The Cruise of the Scarlet

Admiralty Mission from the land of Patagonia to the Western colonies.

IN early July the small flotilla of two ships victualed in the Red City and set a course for the colonies in the western sea.   The flag ship Scarlet would be carrying none other than King Michael, Ruler of Patagonia and his royal entourage, along with a significant military escort and a population of colonists bound for the isle of Marnon.

The flotilla.  The Centaur is in the lead and the royal banner of Patagonia can be seen flying from the second ship the Scarlet.  Late July passed and the voyage was uneventful.  The royal family passed the time with games of "India" in the luxurious staterooms aboard the Scarlet.

One morning in early August the Captain of the Centaur signaled the Scarlet that a sail had been spotted on the horizon.  The precaution of calling all hands to stations was necessary as the ships were now in international waters and in the area known as the "crossing".  A portion of the sea wherein common sail traffic was very heavy.  The ship that the captain held in his spyglass appeared to be an Auricanian merchantman sailing S by SW and heavily laden.

The merchantman sailed under the Auricanian colours.  The ship was the Leon, and was rigged very much in the manner of Auricanian merchant vessels.

The ships warily approach.  The merchantman could make for open water and was seriously outgunned if it came to a tussle.  The Centaur shielded the Scarlet from any fire and began to make maneuvers to intercept the foreign nations ship.  But as is usually the case in these sort of encounters the impertinent bastard...

...unleashed an unprovoked cannonade on the Patagonian fleet.

Which responded in kind with cannonades of their own.  In the ensuing battle the royal cargo was never in harms way and in fact.  King Michael attended the side rail mid battle to see the enemy ship pounding the devil out of the Centaur.  He ordered the Scarlet captain Brodeur, to engage as well as he was in need of the cargo on board the Centaur (many said later that in the after telling he actually said cargo of the enemy merchantman. A rather piratical stance for one so noble of birth so the official story is what is mostly in the histories of the time.)

The Centaur, heavily damaged in sail cloth and starboard guns keeps the merchantman from slipping away.  The Leon hauls down the colours and surrenders her cargo of mostly colonists and military conscripts.

The Scarlet in the wake of the Centaur rolls back her gun carriages and clears the gun crews away.  King Michael personally oversaw the requisitioning of material of war from the merchant ship and put aboard a prize crew.

Imagine cannon fire and a raucous noise of naval guns firing broadsides.

The Centaur after the battle.  From a painting in the naval military museum in Marnon. 1782.   1

1.  VanPelt, K., The Cruise of the Scarlet. Patagonis Press. 1782. pp.11.

Travel Napoleonic 5mm Set

The Battle of Lion's Port

The British admiralty tasked commodore T.M. with the simple task of securing a desultory manned French outpost village in the remote island archipelago of Coatzacos.  The island chain consist of three tropical strips of land named Scurvy Cay, Neptune's Lair, and the main island of Coatzacos.  The seat of commerce in this far flung island was the city known as Lion's Port.  A modest French held colony of fishermen and farmers.  And a refuge for pirates.

As the squadron of British warships sailed into the vicinity of Coatzacos, French heavy warships arrived to intercept and stop the capture of Lion's Port.  WHAT!!  Where did these newly fitted warships come from?!  What source of revenue could possibly procure and man such huge ships of war.  A first rate 120 gun ship The Montagne, a 84 gun ship the Sans Pereil, and a 110 gun ship Terrible, lead by a coastal pilot ship 5th rate Tanis! Manned and victualed by the devil himself.

There was naught that the British squadron could do but to carry on the mission in the face of dangerous odds.  The Culloden 5th rate troop ship struck for the island and began landing the troops destined to garrison the island.  They met immediate island gunfire from a shore battery but courageously carried on their duty.  The Royal Sovereign 100 gun first rate covered the rear of the squadron as the two 74's Bellerophon and Patriote engaged the shore guns and then the French fleet proper.

The first shore party engages the island troops as the Culloden provides naval support fire.

Island fighting with formed up troops in the old fashioned way.

The attacking British would carry the day on shore, but what about out in the waves.  Perhaps a different story awaits the fleet.

Give them the bayonet!!

An abandoned flute, the Derapager rocks at anchor tethered to the wharf.  As infantry skirmishing can be seen in the distance down the beach.

Out in the surf this four on three rag wagon duel would tell a different tale.  The first ship to commit to Davy Jones locker was the pilot ship Tanis.  Sunk under combined fire it would not last the engagement.  But then the Patriote hauled down her colors as the guns of captain J.M.H. were silenced by overwhelming enemy fire.  Then captain K.V. crossed the t of the enemy line but he too would get his in the end.  A catastrophic initial broadside rake from the Montagne would scuttle that boat and send it bellow the waves.  The crew of the Bellerephon took to the long boats and rowed for Scurvy Cay.

In the end the battle on the water was a French success.  The Royal Sovereign was captured in a bloody melee boarding action and the only British ship to escape was the unloaded Culloden.  Heavily damaged and devoid of her cargo, the Culloden slipped into the night to pick up survivors and carry the tale of the battle of Lion's Port back to the admiralty.

Tune in next time when we see the Secondhand Lion's play the other side of this coin.

A good shot of some old guy playing at ships.