12 Attachment(s)
Royalists vs Parliament in the Dutch Antilles
Blake had been pursuing the vagabond, Prince Rupert, from Lisbon to the Caribbean. Blake had just two serviceable ships – the St. George (54 heavy guns) and the Leopard (56 guns), captained by Robert Moulton. Fortunately, Blake had been joined by the Admiralty of the Maze ship, the 60-gun Wassenaar accompanied by a small ship, the Valckenburch (8 light guns). The Dutch privateer, van der Veere, with this four ships (Haarlem (40 guns), Zierickzee (30 light guns), Franicker (24 light guns) and Bredamme (20 light guns) also agreed to join Blake’s pursuit – although Blake thought some of van der Veere’s captain were somewhat less enthusiastically than their commander.
Against Blake’s better judgement, the fleet at the instance of van der Veere anchored for the night off the Paraguaná Peninsula, south of Aruba and west of Curaçao.
0500: A light breeze from the southeast – a leeward shore! Hopefully the fleet would be underway quickly, but as the morning mist cleared, Blake saw that his fears were warranted; Five windward ships were bearing down on the Blake’s unprepared fleet. To the west were two ships – Prince Rupert’s Constant Reformation (52 heavy guns) and Prince Maurice’s Convertine (46 guns). More easterly were three Portuguese ships – the Santissimo Sacramento (46 guns), the Nossa Senhora da Conceição do Porto (38 guns) and the Santa Catarina (26 guns). Unbeknownst to Blake the Portuguese saw an opportunity by joining with Rupert to punish the Dutch privateers that had been plaguing their merchantmen.
Attachment 59349
0520: The first of Blake’s command underway were the Wassenaar and the Haarlem. Blake pointing at the Dutch ships berated (or less polite words to that effect) his veteran crew that they could be bested – yet again – by the Dutch. Meanwhile the Convertine and Nossa Senhora raced ahead to engage the Wassenaar before she could be supported.
Attachment 59348
0540: The Convertine and Nossa Senhora opened fire at effective range and inflicted a mere 3 hits on the Wassenaar (one shy of a catastrophic hit). The Wassenaar’s return fire was equally unimpressive – only 2 hits on the Nossa Senhora. Blake’s blasphemy had its effect and the St. George was underway.
Attachment 59347
0600: The van der Veere’s Haarlem had joined the St. George in trapping the Convertine as her crew frantically tried to reload their guns. The fire from St. George’s heavy guns and the raking fire from Haarlem devastated the Convertine with 7 hits. With her masts destroyed the Convertine was helpless. Elsewhere the Santa Catarina joined the fight against the Wassenaar but managed a single hit.
Attachment 59346
0620: All of the ships – except van der Veere’s light frigates – were fully engaged. Robert Moulton’s Leopard was perfectly positioned to rake the Nossa Senhora at murder range while the Wassenaar and van der Veere’s Haarlem pulverized here from larboard and starboard sides. The Haarlem fired both broadsides as she was still in a position to rake the Convertine, but the Haarlem was itself raked by Rupert’s flagship, the Constant Reformation. The Nossa Senhora tried to emulate the Haarlem by also firing both broadsides against the Haarlem and the Wassenaar. The St. George had managed to quickly reload and fire yet another broadside to the discomfort of Maurice’s Convertine.
The results: The Convertine has holed and suffered another 7 hits – enough to put Convertine out of action. The Nossa Senhora managed only 2 hits each against Wassenaar and Haarlem. Constant Reformation added another 6 hits to Haarlem. However, the fireworks belonged to Nossa Senhora – 2 hits from Haarlem, 4 hits from Wassenaar and 7 hits from Leopard – a total of 13 hits. The Nossa Senhora exploded. Burning debris rained down on the nearby ships – 6 hits on Haarlem, 6 hits on Leopard, 4 hits on Wassenaar, 5 hits on Santissimo Sacramento, 3 hits on Santa Catarina and 3 hits on Constant Reformation. The Haarlem was out of action.
