Patrol - 1721 April 27 - Hunting Fleets of Maracaibo

Ships in Action:
ALLIES:

Victor Dist - HMS Retribution (Minerva-class fifth-rate 40 gun frigate)

James Castor - HMS Merciless (Mercy-class fifth-rate 46 gun frigate)

Will Collister - Unnamed (Tigre-class fifth-rate 42 gun frigate)

ENEMIES:

-12 Spanish warships, including one Trinity-class second-rate 96 gun Ship of the Line, one Valiant-class third-rate 66 gun Ship of the Line and a Mordaunt sleek-class fourth-rate 56-gun Ship of the Line.

Action Setup:
Patrolling outside Maracaibo with three frigates, when a fleet of twelve Spanish Warships showed up on the horizon. Captain Will Collister of the Unnamed, Captain James Castor of the HMS Merciless and Captain Victor Dist of the HMS Retribution decided to engage. Managed to engage the fleet just outside the redzone which had appeared around Maracaibo.

The Action Itself:
The Brittish Captains went in with the windgauge against them. But they managed to steer clear of the bombarding cannons on the Spanish Warships. After regrouping they started to pick off the warships one by one with broadside to broadside. After some time only the Ship of the lines remained, Captain Will Collister and Victor Dist decided to take care of the Trinity. With the Trinity's slow speed and bad manouvering capabilities it was not difficult for the two frigate captains to chase her around while firing broadside after broadside at her tail. It did not take long for the crew of the Trinity to abandon ship and the Captains moved on to the other ships that still remained. Using the same tactic, firing broadsides at the stern the two remaining Ship of the Line were quickly defeated. All while James Castor continued to bravely face off against the Ship of the Line in his HMS Merciless with broadside to broadside combat.

The Result:
Finally, after much thundering and smoke, the last Spanish ship struck their colours and Spanish was deprived of yet more of their Ship's of the Line.

Lessons Learned:
Even three Frigates can make a difference. Against a Ship of the Line that has no escorts they are just a lump of floating wood, and can be easily outmanouvered(Atleast in PVE).