On Friday, 9 December, 1994, at 13:05:10 The attached Letter was sent to
HistArch
requesting information on the discovery of John Paul Jones' ship 'Bonhomme
Richard'
Does anyone know whether the wreck of this vessel has actually been found? If
so when? And how can I get in touch with the original finder? I am interested
in learning how it was actually found and who was involved in the initial
discovery and/or the official verification of the discovery.

Sincerely,
E. Lee Spence, President
Sea Research Society
1505 Greenleaf Street
Charleston, SC 29405

Date: Thu, 8 Dec 1994 12:29:10 +0000 (GMT)
From: Martin Lionel Dean <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: John Paul Jones' 'Bonhomme Richard'
To: [log in to unmask]

A sport diver has found an 18th century wreck at a position noted in the
Royal Navy Hydrographic Department's records as the site of the
'Bonhomme Richard'.  As part of the Archaeological Diving Unit's work for
the UK Government's Department of National Heritage the ADU will be
inspecting the site next year to see if it is a candidate for
designation under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973.

Notwithstanding the fact that this wreck is associated with an unhappy event
in British History (when the big colony north of Mexico escaped our clutches)
we would any appreciate information about previous searches for this site as
we have found none solid the literature.  I am aware the author Clive Cussler
organised a search in the 80's, and a British 'shipwreck explorer', Sidney
Wignal, did something which is briefly mentioned in his 1982 book 'In
Search of Spanish Treasure'.  I cannot find any written references to
Cussler's
activities and, as far a I know, they both had inconclusive results.

There may have been other attempts to locate this wreck but, again, we have
no positive information.  What does seem surprising is the apparent lack of
success in searching for this historically important vessel when Admiralty
records give a precise position, although no source for their information
is noted.

Once again, any information about previous searches would be appreciated.

Martin Dean
Archaeological Diving Unit
St Andrews
Scotland
UK