The Serapis Explodes in High Spirits (1781)

The Serapis is best known for being the opponent of the Bonhomme Richard under the command of John Paul Jones. Her story did not end with the famous words "I have not yet begun to fight" however. Starting her life as a fifth rate Roebuck class ship in the British Navy, she went on to be John Paul Jones's next ship, before being transferred to the French Navy. She would end her life off of the coast of Madagascar, engulfed in flames due to a particularly stupid mistake.  Ship Name: HMS Serapis  Ship Type: Roebuck Class Fifth Rate  Built: 1779  Tonnage: 880 Sank: Ile Sainte-Marie, Madagascar  Year Sank: 1781  Sources:  https://news.usni.org/2019/03/29/u-k-firm-claims-found-famed-u-s-warship-bonhomme-richard-experts-arent-sure https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/whoi-ship-hunts-for-revolutionary-war-wreck/ https://mua.apps.uri.edu/project_journals/serapis08/report.pdf https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-30-02-0366 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45011/45011-h/45011-h.htm https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_458176 https://www.post-journal.com/news/page-one/2017/07/mcclurg-museum-home-to-revolutionary-war-era-british-cannon/ Shipwrecks of Madagascar By Pierre Van den Boogaerde http://www.serapisproject.org/history.html