Spiking the guns!

I was back in Whitehaven today, but a cancelled hospital appointment gave me the chance to go back down to the harbour. Here I found this wonderful sculpture of John Paul Jones spiking the Whitehaven Battery, and a lesser known story from history which is fascinating. 

Jones was a Scot who had gone to America and joined the Continental Navy. During the American War of Independence, when American colonies were struggling to be free of British rule, Jones staged an audacious invasion of Whitehaven on the night of 23rd April 1778. He intended to set fire to the ships in the harbour but plans went awry and he only managed to disable some of the town's battery by spiking the harbour's defensive guns. He escaped back to America.

This action is the only unfriendly American invasion of Britain to have taken place. It served as a wake-up call and coastal defences were improved around the country, which almost certainly saved Britain from French invasion. The French at that time were in support of the colonies' fight for independence.