AAR: October 2016 Solo mission: "A clean pair of heels”.

Octobers Solo mission: "A clean pair of heels”.

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“AArrhghhhh my ‘arties. So there we wuz wi’this captured Spaniard like. So Jim sez”We’ve all the time in the world lets beech the ship and fix the hull”. So wot Jim sez, we did.

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We wuz anchored in this luvely little bay we wuz....

Well we were there for a’while like afor’n oor lookout spotted a sail in the next bay. “Tom, I think the lad was asleep in yonder tree”, Jim sed. Ah sed ‘A think you’re reet Cap’n’. Aa caal’d ‘im Cap’n ‘cause the ladz wuz neer at hand.
Whin aall ovuh suddin’ like, this greet big Spaniard cum rund the corner into the bay. She was fairly shiftin’, all sail piled on and oot t’get us she waz.

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Jim sent iz ower t’the Spanish ship to tek charge. Wee hoisted anchor and set sail together. But the Spaniard was slow due to the hasty patch uyp job ‘nd Jim knew we culdn’t dee mor’an a few knots. So the Big fewell that he wuz, Jim, took the Big E towards the Spaniard, a big 74 like, to give us a chance to git away.

Jim got the furst shot in, man it was a gud’n. The Spaniard wuz cumin hell for leather like a whippet oot o’the trap t’git me and the captured Spaniard like. That madam is a dog, smaller than a greyhound, but fast and the trap is the box it is kept in alongside other like minded whippets before they are let loose to run the race to catch the hare! Noo cannah git on with the story?

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He did canney gud. Fore the Spaniard caught fire in it’s foresail, the one at the front madam before you ask, ‘nd a mast went doon, aah think it was the mizzen, yes madam the one at the back...you’re learning, and a few other sails to boot. Man Jim had fairly clattered the big Spaniard.

So the Spaniard kept on cumin and they fired at the big E. Ah cud see the Spaniard was directly across from us so I ordered the guns to fire as they were in sight of the enemy....so She got a big smack right across her bows. Ahh knew we wud only git 1 or 2 shots in if’n we wuz lucky.

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So the Spaniard turned to fire it’s port side guns as the Big E, with Jim at the helm, turned across her bows....and gave her anuthah slap.

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From reet close in. But the Spaniard got a shot off at us and nearly done for us too she did.
Well that but aall knocked the stuffin’ oot o’the Spaniard. But her captain waz still game, gottah givim that noo.

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So with the guns eventually loaded, I gave her what for again, as the Big E slapped her behind.

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Dismasted and badly done too, the Spaniard struck her colours. It was afterwards we lurned her captain ‘nd most of th’officers had gone doon wi’the last salvo from me and it wuz the remaining officer that struck.

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Butchers Bill:

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Heroe: 8+ hull boxes damaged/8 crew lost/2 masts gone/holed/Sank after being abandoned.

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Goliath: +1 hull box lost/1 crew lost (all yellow boxes were from previous scenario ‘Intercept’.
Terminus Est: 1 hull box/1 crew lost (yellow boxes were crew transferred to Goliath)

With Decembers played I'll leave the write up for next week.

Nice litte AAR, Neil. :wink:

Something happens to your written speach here... :question:

:beer:

A nifty action Captain.
Certainly the Terminus for the big Spaniard.
just a pity it went to Davey Jones.
Still that action bought you another gong.
Bligh.

Thanks Rob. I have the last of 2016 lined up to go but I'm doing some research into my potentially new employer. The cars back in the dry dock tomorrow so I'm a wee bit short on time at present. I'm saving Feb and MArch 2017 scenarios for my recuperation period. Got to have something to do whilst I'm in dry dock.

Sounds as if you are having a more tottering time than I at the moment.
Finally got the date for my nose and throat Op. It is the Thursday before we would have been setting off for Prague, so would not be able to go anyway, as I cant fly for two weeks after, because of the pressure in my nasal passages starting bleeding again. So far as I'm concerned 16 can stay open until everybody has had a chance to crack the 5 barrier.
Rob.

