down 'Serapis’ main hatch. On the third try one ignited a pile of cartridges causing a tremendous explosion which killed or wounded more than 50 men.

'Alliance' reappeared, fired round and grape shot indiscriminately into the sterns of both ships and sailed off. The sharpshooters on 'Bonhomme Richard' had shot eleven men at the wheel of Serapis, killing seven outright and her poop-deck guns brought the British main mast crashing down on the deck. At this point Jones mustered a boarding party of 25-30 men and, led by acting Lieut John Maynant, they boarded the 'Serapis', carrying all before them. Capt Pearson, having saved his convoy, lowered the flag himself and surrendered the ship to Richard Dale, the First Lieutenant of 'Bonhomme Richard'.

'Bonhomme Richard' was badly holed so Jones transferred the remaining members of his crew to 'Serapis' and sailed for the Texel. The American ship sank on the 25 September and two efforts to locate the wreck have been unsuccessful.

However, the identity of the wreck has not yet been confirmed as the 'Bonhomme Richard'.

Reportedly found by John Adams in 1975 after removing fishing nets from some large planking, a mass of large wooden ship timbers have been observed on the seabed, including sections of intact framing and attached planking.

One section of coherent structure extended some 7m by 3m. Some of the frame timbers measure up to 0.25m by 0.40m and many of the timbers were in very good condition, indicating relatively recent exposure. Copper alloy fastenings were abundant throughout the exposed structure.

A number of amorphous concretions were observed but they did not appear to be guns and none of the divers had ever noticed guns on the site. However, part of an iron cannon or mortar is reported to have been recovered from this wreck.

The site sits at a depth of between 23-28m and the seabed around the archaeological material is generally featureless and consists of mobile silty sand. Diving on site quickly reduces visibility due to the fine sediments cast into suspension by diving activity. Between 2002 and 2003 there was a reported change in sand levels indicating a mobile seabed environment.

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