Sea battles have been fought off its shoreline, notably in 1643 between seven of Queen Henrietta’s Dutch ships and four parliamentarian ships.  In 1779, when two British naval ships engaged the American pirate, commodore John Paul Jones’s fleet for over two hours, inflicting heavy losses and Jones’s ship, Bonhomme Richard, is believed to have sunk after the battle to the north just off Filey.

This latter battle is commemorated by the “Topscope”, a cylindrical stone structure with metal top erected close to the lighthouse in 1959.