An international best-selling author who was fascinated by the story of John Paul Jones - the father of the American Navy who had links with Whitehaven - has died without fulfilling an aim to find the remains of his most famous ship.

Clive Cussler, 88, whose works include Raise the Titanic, carried out more than 10 underwater searches in the North Sea off Flamborough Head.

He was hoping to find the wreck of the French warship Bonhomme Richard which was ablaze and sank under Jones as he defied demands to give up and then boarded and took over the British battleship Serapis.

The battle took place in 1779 and throughout the years there have been numerous searches to locate the wreckage, some using cutting edge technology and a mini submarine.

The author, whose works have been published in more than 40 languages, first became interested in the saga of John Paul Jones in the 1970s.

An enthusiastic underwater explorer, he had been reading a book which mentioned the exploits of Jones, who was born in Scotland but came to Whitehaven as a teenager to learn his trade in the Merchant Navy.

Jones then moved to America, eventually joining its navy in its fight against Britain. His raid on Whitehaven in April 1778 failed in its mission to burn the local fleet but had a far-reaching impact on the war, forcing the Royal Navy to protect its home shores.

Mr Cussler helped find a total of more than 60 shipwreck sites. He said of searching for the Bonhomme Richard: “We started from what was thought to be the site of the battle and fanned out with the aim of eliminating each particular area not knowing which way the wind or current could have taken it.”

Repeated attempts over the decades failed to find the wreck. “We can just keep on trying but a shipwreck is never found until it wants to be found,” said Mr Cussler.