A sport as always Rob. My op is confirmed, upper undercarriage replacement. Nothing wrong with the middle suspension springs on both sides. So I'll be grounded for 6-8 weeks. New employer is ok with this so onwards and upwards. (Well in 6-8 weeks after the op that is).

Let's hope we can rise like the Phoenix from the ashes then Neil.
All bright and shiny with a holy-stoned deck and smart new rigging in time for Doncaster.

Just got a bit of re-modelling to the Figurehead and main chains myself.
Your refit is much more extensive than mine. Are you also getting a new copper bottom?:wink:
How many Prize points will it cost us at Jack Union's Bank:moneygone:?
Rob.

Me thinks titanium plated. (Q: Was Titanium known then?)

Oh yes! Well in time for Camperdown or the Nile at any rate.

Titanium was discovered in Cornwall by William Gregor in 1791.

When did you lose your hip?

Rob.

Twill be on the 30th of March and not the Ides of me hopes.

Must have been this battle then, as Titanium had been invented and the date fits your loss. Quite fitting it being Malta as well.

The Action of 31 March 1800 was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought between a Royal Navy squadron and a French Navy ship of the line off Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. By March 1800 Valletta, the Maltese capital, had been under siege for eighteen months and food supplies were severely depleted, a problem exacerbated by the interception and defeat of a French replenishment convoy in mid-February. In an effort to simultaneously obtain help from France and reduce the number of personnel maintained in the city, the naval commander on the island, Contre-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, ordered his subordinate Contre-Admiral Denis Decrès to put to sea with the large ship of the line Guillaume Tell, which had arrived in the port shortly before the siege began in September 1798. Over 900 men were carried aboard the ship, which was to sail for Toulon under cover of darkness on 30 March.
The British had maintained a blockade off Malta since the beginning of the siege, ostensibly led by Rear-Admiral Lord Nelson, who by March 1800 was defying a direct order from his superior officer Lord Keith by remaining in Palermo with his lover Emma, Lady Hamilton. In his absence the blockade was under the command of Captain Manley Dixon of HMS Lion and Nelson's flag captain Sir Edward Berry, who were notified of Decrés' departure by the patrolling frigate HMS Penelope and gave chase. The large ship of the line was initially only attacked by Penelope, which manoeuvered around Guillaume Tell's stern, causing severe damage and delaying the French ship sufficiently for Berry to bring his squadron into action. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Decrés continued to fight for more than three hours, fighting off two British ships but ultimately unable to resist the combined weight of Berry's attacks. Casualties and damage were severe on both sides, and the defiance of the French ship was celebrated in both countries as a brave defence against overwhelming odds.


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Capture of the William Tell, October 1800. By Robert Dodd.


Rob.

What an encounter, to set sail with a single, albeit large, ship and hope to succeed.

Scope for a game maybe?
Rob.

Could be.

I just did some more research on the action Neil.
Captain Blackwood in the Penelope 36 kept the Guillaume Tell in play from dawn, shooting away the main and Mizzen topmasts, and the Main yard, until the Lion 64 Captain came up at 5am guided by to firing from Penelope's guns. At 6am Foudroyant Captain sir E Berry arrived and the action became general.( A good chance to exercise our new ships.)
An interesting fact was that Lion initially poured in a broadside of three roundshot in each gun!
When Berry came up he hailed Decres to strike, to which the Frenchman replied by waving his sword and discharging a treble shotted broadside which cut the Foudroyant's rigging to pieces. Sir Edward replied with a similar shot at half a pistol shot range but then shot ahead with her press of sail.

Three tripple shotted broadsides from different ships! Are we selling ourselves short?

On the next page this reference.

The 30 gun Sloop Dart was fired on by the foremost French Frigate. This salute the Dart returned with fifteen double shotted Carronades.

I know of another instance at Trafalgar where duuble shotted carronades are used.

Anyone like to comment?
Rob.