The brilliant American naval commander was born in Kircudbright and apprenticed in Whitehaven. In 1778, during the American War of Independence, he raided the Whitehaven forts. The following year, he sailed from France with a small fleet and took several prizes off the English coast. He threatened Leith and apparently fired at Alnmouth Church but missed and hit a farmhouse instead. Not long afterwards, Jones engaged a far superior ship Serapis off Flamborough Head, south of Whitby. After a desperate gun battle lasting three hours, the English ship surrendered in one of the most famous encounters in English naval history.