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He donated a small pencil sketch of Captain John Paul Jones's most famous ship, Bonhomme Richard, to the museum in 1975, and pursued research on this ship and others which Jones sailed for over two decades . In 1987, the Naval Academy Museum mounted a major exhibition of Gilkerson's paintings and drawings of the ships of John Paul Jones, and published his beautifully illustrated book The Ships of John Paul Jones. |
flagship commanded by the American naval officer John Paul Jones during a sea battle of the American Revolution. The ship, a decrepit merchantman called the Duras, was a contribution of the French government to the American cause; it was renamed after "Poor Richard," the pseudonym used by Benjamin Franklin in his famous Poor Richard's Almanack. On the night of September 23, 1779, the squadron of five ships commanded by Jones encountered, in the North Sea off Flamborough, England, a fleet of 41 British merchantmen convoyed by two powerful men-of-war, the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. The Countess was captured by vessels of Jones's force. After one of the bloodiest battles in naval history, during which Jones had the Bonhomme Richard lashed to the Serapis so that the British man-of-war could not fully utilize its far greater firing power, the commander of the Serapis surrendered. The Bonhomme Richard, unseaworthy from the outset, was so badly damaged in the battle that two days later the ship sank. The victory, however, gave the newly formed United States of America considerable prestige. |
 | 1747-1792 Scottish-born American naval officer. In the American Revolution he raided the British coast and destroyed two warships (1779). |
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