The Serapis (John Paul Jones flag) T-Shirt

At the Battle of Flamborough Head in 1779, U.S. Navy Captain John Paul Jones captured the British ship HMS Serapis, but his own ship sank. Jones was now commanding the Serapis without an U.S. Ensign. Jones sailed the captured ship to the neutral Dutch Republic, but with no ensign, and the British claiming piracy, Jones renamed his capture USS Serapis and an improvised U.S. Ensign was made based on a sketch which the Dutch had put together based on a description of the US Flag. So essentially, the flag is an unseen interpretation of what the US flag might look like, based on a single written description. This quirky, alternate flag remains popular and can be found on a wide range of our products.