AAR. July Nation v Nation. Take and Destroy.

[Bligh]

Preamble.

It took Rear Admiral Pound far longer to get his Squadron to sea than usual. The repairs from the last mission were not the problem, and even the captured Spanish 74 was seaworthy, with the new gilded name HMS Phoenix proudly emblazoned upon her transom. The Dockyard maties had worked double hard when a bit of the prize money had been channeled their way. The problem was the outbreak of Typhus rampaging through the crews. It had arrived with the Spanish prizes, and was decimating the Fleet. Having scraped together all the hands he could and assigned them to other ships, all he could muster were enough to man his Flagship, HMS Royal George, and the two 74s Bellerophon, and the new Phoenix. Even with these depleted crews, he could not muster enough hands to crew the Frigates. Taylor had promised to get Amelia underway on the next tide, but with a French Squadron of unknown size rampaging through these waters, he dare not wait for her, and thus sailed with the morning tide, blind to the enemy's whereabouts.
Within the hour his lookouts espied the French, and it was immediately clear to the Admiral, that he was not only outnumbered, but that the enemy held the weather gauge.
Rapidly the signal flags rose and fell as he spelled out his plan of action to his Captains aboard the Flagship. Boats came and went as the Squadrons slowly closed. The final signal was made to form line of battle, and engage the enemy closely.
That done, all the Admiral could do was pace his Quarter Deck in company with his Senior Captain Josiah Pennyman and await the inevitable onslaught. It would at least be interesting to see how Porter in the Phoenix handled the Carronades installed during the refit of the Spanish ship.