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Ragusa/ Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik: The prologue.
Following his success at the Battle of Lissa, Captain Hoste and his Squadron were in sore need of repairs. In June Hoste and the Amphion sailed for England, and he was not to return to the Adriatic until the following August in command of the newly commissioned HMS Bacchante. He now continued where he had left off and savaged the French merchantmen bringing supplies to the various garrisons up and down the coast. His next conquest was in the reduction of the Stronghold of Cattaro. In order to aid the Montenegrins, who were besieging the seaport without much success. By landing his ship’s guns and manhandling them up what was regarded to be an insurmountable mountain overlooking the defences, capitulation was forced upon the garrison, and with this victory under his belt he then proceeded to attempt a repeat of the operation at Ragusa. Before he could undertake any landings it was imperative that he ascertained the strength of the enemies defences. To this end Hoste approached the outer defences aboard Bacchante and closed the shore to count their guns as each of the batteries opened fire in turn. The following little action is what occurred when we ran the game prior to the main attack on the French Squadron protecting the landing ground.
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Counting the guns!
As the false dawn gave way to full morning light an observer on the battlements of Fort Lovrijenac could see HMS Bacchante proceeding down the channel between it and the island of Lockrum.
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From the heights it was easy to see that the British Frigate was tempting the guns to open up, and very soon the Fort’s commander ordered just such an action.
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It was at that moment that the masthead lookout hailed the quarter-deck with the shout of “Enemy in sight, two points off the port bow!”
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=58750&stc=1
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Using his Dolland glass to scan the area Captain Hoste could clearly see a French Frigate clearing the Harbour breakwater.
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As the Frenchman was clearly of a lesser power than the Bacchante and was heading out to sea, Hoste paid it no further attention and proceeded with his mission to count the fortifications guns along the coast.
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Unfortunately it was now that the prevailing wind played him false by veering to the North Northeast, and momentarily driving his ship nearer to fort Lovrijenac’s guns.
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In an instant the guns bracketed the ship with a fusillade of fire.
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The Frenchman meanwhile seemed to studiedly ignore the firing and pressed on to the South East.
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Host called for more sail as he tried to clear the guns of the fort.
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The battery on the Town now chanced its arm but the barrels of the guns being still cold in the main the shots fell well short.
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Having ascertained the strength of the guns on those two forts Hoste now edged the Bacchante away intending to test the guns of the two forts and bastions guarding the main harbour.
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However, the Junon’s captain seeing the British ship coming under fire from the garrison decided to chance his arm against the Bacchante and coming about approached the swiftly turning Frigate.
This enabled Hoste to get off the first shot, and although he did not manage to rake the Frenchman, his broadside was telling.
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=58762&stc=1
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Whilst he had the French in disarray Hoste decided to settle the issue swiftly by boarding and came about, running aboard the Frenchman. Grapples were cast and the two ships became fast friends for the duration of the action.
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Matters did not, however, progress as Hoste had envisaged.
Firing from the tops caused him more casualties than he dished out, as most of his Marines were engaged in the boarding action.
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The rest of the boarding also proved very difficult as the battle swung to and fro over some time before the action was finally decided.
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Although the French put up a good fight, the superior numbers on the Bacchante finally overcame all resistance.
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The French colours came down and Junon’s captain surrendered his sword to Captain Hoste, who rapidly returned it to a brave and worthy adversary.
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The French captain had in fact thwarted Host’s plan to complete his mission as he had suffered so many casualties that having supplied a prize crew for the French ship, he felt undermanned to face further action and so withdrew back to the main squadron under the command of Commodore Freemantle based at Lissa.
BUTCHER’S BILL.
The action had been as Wellington would later say of Waterloo, “A damned near run thing”. Nevertheless Hoste will return.
WATCH THIS SPACE.
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Exciting AAR - cool to see such a long musketry / boarding action over several rounds. And really "what a damn close thing" :happy:
And a beautiful town model!
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Thanks very much for your kind remarks Achim, and also for the Rep points.
I will write up the sequels to this after Doncaster this weekend when the main encounter will take place.
Rob.
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Lovely looking scenery Rob as well as an interesting action
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You can catch the main action at Doncaster, here John.
https://www.sailsofglory.org/showthr...aster-con-2022
Rob.