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The Research
Peter
Reaveley, Historical Researcher for the Ocean Technology
Foundation, is considered an expert on the battle between
Bonhomme Richard and H.M.S. Serapis. During
more than thirty years of research, he has performed numerous
literature searches, and combed archives and technical libraries
around the world to identify all available data relating to the
vessel's construction, operations, and loss. His extremely
thorough research methodology is summarized below:
● More than 30 contemporary eyewitness accounts of the battle and its
aftermath have been collected and reviewed.
● All of the information on weather, winds, visibility,
tides, sea-state, etc. for the period 12:00 Thursday, 23
September 1779, to 12:00 Saturday, 25 September, 1779 has been
extracted from eyewitness accounts. It has been correlated,
integrated and analyzed.
● A Damage Assessment was completed on both the Richard
and Serapis by extracting information from the eyewitness
accounts. The effects of these damages on the seaworthiness of
each ship in the appropriate weather and sea-state conditions
were assessed.
● An hourly account of the crew’s actions was prepared,
along with possible hourly plots of the Most Probable Position
of Richard up to the time the ship sank.
●
A detailed
summary of Richard's ballast mound in terms of possible
length, breadth and height was prepared, and the ship's total
iron content was estimated.
Computer Modeling
The Love Letters
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