November AAR. scenario: Gun for Gun, Shot for Shot:
Sir Dudley ignored the French naval officer's questions as to his health, also put to one side the lack of eyesight and headache. concentrating his mind on what had occurred during the foregoing 24 hours.
The news had filtered through to the Cape that An HEIC Frigate had recovered an agent from the coast of India with information of a Maharatta uprising in fermentation. In addition to this Captain McBride of the EIC Nottingham had gained information that a strong French Squadron was being dispatched from Ferrol to reinforce the Squadron based on Ille de France so that regular troops could be ferried across the Indian Ocean to stiffen the Maharatta forces.
Sir Dudley had immediately put matters in hand to see that all ships at the Cape were ready to intercept the French before they could win the Indian Ocean passage.
Only nine days after receiving the news, the Sloop arrived with news that the french Squadron was approaching the Cape.
Pound raised his flag aboard the Royal George and put to sea with the entire Squadron.
After several days sailing with a prevailing easterly wind, the French Fleet were finally sighted to windward heading in a southerly direction off Cape St. Martin.
Sir Dudley quite clearly remembered putting the Squadron immediately into Line of Battle, with his Frigates safely to leeward instructed to harry the enemy rear.
As the two fleets closed Sir Dudley clearly remembered instructing his Flag Lieutenant to signal the Fleet to come about in line ahead to try and gain the weather gauge over the French.
Following Superb each ship had come about and headed toward the enemy.
As the ships closed the French Commodore had finally reacted and his Squadron began to ponderously turn to Starboard in order to meet the threat.
Pound remembered thinking that they must be overloaded with munitions and supplies as well as troops.
The two Squadrons closed very slowly in the light winds. Pound could almost feel the tension even lying in this cabin under the eyes of the French Surgeon.
As the two Squadrons finally met Captain Taylor in Superb was the first to gain an advantage as he turned to Port across the bows of le Swiftsure and raked it.
His double shotted broadside with grape over ball at point blank range rendered Swiftsure into a floating hulk bereft of enough hands to even man her sails.
As Superb left her wallowing astern and falling off the wind to Port the Marines in the tops cleared the decks of any survivors and her colours came fluttering down. HMS Phoenix coming up next in line left the hulk to his own Port side.
Phoenix reserved her opening broadside to the next in line Le Berwick, which although not struck as hard as her consort lost a serious number of crewmen to the grape shot of the British 74.
]Sandwiched between Phoenix and Superb, she was played upon from either side.
Her reply was impressive considering the circumstances. Her port batteries mauling Phoenix and setting her on fire Phoenix and setting her on fire,whilst to starboard she pummelled Superb damaging masts and steering.
Shrugging off the damage Captain Taylor continued his tack to starboard and delivered his other first broadside into the bows of the oncoming three decker Imperial.
Masts , hands lost and structural damage was serious on the French Flagship, and the firing from the tops as the two ships passed added even more casualties.
Clearing Superb's bow, Phoenix also chipped in with a broadside causing more damage to the three decker. With only her carronades reloaded she punched above her weight in shot adding still further to the French Commodore's woes.
The tack of Superb now revealed the Royal George to the French Flagship and she wasted no time on revenging herself on her opposite number. Her broadside although sorely diminished by the damage she had already sustained in the action struck the forrard quarter of the George with some force, staving in the taffrail and sending shards of timber across the deck. One ball also dismounted a carronade with its sheer momentum.
Pound could remember the clang it had made as it struck and the screams of the seamen crushed beneath its massive weight.
George could only reply with its forrard guns, two of which had been damaged. Nevertheless the remaining carronades did good service reducing the French Flagship's crew even further, killing her Captain and forcing it to strike.
As she did so her Admiral was taken off by cutter, and headed for the next in line Duguay Trouin where he raised his command pennant once more.
Passing on up the line George next engaged the 74 Duguay Trouin. he Carronades again rendering crew casualties.
