Action - 1720 October 30 - Action off St Johns

Action - 1720 – October 30 - Action off St John’s

Ships in Action:
British – 3 Frigates

Bryan Barclay – Dauntless-class frigate

James Maddox – Gallant-class frigate

Loren Deshard – Level 50 Privateer

Pirates – 2 Frigates

Partytime – Mercy-class frigate

ExtremeCaution – Heavy Hercules-class frigate

Action Setup:
Leader of the Royal Secret Service and right hand to the British Council, Gunny, was organizing a group to help beat back the French in their attempt to take over St. John’s. Myself, Captain Barclay, being in command of the Squadron at that time took Captain Maddox along with me. We answered the call and began attacking French shipping in the region with Gunny’s Valiant 3rd Rate and another frigate. Loren Deshard was attempting to join our fleet and found himself caught by ExtremeCaution outside of Charlestown. He requested our assistance to escort him to St. Johns, when we then found PartyTime outside St. Johns. The first engagement was one of Captain Maddox and Captain Barlcay against PartyTime alone. Partytime ran, dumping guns overboard, without ever entering cannon range. ExtremeCaution did likewise in his engagement with Gunny and Lorien. Then as we began to set sail to St. Johns again, Captain Maddox found himself attacked by PartyTime resulting in the following action.

The Action Itself:
I immediately joined in action with Captain Maddox, and true to his prior form, PartyTime sailed away against us. Just when we had given up any thought of engagement, ExtremeCaution appears over the horizon to the north. The scene was perfect, I was in the lead ship with Maddox astern, full sails with the weather guage. With a slight turn in the wheel we were set in course to cut a path between PartyTime and ExtremeCaution, giving them both broadsides. As they closed, the cannons clashed and iron tore through the sky. PartyTime made directly for Captain Maddox while ExtremeCaution stayed at range. Captain Maddox dropped sails in an attempt to engage PartyTime in a boarding action. Surprisingly unlike him, Partytime threw his wheel over and steered for Captain Maddox’s stern, raking him several times before I could even begin to bring my guns to bear. As my broadside began to rain brass shot into PartyTime’s hull Captain Maddox’s magazine caught fire and his ship exploded. In the meantime, Loren Deshard, had joined the battle and was sailing towards the engagement. Within moments after Captain Maddox’s unfortunate defeat, Loren Deshard departed the battle, and I found myself alone, caught between two foes. I immediately put myself towards the nearest exit point, still downwind thanks to the weatherguage we had throughout this action. The fighting was brisk and PartyTime sat along my port broadside, taking volley after volley. His comrade, ExtremeCaution, went to work on my stern and rigging. PartyTime and ExtremeCaution were both taking down my rigging with dismantling shot, while I steered for exit and fought back with fire – nearly sinking PartyTime at one point with UltimRatio much to his surprise when he suddenly had to repair and fly up into the wind before another volley would have finished him. Unfortunately, by that point my considerable sails, over 4000 with my Dauntless as it is outfitted, had been shredded and my crew mauled to 1 by canister from ExtremeCaution who sat directly astern. After a blaze of canister, ExtremeCaution’s crew jumped aboard. In the melee, I gave as good as I got – felling ExtremeCaution to the deck once and cleaving him several times before falling myself.

The Result:
British – Lost 2 Frigates Pirates – No Losses

British Loss.

Lessons Learned:
Never drop sail and never leave the line of battle. Maintain speed at all times. You can not guarantee you will be able to board and if you lose speed and fail in your attempts you will suffer the consequences. Don’t enter a PvP zone unless your group is outfitted in powerful ships. Don’t rely on aid from anyone outside the Squadron.