Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
My good Youtube friend Chris over in Bempton Bridlington east Yorkshire sent me this interesting piece of maritime history, story he found in his local Yorkshire newspaper.
It ties in well with an item - a heavy brass pintel, ( part of the steering mechanism for a rudder...... acts like a hinge ),loaned to him by his next door neighbour who used to work as a fisherman.
( Further..............In the video Chris states, '
There is no connection with the pintle and the rudder that's in the paper, from further chat with his neighbour Chris has now concluded that there's a strong possibility that there is a connection, because the rudder was discovered around the same place as the pintle and if you look closely at the photo of the rudder the very bottom pintle is missing, now I missed this when I did the video! )
Was this newspaper rudder, dredged up in a fisherman's net from the 1838 English Schooner the Victoria that hit a sandbank, on a journey between Newport and Newcastle upon Tyne? Or could it have come from the American vessel the John Paul Jones?
John Paul Jones (born July 6, 1747, Kirkbean, Kirkcudbright, Scotland—died July 18, 1792, Paris, France) was an American naval hero in the American Revolution, renowned for his victory over British ships of war off the east coast of England (September 23, 1779).
John Paul Jones Audacious Raid on Britain’s Own Shores
In June 1777, Jones was given command of the newly built sloop Ranger and sailed for France. He arrived in Brest in May 1778 to a hero’s welcome — and promptly became the first American naval officer to receive a formal salute from a foreign power when a French admiral returned his thirteen-gun salute in recognition of the Continental flag.
What followed was even more audacious. Operating out of Brest, Jones led a cruise into the Irish Sea and directly raided Whitehaven, England — the very port from which he had sailed as a boy — spiking the guns of the harbor fort and threatening British merchant shipping in home waters. He also crossed to Scotland and attempted to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk as a bargaining chip for American prisoners of war. The Earl was not home, but the raid sent a shock through the British public: the war had come to their doorstep.³
Days later, Jones engaged and captured the HMS Drake in the Irish Sea — the first major naval battle fought under the newly adopted Stars and Stripes flag, and the first time an American warship had taken a British naval vessel in British home waters.¹ He returned to Brest famous on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, some called him a pirate. In America and France, he was a hero.
My good Youtube friend Chris over in Bempton Bridlington east Yorkshire sent me this interesting piece of maritime history, story he found in his local Yorkshire newspaper.
It ties in well with an item - a heavy brass pintel, ( part of the steering mechanism for a rudder...... acts like a hinge ),loaned to him by his next door neighbour who used to work as a fisherman.
( Further..............In the video Chris states, '
There is no connection with the pintle and the rudder that's in the paper, from further chat with his neighbour Chris has now concluded that there's a strong possibility that there is a connection, because the rudder was discovered around the same place as the pintle and if you look closely at the photo of the rudder the very bottom pintle is missing, now I missed this when I did the video! )
Was this newspaper rudder, dredged up in a fisherman's net from the 1838 English Schooner the Victoria that hit a sandbank, on a journey between Newport and Newcastle upon Tyne? Or could it have come from the American vessel the John Paul Jones?
John Paul Jones (born July 6, 1747, Kirkbean, Kirkcudbright, Scotland—died July 18, 1792, Paris, France) was an American naval hero in the American Revolution, renowned for his victory over British ships of war off the east coast of England (September 23, 1779).
John Paul Jones Audacious Raid on Britain’s Own Shores
In June 1777, Jones was given command of the newly built sloop Ranger and sailed for France. He arrived in Brest in May 1778 to a hero’s welcome — and promptly became the first American naval officer to receive a formal salute from a foreign power when a French admiral returned his thirteen-gun salute in recognition of the Continental flag.
What followed was even more audacious. Operating out of Brest, Jones led a cruise into the Irish Sea and directly raided Whitehaven, England — the very port from which he had sailed as a boy — spiking the guns of the harbor fort and threatening British merchant shipping in home waters. He also crossed to Scotland and attempted to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk as a bargaining chip for American prisoners of war. The Earl was not home, but the raid sent a shock through the British public: the war had come to their doorstep.³
Days later, Jones engaged and captured the HMS Drake in the Irish Sea — the first major naval battle fought under the newly adopted Stars and Stripes flag, and the first time an American warship had taken a British naval vessel in British home waters.¹ He returned to Brest famous on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, some called him a pirate. In America and France, he was a hero.