The return fire was even more telling damaging George's bow further in several places.
The firing from the marines in the tops also added to casualties on both sides.
Sir Dudley clearly remembered one of the helmsmen falling at this point in the battle.
HMS Phoenix now added to the mayhem with a long range salvo on Trouin.
George's Marines also added to the toll of dead and wounded.
At this point in the Battle no fewer than three enemy ships had fallen to the British, although the van of their own squadron including the Royal George were in a sorry state, with Superb having to draw off to the rear in order to effect repairs.
Both sets of Frigates were still seeking a place from which to harry the damaged deckers and the French soon found Superb attempting to chase off one of their comrades.
Meanwhile Pound was cutting the line between Trouin and the Second French Three Decker the Republique Française. One more broadside, and some spirited firing from the Marines. was enough to take the 74 out of the battle for good.
The second French flagship of the day surrenders to the Royal George. This time there is no flight available to her Admiral.
Georges other broadside raked the three decker doing good service by rendering three quarters of her crew hors de combat and starting a fire.
After firing of hand weapons from both ships, Republique Française managed to run aboard the George.
Entanglement followed by the passing of grapnels followed and the fighting between these two leviathans devolved into a seething mass of humanity struggling for control of each other's decks.
Captain Pennyman led his sailors and Marines onto the gun deck of the Republique, and a vicious hand to hand encounter followed, with a number of French soldiers adding their weight to the resistance.
A second bout of fighting now took place and it was during this that Pound remembered receiving a severe blow to his head. Slumping to the deck he remembered no more.
His Flag Captain Josiah Pennyman seeing the Admiral fall, had him carried below, and assumed command of the Squadron.
The fighting on deck became even more severe and Pennyman led a charge himself across the waist of the Enemy ship to try for the Quaterdeck.
Meanwhile, Ambuscade had been foolhardy enough to close with Superb. Up to this point, following the conventions of war, Captain Taylor had been ignoring the Frigate, but now that she posed a threat to the rear of the Squadron, Taylor ordered up a full double shotted broadside.
The result of his Ball over Grape decimated the crew, and severely damaged the superstructure of the Frigate.
Her return fire also damaged the Superb but not one seaman was injured.
At about the same time the French ship Leander fell under the guns of Captain Porter's Phoenix, and suffered superficial damage at long range.
By this time Captain Pennyman had successfully carried the quarter deck of Republique Française and the Captain surrendered his sword to the victor as the Captain of Commerce de Bordeaux was just avoiding running aboard his Flagship.
Royal George being still entangled with her prize and unable to move.
Superb next employed her Carronades upon the reloading Embuscade, doing further damage to her hull.
Commerce de Bordeaux's escape from collision with her flagship was not without penalty,
She was viciously raked by Hms Belleraphon.
with whom she now collided and became entangled.
Leander had by this time taken another broadside from Phoenix, setting her on fire.
Her first round of return fire mauled Phoenix in return disabling the Mizzen top mast and holing her below the waterline. From now on her pumps would have to be manned full time.
For the first time in his career under the assult from Leander Porter was forced to haul down his colours, although no French ships were in a position to take advantage of his crippled ship.
Indeed newly promoted Captain Farthing was already punishing Leander for her gross impertinence.
The stern rake took heavy toll on both crew and hull before she escaped Concorde's arc of fire.
Meanwhile Bellerephon's crew were striving to gain a foothold upon the deck of Commerce de Bordeaux.
Superb, having driven off, Ambuscade, put up her helm and entered the main conflict.
Royakl George which had finally managed to disengage from its Prize, was just in time to put the finishing touch to Leander with a stern rake.
This was seen to set her on fire.
Shortly after she struck
and a boat was seen abandoning the doomed ship.
On the opposite side of the line HMS Leander was just opening her account with the frigate Hermione who had also encroached on the Line of battle.
Her opening broadside, was answered by one equally vicious from the Hermione.
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