COUNTESS OF SCARBOROUGH - 20 guns, hired November 1777 - Captain Thomas Piercy.
17 June 1779 Countess of Scarborough and Medea took the French privateers Due de la Vauguyon and Comte de Maurepas.
23 September 1779 Countess of Scarborough taken by the French 26 gun Pallas, part of a combined French and American squadron commanded by John Paul Jones off Flamborough Head. An detailed account of the action can be found at: yorkshirehistory.com
YORK COURANT (newspaper) 13th January 1778 :
All able-bodied SEAMEN or LANDSMEN, willing to serve his Majesty, King George, on-board His Majestys ship, the Countess of Scarborough, a fine new ship mounting 20 guns, and mannd with 120 men, Henry Francis Evans Esq., Commander, now lying in Hull Roads, and to be stationed at Hull for the protection of the Trade of that port, and other ports adjacent, let them repair onboard the said ship, or to the Old Whale, or the Cross Keys Rendezvous in Hull, where they will enter into present pay, be entitled to his Majestys Royal Bounty of FIVE POUNDS for every able seaman, and FIFTY SHILLINGS for every Ordinary seaman or Landsman, and two months in advance; also a Bounty of TWO GUINEAS to every Able seaman, and ONE GUINEA to every Ordinary seaman or Landsman from the Mayor and Corporation of Hull, and the same Bounty from the Wardens and Corporation of the Trinity House.
GOD SAVE THE KING
A tangle of threads lead to John Paul Jones, of the newly emerging United States Navy, and the hired armed vessel, the Countess of Scarborough, intersecting in a battle off Flamborough Head during the hours of late afternoon and evening of the 23rd September 1779.
More HMS Scarborough information can be found here: http://www.hmsscarborough.info/index.html
