With high hopes and little ability, the two frigates under Lt Drouot (Deft commander) in Courageuse and Cpt Hoche in Le Succes set sail from port (where they had been trapped for the previous six months) to take on the Galleon Bellerophon. Neither had been to sea before..and it showed...

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I could bore you with the fine ship handling, the superior gunnery the magnificient elan demonstrated by both ships' crews, but it would all be a chimera , a sad distortion of the horrible reality.

Poor shooting, zeroes in abundance, poor sailing, collisions and taken aback at all the wrong moments, it's a sad sad tale I force myself to relate.

Things started well
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Hmm this looked promising
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Courageuse is slammed
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The galleon takes damage but not enough, Le Succes cant get into the action
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And now Le Succes takes the hits

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denouement

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Cpt Hoche is wounded (1 month) his ship surrenders!

Lt Drouot bravely fights on but cant hit a barn
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On a bleak and terrible day a small glint of light as Lt Drouot manages to move upwind of Bellophon and works back towards the stricken Le Succes recapturing it and the two sail off back to France in ignominy.

Heads may roll....