Battle - 1722 - February 07 - Defending St. Johns

Ships in Action:
British Fleet

Captain Sir Paul Melhuish - H.M.S. Hammerhead, Macedon-class 4th-rate

Captain Sir Edward Southwick - H.M.S. Agamemnon, Macedon-class 4th-rate

22 other British ships, consisting mostly of heavy frigates, 4th-rates and 3rd-rates.

Brethren Fleet

24 Pirate ships, mostly heavy frigates and 4th-rates

Action Setup:
Arriving at Baseterre with dispatches for the port admiral, HMS Agamemnon was ordered, to immediatly set sail for the port of St. Johns. The Royal Navy was expecting a pirate raid at St. Johns and therefore assembling a fleet to support the defence of this port so vital to the operations of his majesty's navy in the Carribean. On HMS Agamemnon's arrival at St. John's i reported immediatly to the commanding admiral Bennet Cumberland. Since his he had to assemble his fleet very fast he was lacking veteran commodores to command his squadrons. While Captain Tim Hawkins took command over black squadon with the our heavy 3rd rate ships of the line. The honor of commanding white group consisting of 6 Macedon class ships of the line fell to me. Captain Melhuish was ordered to reinforce our heavy frigate group.

The battle was fought on the Stingray Island map.

The Action Itself:
Shortly after HMS Agamemnon's arrival at the port, a British patrol sighted the enemy fleet closing on St. Johns. Our fleet set sails heading east to where the enemy fleet was expected. With not being able to make contact with the enemy, our fleet turned to the northwest sailing towards a defensive position in the channel leading towards the town's defensive gun emplacement. The Britsh fleet formed double lines with black and white group at the front of our formation, while the heavy frigates of green and green squadrons lined up behind. Once the fleet was positioned in this defensive position. Several lighter frigates were detached to make contact with the enemy fleet. The enemy was spotted sailing parallel to the coast towards the said gun emplacement. Admiral Cumberland signaled the fleet to set sail to meet the enemy fleet. The British fleet followed the coastline and the two fleets were now sailing straigh towards each other. The pirate fleet's double line showed a huge gap between their two lines, obviously trying to make the British fleet sail between their lines. Following Admiral Cumberland's order the Britsh fleet did instead also open up their formation, with the left column sailing left of the enemy formation, while the right column, lead by black group sailed though the middle of the enemy formation. With the pirate ships of the enemy's left column now taking heavy damage from our two lines, several of the leading pirate ships were sunk by well focused broadsides. After passing the enemy lines, our double lines reunited firing broadsides at the enemy's sterns while turning to meet the enemy line again. During this turn 3 enemy ships were sunk. With the British fleet now being superior in numbers the pirates ships were sunk one by one until the enemy fleet disengaged. At this point the flagship signaled to chase the fleeing enemy. More pirates ships were sunk during the general chase. Several surrenders were accepted.

The Result:
The pirates took heavy cassulites. This victory for the Royal Navy will secured trade in the Antilles and strenghten his majesty's possessions in the Carribean - at least until the pirates recover from today's battle!

While the pirate fleet lost 18 or 19 ships the British fleet did not loose any ships.