Action - 1720 - November 30 - Split at Port Royal

Ships in Action:
Officers:

William Sherrin

Bryan Cook - Dauntless-class frigate

James Maddox - HMS ''Adversary - sleek Conquistador-class frigate

Everett Wick?

Enemies:

The Flying Disease Monkey Crew

Type of Battle:
Player versus Player

Action Setup:
Leaving Port Royal to meet us at Portobello, Bryan Cook was jumped by rats, and lost a dura on his Dauntless. I came to assist. Sherrin and Frenchie approached from the O.S. Wick might have been there too.

We decided to escort Cook out of Port Royal, and see if we couldn't get into a fight in the mean time.

The Action Itself:
Cook and I sat outside PR waiting for our prep clocks to tick down. Sherrin and Frenchie (in his privateer) came into port. Partytime was near us and went to intercept. He tackled Sherrin. I believe Frenchie continued to PR. Cook and I headed toward the battle, but we were heading into the wind. Meanwhile a pirate named Velasco approached from my 9 o'clock, and Achilles Black from my 1 o'clock. I couldn't get away so I engaged, and Cook followed me in.

After the countdown Cook and I found ourselves facing Black, Velasco, Mixi, and Extreme Caution, I believe. There was no where to run, so we went head on, guns a'blazing.

I rammed Black, pushing his captured Mercy around a bit. I was hoping to board him, but failed. He slipped out. Cook hugged my port side, shielding me, but taking a pounding in his stern. He was going down. I hit Invincible which protected me long enough to get to Velasco and pump some shot into him. My auto-fired board button went off and I hopped over the side and onto his forecastle.

We began fighting, and I was ripping through his pathetic crew, knowing that Adversary was getting pummeled from all sides. It went down. I laughed, knowing the rats were once again forced to destroy their prize. The Adversary would be one ship that would not be taken by boarding!

Lessons Learned
Aside from the regular don't-fight-with-rats advice, I'd say one mistake we made was with the wind. Sherrin and Frenchie took the best point of wind they could coming into PR, but that left us luffing upwind to intercept. Had we all sailed broad reached, I feel we could have ended up in the same fight, if nothing else.

One captain mentioned on Vent that they were going to make a mess of Hermes packetboats. I don't know that failboating is the answer to fighting rats. Their biggest advantage is their cheap cost, and that alone might be the biggest draw, especially considering PR is so frequently blockaded. But it also removes some of the naval officer's biggest strengths. It merits further discussion.