Battle - 1720 - December 20 - Showdown at West End

ALLIES:

Virgil Kyle - HMS Judicator - Dauntless Frigate

-9 other British ships, consisting of approx. 5 colossals (including 2 Valiants) and 5 heavy frigates

ENEMIES:

-French fleet of 24 ships, consisting of numerous lineships and heavy frigates.

Action Setup:
Upon arriving in the port battle room, and finally managing to log on to the temporary British Vent server after a maddening series of technical glitches, I saw yet another thing which served to distress me to an even greater degree - Of all the British who had received the summons to battle, only 10 had managed to make it, myself among that number. My fellow captains were quite uneasy at seeing this, and our port battle commander, Andrew Curran, was considering retreating from the field of battle once we saw that the French had brought a full compliment of 24 captains to the battle. At my urging, he agreed to keep us in the fight, after we discovered through scouting out the battleground that we would be able to make it in to our fortress before their fleet arrived, and hopefully lure them into a last-ditch land battle against our stout little band of captains as we holed up there. With this goal in mind, we hardened our hearts to the task ahead, and sojourned out to meet the enemy on the killing seas.

The Action Itself:
Upon arriving on the field of battle, our little band immediately began moving towards the fortress at full sails, intent on seeing our plan through to the end. Upon arriving there, we docked, went ashore, and positioned ourselves at the enemy's probable entrance point, pistols and swords at the ready. We then proceeded to wait for the French forces to arrive.

...And wait we did, for what seemed like an eternity. The French had been taunting and goading us since they spotted our paltry force retreating to our fortress, and Ubert le Danois, the French supreme commander and leader of their forces, indicated they did not want to enter the fortress and come after us, as they suspected we were planning an ambush. As we noticed that he sent a portion of his forces to assault the town itself, negating the importance of the fortress altogether, we realized our prospects of an upset victory were beginning to look more and more remote by the minute.

Suddenly, Ubert sent me an offer to convey to Captain Curran, and as I was about to vocalize it, Curran coincidentally came up with the same plan - an even fight, with Ubert sending a selection of his own captains to fight ours. Unfortunately, three of our ten ships were unable to fight, as this battle was agreed upon as a training port battle beforehand, and three of our captains had mistakenly brought ships larger than the permitted Valiant-class third-rate. Thus, a 7 versus 7 was agreed upon, and I and six other captains left the port to do ship combat with the French flotilla. Our colossal captains asked if they could safely exit the fortress to watch the fight, and I asked for and received assurance from Ubert that they could do so without molestation.

It was at this point that one of the seven captains in our group decided to leave, for whatever reason, leaving us outnumbered six ships to the frogs' seven. Captain Curran nevertheless agreed to abide by the original terms, and we sailed into battle already a man down. This was not looking good...

...However, looks can be deceiving. After the French managed to cross behind our sterns, nearly sinking me in the process, we managed to focus fire on and sink a Capricieux mastercraft frigate in the initial series of broadsides that followed. In response, however, the French turned their focus on me, and within a couple of minutes, they managed to bring me down, albeit with some difficulty!

I was forced to listen to the rest of the battle over Ventrillo, and I gave them my best wishes to my embattled fellow captains as I stood impatiently on the docks of West End, waiting for the result.

The Result:
Alas, a bitter defeat was the end result of this battle, as I feared from the beginning it might be. However, we did inflict significant casualties on the French forces who directly attacked us. Of the 7 ships they sent out, 3 were sent to the bottom, along with 5 of ours.

T'was still a defeat, of course, but at least me made 'em pay for it! Sometimes, you have to take what you can get. It could always have been worse...

Lessons Learned:
Take a look at the second bit from this section of an AAR of mine from October 8th, the one detailing an ambush off of Turtling Bay. I stand by that lesson still, and to me, this battle was proof of the importance of not just fighting for the win, but fighting for the honor, and fighting for what's right. We may have lost the port, but we preserved our honor, and showed the French that we Brits are not ones to back down from a fight!

"Fight! Fight like you've never fought before! Never surrender! Never surrender!"

Misc.
The West End Ten (or, as the automatic screenshot numbering system designated it, '300'. Ha! Ain't that a hoot?)

The red stocking caps look out of place, but... oh well. It's still a great shot!