Chesapeake vs. Shannon

Today is the anniversary of two notable naval victories by the Royal Navy.

The more recent of the two was the 1813 duel between the American frigate Chesapeake and the British frigate Shannon which has been the topic of several posts already.

The earlier one was the British naval battle known as the Glorious First of June, where a British fleet defeated a French fleet in 1794.

"I didn't know that!" Wargaming and perusing through History

One of the alluring things about wargaming for me is the discoveries it can bring.

Today happens to be the anniversary of the Battle of Audierne Bay, which was fought on Jan. 13, 1797. In the grand scale of things it wasn't a very big battle -- just a pair of British frigates against a French ship-of-the-line -- or a very important one. It's notable as probably the most famous fight of the renowned British frigate captain Edward Pellew, who is one of the probable inspirations for famous British frigate captains of fiction such as Horatio Hornblower.

I pulled out my copy of Flying Colors, which happens to have a scenario about the battle, and looked it over. It's one of the more interesting small ship actions of the Napoleonic era. The French ship was the Droits de l'Homme (with the suitably revolutionary name The Rights of Man), a 74-gun ship of the line that would normally have been able to fend off two British frigates despite the superior British seamanship. But the French ship was unlucky in several respects.

First, the weather was bad, with a stiff wind making it impossible to open the lower bank of gunports without sinking the ship! This deprived the French battleship of its heaviest guns.

Second, while one of the British ships was the 36-gun Amazon, a standard frigate for its time, the other was the 44-gun Indefatigable, a "razee" frigate, which meant that it had been built as a ship-of-the-line and had been turned into a frigate by removing the upper deck. This meant it was much more stoutly built than a standard frigate and had a heavier battery of guns. It also meant that, being lighter, its gunports were higher and it could therefore use its guns despite the waves.

Finally, the Indefatigable was commanded by Sir Edward Pellew. (Shown at left)

The battle ended with both the Amazon and the French battleship (after heavy damage) being blown ashore and wrecked and Pellew skillfully sailing his ship out of danger.

All good stuff, already. But I was curious about Pellew and soon found out that he had indeed had a long and surprising naval career.

As a midshipman he fought against Benedict Arnold's fleet at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain on Oct. 11, 1776. Almost exactly a year later, as a lieutenant he was present at the Battle of Saratoga (facing Arnold again!) and became a prisoner when Burgoyne surrendered his army. Paroled, Pellew couldn't see any more active service against the Americans, but he distinguished himself in other waters until being put on half-pay after the wars ended.

When Britain and France resumed fighting after the French Revolution broke out Pellew was given command of the 36-gun frigate Nymphe and resourcefully manned it and got it to sea as one of the first British frigates to sail. He defeated the French frigate Cleopatre in one of the most famous single-ship duels of the war. He was then promoted to command the larger Indefatigable.

Eventually he rose to the rank of admiral, was named a viscount and died at the age of 76.

So a small scenario in Flying Colors led to a line of inquiry that brought out a lot of intriguing facts. While I'm not surprised that Pellew was also the commander of the Nymphe vs. Cleopatre fight, I was very surprised to find out about his role in the American Revolutionary War. His participation at Valcour Island was a definite "I didn't know that!" and doubly so for his participation at Saratoga. Indeed, I had never heard that Burgoyne's army included a naval contingent, and I've read quite a few accounts of Saratoga over the years. "I didn't know that!"

This si the sort of thing that reminds me why I love wargames.

Monsoon Seas review

Although styled "Volume III" in the Close Action series, Monsoon Seas is not a full-fledged expansion of the game series in the same way as Commands & Colors, for example, with new pieces, maps and the like. Essentially, like its predecessor Rebel Seas, it's really a scenario book.
That said, it's really an essential buy for Close Action fans and anyone interested in the age of fighting sail. Like other Mark Campbell efforts, Monsoon Seas is exhaustively researched, often from primary sources such as ship's logs and captain's letters. Indeed, buying Monsoon Seas is more like buying a history book that happens to have some wargame scenarios in it than merely buying a scenario book.

The focus of the book of this volume is the famous Indian Ocean duel between the fleets of British admiral Sir Edward Hughes and French Admiral Pierre-Andre de Suffren de St.-Tropez, perhaps France's greatest admiral ever. With extensive historical background, scenarios are provided covering the years of French defeats before Suffren arrived and then his brilliant career. A total of 17 scenarios cover the entire Franco-British Indian Ocean struggle.

Compared to fleet actions in other theaters, the Indian Ocean campaign's engagements lend themselves well to moderately sized gaming groups. Close Action is best played with individual players controlling 1-3 ships. This means full-sized fleet actions often aren't practical outside of convention settings or online play. But most of the battles between Suffren and Hughes involved about a dozen ships, so a group as small as six or eight can be accommodated.

Unlike most age of sail battles, which can be frustrating for the non-British side to play because their ships are crap, the Indian Ocean battles feature squadrons of equal quality, due to Suffren's inspired leadership and abetted by Hughes' pedestrian style.

In addition to the Franco-British scenarios, Monsoon Seas also includes three scenarios and historical background for a war I know I never heard of, and I rather doubt many have -- the war between Spain and Portugal off the coast of South America in 1776-1777. Huh? Yeah, me too!
Yep, apparently Spain and Portugal fought a short naval war over the boundary between Brazil and the Spanish colonies to the south while the American Revolution was just heating up. The two events were related because it tied up Portugal's main ally, Britain, so Spain could feel free to war against its Iberian neighbor. Apparently it was a limited war, and no fighting occurred in Europe between the adjacent powers. The war provides an excuse for four (numbered 1, 2A, 2B and 3) small scenarios suitable for a 2-6 players.

The war doesn't relate to the Monsoon Seas theme in any way, but it wouldn't have fit any better with Rebel Seas or the upcoming Europeans Seas either.

In addition to the scenarios and historical background, the 84-page book includes some important errata for Close Action and two new rules sections. One replaces the optional "Uncertain Wearing" rule from Rebel Seas with a simpler rule that still reflects the real difficulties of turning a ship under sail with a poor crew or battle damage. (wearing is a turn with the wind, as opposed to tacking, which is turning the bow across the wind) The other rule adds a section on shore batteries, which is a very useful addition to the game system.

Monsoon Seas is an excellent work, well worth having for anybody who has an interest in the age of sail.