Duel - 1720 - October 23 - David against Goliath

Ships in Action:
ALLIES:

-Virgil Kyle - HMS Grace (Mediator MC)

ENEMIES:

-The notorious pirate Jaqomo Foltini - captured Valiant Third Rate

Action Setup:
The day's action all started with a visit to Matthew Town for some supplies. As I was haggling with the Auctioneer over the ridiculous prices I saw ship outfittings going for, a notorious pirate named Jaqomo Foltini, a known associate of Party Time and his ilk, walked up and challenged me to a ship duel! Being as how I was only sailing a Mediator Mastercraft Cutter, I was tempted to refuse the offer. However I quickly realized that such a duel would entail certain measures would be put in place that would ensure my ship would not be sunk. Even pirates must respect duels of honor. I therefore decided to accept, though I was unsure of how this unexpected challenge would pan out.

The Action Itself:
Upon entering the agreed upon arena of battle, I couldn't help but let out a wry chuckle at the monumental task arrayed before me. Not a few hundred yards ahead of me, I saw Jaqomo standing on the quartdeck of a captured ship-of-the-line, a Valiant Third Rate, to be exact. Still, I did not lose heart, and as he made full sail, I did the same, and gritted my teeth for the task ahead.

I quickly realized that speed and maneuverability would be my primary tools in this battle. I thus immediately set about getting on the big ship's stern, taking care to move very fast towards my target, and doing my best to avoid the big ship's massive broadsides. I closed quickly, taking care to sail diagonally across his fields of fire when he brought them to bear. As fortune would have it, the big ship had massive misfires as I approached through her broadsides' firing arcs, and I was thus able to close with her virtually unharmed. Upon closing to within a hundred yards or so, I did my damndest to stick to Jaqomo's stern like glue, getting my broadsides in when I could. I also made sure to keep a fair bit of distance too, so as he could not grapple and board me. He tried many tactics to shake me, including sailing away and attempting to get range, as well as stopping to turn and fire on me, improving his chances to hit. He failed to shake me completely with such maneuvers, but did manage to get in a broadside or two on me. I was hobbled quite badly by the shots that connected, but for his every broadside of heavy round and dismantling shot, I unloaded many broadsides of heavy round into his vulnerable stern. In the end, this made all the difference, and as his ship started to take on massive amounts of seawater through its' mangled stern, he threw up the white flag of surrender!

The Result:
Victory!!! As unbelievable as it may seem, I sunk a Valiant Third Rate with a tiny little Mediator Mastercraft Cutter. David, true to the story, had felled Goliath.

I'm not sure what else there is to say. Jaqomo Foltini left the battle feeling quite dejected, let me tell you. As well he should - it serves him right for being a pirate, and daring to mess with a captain of the St. George Squadron of the White!

Lessons Learned:
Among the lessons I learned from this battle, I certainly learned one very important one: never underestimate a small, nimble, fast ship, particularly against certain adversaries. Although on paper the Valiant massively overpowered me, in practice she is a relatively slow, ponderous creature of the burning seas. Her turn rate is particularly atrocious, an attribute which I gleefully took advantage of. This, in combination with the Valiant's curious firing mishaps early on, which luckily took place as I gained critical position on the big ship, eventually doomed her to a watery grave.

On a larger scale, I do believe I've found a handy little use for my Grace - hunting big, slow, ponderous ships on the open seas, and trying to engage them in solo duels. Sure, I may lose her repeatedly doing such dangerous work, but if I can sink just one captured Navy ship outside of an honor duel, where it really counts, it will have been worth it. My cutter is easily brought back up to fighting condition after such a fight. A captured ship in similar circumstances is lost forever, though, and I think this has the potentiality of producing some very disgruntled rats!

I'll be hunting the frogs too, of course. The more the merrier, I say :)

Misc.
The following is a shot of my Grace preparing to land the killing blow on the mighty Valiant. The elation I felt was truly indescribable!