British Surprised in Own Waters

In September 1779, in the midst of the American War for Independence, a Scottish-born officer, commanding an almost derelict vessel flying the ensign of the Continental Navy,[1] engaged in a three-hour long duel with a ship belonging to the world’s greatest navy, a navy unused to loss in naval combat. The battle, fought off Flamborough Head on the northeast coast of England, resulted in the loss of two British ships, the Fourth Rate Serapis and the ship-sloop Countess of Scarborough. Why was a warship, commissioned in the American navy, off the northeast coast of England? What was its mission? Was there a strategic vision to the ship’s exploits? And, given that Serapis was in all ways a superior vessel to Bonhomme Richard, how did the Americans actually win the battle?