Battle - 1721 - July 8 - Victory at Nassau

Ships in Action:
British Fleet

Captain the Baron Raleigh - HMS Glory, Poseidon-class 4th-rate

Captain the Baron Middlemore - HMS Relentless, Heavy Hercules-class 5th-rate

Captain Nathan Blatchford - HMS Argonaut, Heavy Hercules-class 5th-rate

21 other British ships, consisting mostly of heavy frigates and a group of lineships, including a Prince 1st-rate.

Pirate Fleet

24 Pirate ships, mostly medium to heavy frigates and some lineships.

Action Setup:
The battle took place on the Wild Keys map, Britain was defending.

After a long cruise in the Bahamas, I recieved orders to crack on to the rendezvous near Nassau, there to join the Fleet under Admiral Courtney for the defence of said port. As I approached the mass of anchored ships lying to off New Providence, I was happy to recognize the Glory and the Relentless

The Fleet then organized its frigates into groups Green, Red and White, with the lineships forming up Black. The Argonaut was assigned to Red Group under the command of Commodore Talon.

The Action Itself:
The wind was blowing strong in the W as we entered the battle, and to our surprise the entire pirate fleet was only 2000 yards away, bearing down on our sterns with the wind on their starboard bows. Due to a misunderstanding, Green were flying red colours during the inital manouvering, and seeing that we would not be able to form up our groups in time, the order was given to form a strong provisional defensive line NW to SE and hold the pirates off. We were at this time surrounded by islands, with the largest to our SE and several others to our W, NW and N. The pirates tried a careful charge, lost a ship, then decided to turn N in order to return to the small gap between two islands from which they entered. The signal for General chase was flying from the Admiral's flagship as the Fleet cracked on towards the same gap, spearheaded by Red. The pirates managed to slip through before we could come up on them though, and the Fleet formed another provisional line on our side of the gap. Here followed a standstill with a series of harmless exchanges of broadsides and some manouvering from the pirates, includig sending two medium frigates SE to round the group of islands and take out the gun defending the entrance to the port. Seeing this, Captain Middlemore strongly requested, twice, to give chase, and argued that the Relentless with the Argonaut in company could easily intercept them and even more easily take or sink them. Both times however, this request was denied by the Admiral, but looking intently at the Relentless in my looking-glass I noticed Baron Middlemore walking briskly around on his quarterdeck in deep consideration, his crew still poised at their ropes and on the yards, ready to set sail in an instant at the order from their captain. I saw him shake his head to his Lieutenant however, and clapping my glass together I said "Recall the men from the yards for the moment, Mr. Bradshaw. It seems Fortuna is with these two pirate frigates today, the undeserving dogs."

In an effort to gain the wind, the pirates had decided to head SW around the outer island group and come up on us, and the Fleet headed SW aswell to counter them, Black and White ahead on to lines, Green and Red in at the rear. As the pirates sailed past us however, the rear of the pirate fleet, a group of nine frigates, could be seen carefully manouvering between to of the islands just N of us (the rest of the pirates were now to the W of us). To counter this, Red was ordered to form up and head N to hold them off while the rest of the Fleet headed S towards the main pirate fleet. Due to slow repeating of signals and unclear orders the Red line was repeatedly fallig apart, and as our wavering group closed on the pirates, outnumbering us nine to six, it was clear that we could not effectively concentrate fire on the enemy. With shame painted on my face, I watched the pirate group sail past at 200 yards, one by one, without our frigates recieving a single firing order. One by one they sailed past, and all they recieved was one or two harmless broadsides.

Red Group was largely undamaged however, but we were in a pickle: The pirates had formed a line while we were had not; we had the wind but because of the islands to our W and N we had to manouver against it to escape the increasing fire from the pirates. In order to have room to reform our line and device a plan of attack, the order to sail NW and then W around the island to larboard was given, and as we sailed away the pirates kept up a cruel raking fire on our sterns. We managed to escape with no ships lost however, and as we reformed behind the relative safety of the small island, it was decided that we charge the enemy with the wind at our backs, winning with concentrated fire (something we noticed the pirates did not master). Red Group formed a line, rounded the southern side of the small island and charged the enemy. Our line was again wavery and ragged, but we managed to concentrate our fire enough to cause losses to the pirates, and one by one they sank. We chased the last two ships that fled to the E for some hundred yards before we turned to rejoin the main Fleet, anchored in the Bay of Nassau S of us and keeping the main body of the pirate fleet in check.

As we came closer to the Bay, we heard the thundering of gunfire across the water, and looking at the British line, lying just E of the Fort, we could make out the tip of the pirate line charging the Fleet from the S. The pirate charge was somewhat successful, with them being able to cut across the Fleet's stern, gain the wind and head E to circle the British ships, but they soon felt the sting of the British lineships and heavy frigates. It did not help them that Red Group came crashing down upon them from the N, causing the pirates now trapped between Red Group and the Fleet to make a run for it into the British fleet, resulting in a chaotic massacre with pirate ships blowing up left and right. When the firing had stopped and the flames aboard the British ships had been put out, not one single pirate could be seen. Three British frigates sailed SE, S and SW to search for any remaining pirates, while the rest of the Fleet anchored in the Bay, fishing up the charred remains of pirate flags and pieces of wood for keepsakes or good-luck charms. An half-hour later it was decided that the pirate threat to Nassau was indeed defeated for the moment, and the Fleet left the battleground victorious.

The Result:
British victory.

The British lost 1 vessel, the Pirates lost 21.

Lessons Learned:
The main reason that six British frigates could defeat nine pirate frigates and lineships without the loss of a ship were not because we were masters of blocking and concentrating fire (we were not), but because the pirates didn't care to block or concentrate fire at all. They should have had us by right, but were not able to because of poor dicipline.

It should also be noted that had the British been more aggressive and taken the initiative as opportunities presented themselves, this victory may have been achieved much sooner in the battle.

Battle Schematic:
 Work in progress.



The wind was blowing strong in the W as we entered the battle, and to our surprise the entire pirate fleet was only 2000 yards away, bearing down on our sterns with the wind on their staboard bows.



Seeing that we would not be able to form up our groups in time, the order was given to form a strong provisional defensive line NW to SE and hold the pirates off.



''The pirates tried a careful charge, lost a ship, then decided to turn N in order to return to the small gap between two islands from which they entered. The signal for General chase was flying from the Admiral's flagship as the Fleet cracked on towards the same gap, spearheaded by Red.''