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Serapis Flag History

The Serapis flag belongs to the seagoing history of the American Revolution, when a ship’s colors could identify its allegiance far from home. The design shown here combines thirteen horizontal stripes in red, white, and blue with a blue canton containing thirteen white, pointed stars in rows of four, five, and four. Blue stripes distinguish it immediately from the familiar red-and-white striped United States flag. Its name connects it with the British warship captured by John Paul Jones, rather than with a separate American colony or state.

On September 23, 1779, Jones’s Bonhomme Richard fought HMS Serapis off Flamborough Head on England’s coast. Serapis and Countess of Scarborough were protecting merchant ships returning from the Baltic. After prolonged fighting, Serapis surrendered, but the American victory came at a severe cost. Bonhomme Richard was so badly damaged that efforts to save her failed. Her crew transferred to the captured ship before their own vessel sank two days after the battle. Serapis then carried the survivors to Holland, arriving on October 3. Naval History and Heritage Command’s ship history establishes this sequence.

The flag’s clearest historical connection is to that arrival in Dutch waters. The U.S. Navy’s collection includes a painting reproducing Dutch records of the flags associated with Alliance and Serapis at Texel on October 4–5, 1779. The record identifies Serapis as Jones’s prize ship and explains that the museum painting was made in 1925 after the earlier Dutch artwork. This is important evidence for the design’s association with the captured vessel after the engagement. It should not be turned into a claim that this precise flag flew from Bonhomme Richard throughout the battle. View the Navy’s Texel flag record.

Texel was also a diplomatic setting. The Netherlands was trying to preserve neutrality while its merchants maintained important connections with the American cause. Jones’s appearance with captured British vessels provoked demands that he and his ships be surrendered. The resulting dispute exposed divisions within Dutch politics and gave the American commander time to escape. Seen in this setting, the Serapis flag evokes not only a dramatic naval encounter but also the difficulty of establishing American identity and legitimacy in foreign ports. The Museum of the American Revolution explains the Dutch context.

Congress had adopted the Stars and Stripes on June 14, 1777, but this surviving flag tradition demonstrates why the history of early American colors cannot be reduced to one familiar illustration. The stars and the number thirteen connect the design to the emerging United States, while its distinctive bands preserve the visual character associated with Serapis. A historical display can use it to introduce the relationship between naval warfare, international recognition, and the formation of a national symbol, without assigning an undocumented maker or invention story to the flag. Read the National Archives’ overview of the American flag.