Attachment 59345
0640: Most ships were in shocked after the explosion of Nossa Senhora in a cluster of ships. Constant Reformation was the exception. She quickly reloaded and fired at St. George inflicting 3 hits. Santissimo Sacramento found herself trapped in the debris of Nossa Senhora.
Attachment 59344
However, the last of van der Veere’s light frigates, the Franicker, was finally underway. Too much jenever, perhaps?
Attachment 59343
0700: The Santa Catarina bravely took on the larger Leopard but trading broadsides was a losing game. The Santa Catarina suffered 3 hits to the Leopard’s 1 hit. Santa Catarina was holed and listed badly to larboard. The Santissimo Sacramento succeeded in freeing itself from the debris to fire its first broadside against the Wassenaar. The Wassenaar returned fire. The exchange was an even 4 points each – but each suffered catastrophic hits. Many of Sacramento’s guns were put out of action, but the Wassenaar’s magazine was hit and exploded and she was reduced to a burning hulk. The Leopard suffered 2 hits and the Santa Catarina and Sacramento one hit each from burning debris.
Attachment 59342
0720: The two Portuguese ships were relentless. Quickly reloading they fired again at Leopard and inflicted another 3 hits on the English ship.
Attachment 59341
0740: The plucky Santa Catarina’s crew worked hard to repair their ship and keep in her in action. Another quick reload and she scored another hit on the Leopard – there was little else she could do with half of her guns out of action due to flooding. The Leopard failed to grapple her foe and consoled herself with a full broadside that inflicted 4 hits and holed the Santa Catarina adding to her larboard list. Still the Santa Catarina would not yield but fought on. Constant Reformation had more luck – a broadside at murder range scored 4 hits and holed the St. George causing her to slow and list to starboard.
Attachment 59340
0800: Finally the Leopard grappled and boarded the heavily damaged Santa Catarina. Despite the desperate odds the Portuguese fought to the last before surrendering their ship. The boarding action score was 16 to an incredible 10 – a difference of six (1 point loss for the Leopard and 4 for the Santa Catarina – just enough to put her at 12 damage points). The Royalists will say it was an act of courage while the Commonwealth slander said it was poor seamanship, but Prince Rupert’s larger Constant Reformation collided with St. George. The Royalist ship suffered only 3 points but Blake’s flagship took 10 points of damage, enough to sink her. With the Sacramento badily hurt and the Dutch frigates quickly closing, Prince Rupert signalled to the Sacramento that they should break off the fight. Fortunately the Sacramento had rescued his brother, Prince Maurice, as she passed by the wreckage of Convertine.
Attachment 59339
Little did Rupert know, but the van der Veere’s frigate captains had decided that surveying the carnage that there was likely not a good profit margin in continuing the fight. After plucking a wet van der Veere from the water, the privateers turned away for more lucrative prey. Moulton welcomed Blake aboard the Leopard. They would have to be happy with sailing away with the sole prize from the battle – even if it was a heavily damaged one, but Prince Rupert had escaped once again….for now.
Attachment 59338
Despite being windward and having surprised Blake’s fleet, Rupert managed to fail every single initiative roll. This meant that Blake’s ships were often able to position themselves for very effective fire against the Royalist and Portuguese ships. Rupert only won the initiative on the final turn when his ships were not in a position to do anything with it.
Final Damage:
Royalists-Portuguese
Constant Reformation: 6 damage (18 left)
Convertine: 12 damage (0 left), Dismasted and Holed
Santissimo Sacramento: 2 damage (10 left), Gun damage
Nossa Senhora: 12 damage (0 left), Holed and Exploded
Santa Catarina: 8 hull damage / 4 crew hits – captured, Holed and Listing
642 points lost out of 1172 (55%)
Commonwealth-Dutch
St. George: 16 damage (0 left), Holed and Listing
Leopard – 7 hull damage / 1 crew (8 left)
Valckenburch – No damage
Haarlem – 12 damage (0 left), Gun damage
Frigates – Zierickzee, Franicker and Bredamme all had no damage.
903 points lost out of 1308 (69%)
Net result was a Draw as both fleets failed their morale on the final turn.
