2015 Solo Mission - Who Fired the First Shot.....? by Continentaleye

[Continentaleye]

The following Tuesday we were doing reloading exercises on the foredeck when the lookout cried, “Strange sails two points on the starboard bow.” The Captain called beat to quarters and I climbed my way to my perch on the tops. In the distance I saw two lines of ships sailing parallel in our direction. At first, I thought they must be French since I knew England didn’t have a squadron that big anywhere in the area, but as we got closer I saw there were four French ships and the other three were our own! They were not firing at each other so I reckoned neither side knew we were at war yet. Captain Barlow set a course for our line but the lead French ship (which I later learned was the Commerce de Bordeaux) saw this is turned to intercept us.



I’d been a Marine long enough to know the flags Midshipman Gascone was hoisting signaled ‘Enemy In Sight’. And with that all hell broke loose. From my perch I could see that almost every ship fired their guns at almost the same time. Our own guns of the Superb raked the bow of the Bordeaux starting a fire on her decks. Captain Isnor of the Defense split the French line between the Bordeaux and the Aquilon firing on both French ships, but his ship paid a terrible price for the bold move.



The air was thick with smoke, but to our good fortune the wind was blowing it back into the French fleet. Captain Barlow ordered grapples away as we closed with the Bordeaux, the brave Captain leading the charge of boarders himself onto the French ship. I’m proud to say our Marines made the task that much easier by our withering musket fire. It did not take long before the French captain surrendered. But the battle was not through by any means and Captain Barlow yelled to cut the grapples as he was reboarding the Superb. As I reloaded my weapon I looked to the other ships. The Defense was on fire after a devasting broadside from the Aquilon raked her stern. In the distance the French flagship, the massive Imperial, made a lumbering turn to follow in the wake of the Aquilon. As for the rest of the battle, the smoke obscured my view.

[Continentaleye]

As the Superb slowly broke free from the Bordeaux and got underway again, the Aquilon veered to larboard and crossed our bow. The sails around me were shredded and many of the sailors aloft were struck by the thunderous broadside. But even louder than the guns of the Aquilon was the full broadsides of the Imperial and the Neptune which ripped into our flagship Malta.



It was now our turn to pass between two French ships, and both unleashed their broadsides against us, almost in unison. But we gave better than we got and I was heartened to see fires spring up on the decks of both the Imperial and the Aquilon. From my vantage point I also saw the gruesome but welcome sight of the French Commodore’s head being separated from his body as one of our shots ripped through the quarterdeck of the Imperial.



We now closed with the stern of the Aquilon, no doubt Captain Barlow intended to board her as well, but as I exchanged fire with the French Marines on the Aquilon, I was suddenly and violently thrown into the air. It was as if the hand of the Almighty plucked me from the platform. Or perhaps it was the devil himself because as I shot into the air, I was scorched by a blast of hot air so hot that the cloth part of my uniform caught fire and I would have certainly burned to death if I had not landed in the water dousing the flames. I later learned that somehow a shot from the Neptune had found its way into the Superb’ magazine, causing a massive explosion that instantly reduced our proud ship to kindling wood. As I swam away from the burning debris and made my way towards the Bordeaux, I silently thanked my older brother James for teaching me how to swim as a child.

[Continentaleye]

As I climbed onto the deck of the Bordeaux with help of the seamen from the Superb who had been lucky enough to have stayed onboard the French ship after her capture, I saw the Defense had struck her colors not far from us, her sailors manning the pumps in a frantic effort to keep her afloat. Just beyond her, the Vanguard and the Aquilon were converging on each other, their captains racing to cross the other’s bow first.



The Vanguard won, sinking the Aquilon; the price of failure for the French captain being high indeed. In the distance the Malta and the Neptune exchanged fire, but it appeared both ships were able to absorb the punishment.

[Continentaleye]

Time seemed to standstill as the slow-moving ships maneuvered to gain some type of advantage over their foes. The Vanguard sought to support the Malta as the Neptune tried to do the same for her flagship.




The Imperial looked as if she was coming to retake the Bordeaux but a long shot from the Malta brought down another one of the French officers on the quarterdeck, probably the flag captain, and the ship sailed turned towards her attacker and through the debris of the Superb.

[Continentaleye]

The Malta had to veer to larboard to avoid ramming the helpless Defense and in so doing was exposed to a devastating broadside from the Imperial that crossed her stern.



The Captain of the Neptune, no doubt emboldened by the success of his flagship, closed with the Vanguard and boarded the British ship. The fighting spirit of the Vanguards was short lived. With the crew of the Neptune swarming onto the Vanguards deck and the guns of the Imperial hammering her from the opposite side, Captain Pickering had no choice but to surrender.



The Imperial now focused her starboard guns on the Malta with catastrophic effect, burning the last remaining British ship in the fight to the waterline.



It was a dark day for England and even though I didn’t appreciate it at the time I had been lucky to survive the explosion on the Superb. I spent the next few years in a French prison and upon my release, I went right back to rejoin my beloved Marines. I was assigned to a new ship, a frigate, and sent to the Americas in the summer of 1813, but that’s a story for another time.

[Continentaleye]

Butcher’s Bill






HMS Superb- sunk (exploded) Captain Barlow-KIA
HMS Defense-Captured (Later scuttled by the French) Captain Isnor-Captured
HMS Vanguard-Captured Captain Pickering-WIA, Captured
HMS Malta- sunk Commodore Percy-MIA presumed drowned Captain Marlowe-Captured

[Bligh]

Butcher's Bill now righted for you Anthony.

Rob.