At the tender age of 13, John Paul would never have dreamed that one day he would be a captain in the American Navy, fighting in the American War of Independence, and playing a major part in one of the most famous battles of the North Sea.
Born in Arbigland, Scotland, on 6th July 1747, the son of a poor gardener, he vowed to make good.
Fascinated by the sea he began his life at sea as a cabin boy on a ship called Friendship.
He rose through the ranks and eventually became a Captain.
A case of insubordination aboard his ship, off Tobago, led to the death of a crewman at the hands of Captain John Paul, albeit in self defence. Some quick thinking by a loyal friend rechristened him Captain John Paul Jones and helped in a hurried escape to America, thus evading a court hearing and wrongful accusation of murder.
Still with a taste for the sea, Captain John Paul Jones joined the American Navy during the American War of Independence, attacking British ships at every opportunity.
The Battle of Flamborough Head took place on 23rd September 1779. Jones, captain of the Bon Homme Richard, set out to raid Leith, a port of Edinburgh, but the winds changed and he had no alternative but to proceed southward.
His next attack point was to be Newcastle, to cut off the coal supply to London. Again he was unlucky and continued south to his main quarry near Flamborough Head, a convoy of merchantmen from the Baltic, escorted by HMS Countess of Scarborough and HMS Serapis.
The Countess of Scarborough was a sloop with about 20 guns, the Serapis being a frigate, much bigger, and with the striking power of about 50 guns.
Captain John Paul Jones sailed in close to Serapis, flying the British colours, and, when hailed by her commander, Commander Richard Pearson, to identify himself, he dropped the British colours and ran up the Stars and Stripes, at the same time giving the order to fire the starboard guns.
Serapis also fired and the Bon Homme Richard's battery was put out of order by two 18-pounders, which blew up part of the upper deck and killed many gunners.
Jones ordered the Chief Quartermaster to take the Bon Homme Richard across the stern of the Serapis on the starboard quarter so they could grapple and board.
The awkward angle at which the Bon Homme Richard crossed the Serapis meant Commander Pearson had no difficulty in warding off boarders.
Realising the hopeless position of the Bon Homme Richard, Commander Pearson ordered his helmsman to cross the Bon Homme Richard's bow, intending to rake her with all his armoury.
The helmsman's angle was too acute and the Bon Homme Richard's bowsprit ended up in the stern of the Serapis, getting stuck in its mizzen mast.
Jones gave the order to turn the helm to port so as to take the Bon Homme Richard to starboard and inflict the same move that Commander Pearson had just attempted on him.
Again a misjudgement meant that the bowsprit of the Serapis ended up in the Bon Homme Richard's shrouds.
All the while Serapis's guns were pounding away, inflicting heavy damage.
Meanwhile the USS Pallas and the HMS Countess of Scarborough were also blasting away at one another.
The wind rose and the Bon Homme Richard backed her top sails and slowed, both ships manoeuvering until the Serapis was facing north and the Bon Homme Richard south.
The starboard anchor from the Serapis caught up in the Bon Homme Richard's bulwarks on the starboard quarter, and both ships were so close their guns were almost touching. Captain John Paul Jones set to grapple and board.
Commander Pearson tried to cut the grappling hooks but the Bon Homme Richard's sharpshooters killed or injured the party of sailors assigned to that task.
Commander Pearson dropped anchor hoping the winds and tides would break him away.
This caused both ships to swing round in the opposite direction; now Commander Pearson could not use his port side guns.
The starboard side was closed and had to be blown open by his own cannon fire.
This put the Bon Homme Richard's main 12-pounders out of action, leaving only three nine-pounders on his quarter deck.
Serapis kept pounding away mercilessly.
Then to add insult to injury the USS Alliance joined the affray, only to rake his own flagship, attacking the stern and, when veering, delivering lethal shots to the bows, holing it beneath the waterline.
Captain John Paul Jones believed that Captain Landais of the Alliance would try to wipe him out and then attack the Serapis, claiming all the glory.
Taking on water badly and desperate, Jones ordered one of his men to take a nine-pounder gun across to the starboard quarter and double shot it. At the same time he ordered as many men as possible along the end of the yards, armed with all the grenades available.
Jones kept firing the double loaded nine-pounder, his men bombarding the deck and main gun deck, causing havoc and wrecking the guns.
Commander Pearson panicked and surrendered.
The bloody battle lasted nearly four hours, the Bon Homme Richard losing around 150 men and the Serapis over 100.
Men worked tirelessly to save the Bon Homme Richard but to no avail.
Jones transferred his crew and colours to the captured Serapis, then sadly watched his beloved frigate sink bow first into the North Sea in 240 feet of water.
The two British captains from the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough were taken prisoner.
Later they were returned to England and were given the freedom of Scarborough for bravery, and their success in protecting the convoy itself.
King George III was so pleased with Captain Richard Pearson's conduct and efforts that he awarded him a knighthood.
To date the wreck of the Bon Homme Richard has never been found, despite various attempts, including one in 1974 by American writer Clive Cussler.
He was based in New York and the author of the famous disaster novel Raise the Titanic.
He brought with him two full teams, including four electronics experts, the latest in echo-sounding equipment, two vessels and his family.
They stayed at the Expanse Hotel, turning one of the reception rooms into their headquarters.
Clive and his entourage spent the first four months studying tides and coastline as they would have been in 1775 and also present day.
He drew on local knowledge of fishermen and lifeboat crews.
Using a 20x60-mile grid system, they swept the area locating various wrecks, one possibly being the Bon Homme Richard, but were unable to dive to it.
Clive and his teams returned in 1975 to try and confirm the find but sadly ran out of money, the search costing in excess of a quarter of a million dollars.
Had they been successful they would have used the inflatable balloon idea as it was Clive's team and connected experts who orginally come up with this system, used to raise the Marie Rose.
In September 1979, a 'reconstruction' of the battle was made possible when the owners of the two local pleasure boats Yorkshire Belle and Flamborian loaned them to the council free of charge.
To reconstruct the battle, the crews worked voluntarily with a display of fireworks and flares.
Today the Yorkshire Belle is owned by Peter Richardson and the Flamborian, after working in Poole and at Exmouth, is now on the Seine near Paris.
So the secrets of the Bon Homme Richard still refuse to reveal themselves.
Questions are being asked: 'Are we looking in the right place?' and 'Is it farther out than we think?'
Whether it's the British or the Americans who first find the wreck, or whatever's left, it will certainly be an important find and another piece in the jigsaw of history.

Article produced with the help of:
Bridlington Free Press
Bridlington Library
Sewerby Hall and East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Arthur Porter, my father