When Captain Jones visits George Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge, an empty desk can be seen in the background behind Jones. The camera angle changes to another view, and a man suddenly appears sitting at the desk. The view then switches back to the first camera, and the sitting man disappears.
Prior to the battle between Serapis and Bonhomme Richard, Captain Pearson of the Serapis states that it is probably John Paul Jones' squadron. Although Pearson knew there was an American raiding force in the area, he actually thought that Jones' force was a Royal Navy squadron also in the area. It was this confusion which allowed Jones to get close to Serapis before the action began.
When Captain Pearson of the Serapis surrenders his sword, John Paul Jones refuses to accept it. After the battle Jones did accept the sword, although it was returned to Pearson a few days later.
The Bonhomme Richard is shown sinking immediately after the battle with Serapis, with pumping operations going on during the battle. She actually sank late the next day after efforts to repair her (begun after the surrender, as men could not be spared during the fight and the extent of the damage could not be fully judged during the chaos) failed.
Contrary to what is shown, Commodore Hopkins was not ordered to Abaco in the Bahamas, but rather to the Virginia coast. He exceeded his orders in attacking the Bahamas seeking military supplies, and was later court martialed for this and other questions regarding his command.
The flag, or ensign, that Jones is shown raising during the battle aboard the Bonhomme Richard is not correct. The flag shown was one of the early varieties established by the Continental Congress in 1777 that did not have blue stripes. It's been established that the ensign raised was the "John Paul Jones" flag which did have blue stripes, although not as the US flag is today.
Most of the scenes of ships at close quarters firing on each other were reused film footage from other movies, as the ships shown are two and three deck ships of the line, far larger and more powerful than the Serapis or Bonhomme Richard.
The song played on the bagpipes early in the file, "Scotland the Brave", was not written until the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
Commodore Hopkins expresses surprise at the idea of sending marines ashore to attack Fort Montegue. Such operations were actually quite common.
At the beginning of the battle with HMS Serapis, Serapis is shown to resemble a frigate. Actually Serapis was a two deck, 44-gun ship, not a frigate. This is a common mistake.
Upon Captain Jones' return to Paris, he is taken in by Benjamin Franklin. This was not possible, as Jones did not return until May 1790 and Franklin had already been back in America for five years, since 1785. In fact, Franklin died a month earlier in Philadelphia, so he could not be in Paris to greet Jones as depicted.
The narrator introduces a scene beginning "Three years before the Declaration of Independence...," which would make the year 1773. Immediately following this scene, Captain Jones arrives at his brother's shop in Virginia and is given his brother's books, which include
"Common Sense" (1776), "American Crisis" (late 1776) and the text of Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech, which was not in print until 1815. These publications could not possibly have been in his brother's possession in 1773 or 1774.
John Paul Jones' brother lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Upon arriving there Jones meets Patrick Henry who is just back from the House of Burgesses. Henry invites Jones to attend a ball that night at the Governors Palace. Both the House of Burgesses and the Governors Palace are located in Williamsburg not Fredericksburg. Today, driving by car it would take at least an hour to get there.
Captain Jones tells Lieutenant Dale that the other two ships in his squadron are privateers, and so are not required to obey his orders. His squadron actually consisted of the Bonnehomme Richard and three other vessels, not two. The Alliance under Captain Landais was a Continental frigate and as such was actually directly subject to Jones' orders; however, Captain Landais felt he should be in command of the squadron, and regularly ignored Jones' orders. The other two ships (not mentioned in the movie) were the frigate-armed merchant ship Pallas and the Vengeance a small brigantine (which took no part in the battle). These two ships were privateers, although both did a generally tolerable job of supporting Jones throughout the cruise.
Jones was born and raised in Scotland, and did not speak English with Robert Stack's undisguised American accent.