Dear Robert,
Today, that is the 13th June at the time of writing, I had my first taste of action since leaving port in England. Since I wrote you last, we have sailed along the coast of Santo Domingo for a good many days. We struck the duldrums, but thank God, only for a day. Despite this however, Leake was obviously quite irate, as he and the rest of the officers well knew that the enemy could have been anywhere by then, because of our delay. Thankfully, Lady luck smiled upon us, for the wind picked up to our backs and we were soon on our way.
As I told you previously of the rogue Dutch Fluyt, you are aware that the Dutch Navy and our own were after this particular prize, and despite any formal alliances, from my short time in the theatre, it has become very much apparent to me that there is much rivalry between our two navies, and the Dutch still covet our island possesions, as we do theirs. Commodore Leake is no fan of the Dutch, and has expressed his opinion on our Alliance, and the King many times to me. I cannot rightfully say I agree with the good Captain's views, but he is my superior, so I make a point of nodding sagely in response to his comments.
It was not long before we reached the cape of Santo Domingo, where we stopped at a small native settlement on the coast to take on some extra supplies of food. It was when we made the stop that one of the Jacks shouted from the nest that he saw pennants on the horizon. It was not a clear day, and it was not clear to whom the ships belonged, but the Commodore evidently smelled victory, and had us make sail with haste. The Advantage quickly got away, while both the Dragon and Dryad stayed on longer to finish taking on the supplies before following suit.
We were no more than half a mile away when it became apparent that the ships we spotted were embroiled in combat. Leake took a look, and passed the glass to me. I peered through, to see a collection of Dutch warships skirmishing with another group, led by what was unmistakably a dutch Fluyt flying a black flag. I exchanged an excited look with the Commodore before beating to quarters, as we made our way towards the battle at full speed.
The Dutch leader had brought his ships alongside the Pirates, and exchanged broadsides. He then broke off from his own formation making directly for the Fluyt - he clearly wanted it as his prize. Both the Fluyt and Frigate exchanged one or two broadsides, if my memory serves me correct, and then the Dutchman broke away.
In the meantime the other dutch vessels had engaged with the other Pirate ships, unfavourably as it turned out, with one of them being sunk quite quickly after a well placed shot from a Pirate bow-chaser.Then an extraodinary thing happened. The other Dutch brig broke away, and headed directly for the Fluyt, and I swear to you this is true, Robert, he rammed the Pirate vessel amidships! It stopped him dead in his tracks, allowing the dutch admiral to get off a good broadside at his immobilised foe.
The small brig clearly had it's nose trapped in the belly of the Fluyt, and neither could move. It was apparent however, that the little vessel was taking on water, and it's crew were desperately attempting to stem the tide. Even so, the Dutch marines put on a good show, sniping at the enemy crewmen, causing a visible panic amongst them. The Dutch Frigate came back for another pass, this time foolishly on the other side, recieving a close broadside from the wounded pirate. The ship began to leak water, and limped away to one side.
The tiny Brig by this time had taken on so much water that the crew had abandoned the ship, as it began to sink with remarkable speed. The Pirate captain seized his chance and made a run for it, breaking away from the sinking Brig, in a bid for freedom. By the time the Advantage appeared on the scene, the Dutch captain, despite his arrogance, signalled us to give chase to the Fluyt.
Although he would not take the prize himself, he would take much of the credit, there was no doubt. We acknowledged the signal, and Leake had us turn about and give chase to the pirate on an intercepting course, signalling the rest of the British ships to do the same. The Fluyt by this point was of course in a terrible state, its sails were in shreds, and we quickly closed the gap thanks to our superior seamanship and the course we were on. For a time, too the Dutch kept the Pirate captain on his toes with frequent broadsides from the Frigate, which was now listing dangerously to one side, in fact I would go as far to say that the recoil from the cannons were actually helping keep the vessel afloat!
We caught up quickly and drew alongside the Fluyt, firing a dose of chain at the enemy rigging, succesfully damaging the enemy mizzen.
At this point, the Dragon and Dryad made an appearance, letting off a handful of shots at the enemy, who still persevered against all odds, sailing for freedom. Leake resolved to give them one more chance before we made to board them. We sent another broadside in their direction, and to our relief, the stubborn captain stuck down his colours, to much cheering from the men.
We sent out boats of marines to take control, before transferring the prisoners and scuttling the Fluyt. Leake would have rather taken it as a prize, and he said as much, but it was in such a state that one could see right through it in places for all the holes in the hull. We met up with the Dutchman afterwards, lending our carpenters to repair the hull and prevent the loss of the Frigate, and by nightfall the ship was upright again.
For all the rivalries between us, the Dutch crew and their Captain seemed quite reasonable, and I was able to make good conversation with them, largely thanks to their remarkable grasp of the English language. We exchanged information with the Dutch captain, noting our sightings of various Spanish vessels that the Dutch would make good pickings of, and in turn the Dutch Captain, a Mr Gerard Callenburgh informed us of sightings of more Pirate vessels to the East, near the Bahamas.
Eventually we parted, and the Advantage headed eastwards with the Dragon in search of the aforementioned vessel.
I trust you are keeping well despite it all, do you have any word from home? Rumours are circulating of war with France. Is this true?
Yours, Adrian Barnett
[ETW AAR] At the Seventh Bell
) AAR for Empire. I'll give you the first update very shortly.
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Originally Posted by Graf zu Adler
