Off Nantucket - 1813
A few years back I converted a sloop into a whaler to add variety to my ship collection. While I enjoyed its existence, I never made a scenario for it until now. The cutters are modified from Langton.
The rules are my own, taking the things I liked best from SoG, Post Captain, and my own game developments.
Mid-morning, Easterly wind 10-15 knots
It had been a good year and a bad morning. Captain Erskine Bolger of the whaler Susquehanna peered to the northwest. Much as the sextant had suggested, Nantucket stayed just beyond the horizon. His gaze drifted to the northeast. On that horizon, the two cutters that had turned the morning sour were now hull up, with every stitch of canvas set. Both were running on a course to break the line leading the Susquehanna to Nantucket. Now only two miles away, their union jacks could clearly be made out streaming forward from the leeches of their mainsails. “British privateers”, Bolger grimly thought.
Fully laden with a good year’s worth of whale oil, the Susquehanna pushed heavily to the north through an eastern swell. To sail the Great South Sea and to weather Cape Horn, only to be stopped one horizon shy of home, it was an injustice. Bolger turned to his bosun, “Mister Ladd, summon the crew.”
The hands milled loosely in Susquehanna’s waist. Many countries and shades of skin were represented there, roughly 50 men from all corners of the globe. They peered up at their captain as he leaned on the quarterdeck rail. “Men,” Erskine began, “At the start of the voyage, each of you was allotted a portion of our potential cargo. Now, we’re bringing home quite a haul, enough to make for a comfortable profit for each of us. The British fellows over there think to take it for themselves, and we get nothing but a prison camp for our work. My thought is, if we fight and bring in a sloop or two, I’ll make sure that any profits that can be had will be divvied up as though they were whales. So let’s clear those guns and go whaling!”
The green cutter had hardened up to try and run across the bow of the red cutter while the red cutter held its course. Captain Bolger smiled as he clicked his telescope closed. The green cutter’s maneuver was aggressive, but aggression without organization could be a weakness. If the two cutters fought independently instead of together, it definitely improved Susquehanna’s odds.
Susquehanna’s 18 pound carronades roared and slammed back on their slides as the red cutter stood right into a rake that cleared her helmsman from the helm. “Susquehanna’s opening shot really couldn’t have been better,” Erskine thought, as he imagined the frustration on the green cutter as their ally blocked their broadside.
The red cutter rounded to port before her crew was able to get her helm under control and bring her back to starboard at the edge of effective carronade range. The green cutter bore off and was able to bring her forward carronade to bear in exchange for a full broadside from Susquehanna.
Captain Bolger surveyed Susquehanna’s decks. His crew had given better than they had got, but crew numbers were their biggest weakness. The exchange had sent too many of his whalers to the orlop deck. Luckily, the red cutter’s helm issues had temporarily carried her to leeward and out of the fight. The green cutter was trying to keep the weather gauge, and had luffed up to tack. If the green cutter could be dealt with alone, the situation might still be salvaged.
Trying to close with the green cutter, Captain Bolger brought Susquehanna up into the wind. Taking advantage of the speed gifted to her by her fore and aft rig, the green cutter danced through the eye of the wind and bore off on the new tack. Her speed kept her clear of Susquehanna’s guns while allowing her to bring her port forward carronade to bear.
The speed and agility of the cutters was amazing and frustrating. One minute ago, it looked like the red cutter was out of the game for a while, and now its port forward carronade was shredding Susquehanna’s spanker. Meanwhile, the green cutter luffed up again, carrying her out of range of Susquehanna’s port broadside.
The jig was pretty much up. Speed was Susquehanna’s only remaining ally and not a very good one. Still, the green cutter was almost at a standstill after going head to wind twice in short succession, and it looked like most amazingly that the red cutter had defied the odds and gone into irons. Running was the best option remaining. “Mister Ladd, send the men aloft to break out t’gallants and courses. We’re leaving.”
The red cutter was still hanging in irons. The green cutter was starting to accelerate, but still only under fighting sails. Susquehanna had her t’gallants set, and in moments the courses would be drawing.
The red cutter was out of the eye of the wind, but dead in the water. The green cutter was setting her t’gallant, and would soon drop her maincourse. Without her spanker, Susquehanna’s best speed was nine knots and she was almost there.
The red cutter was beginning to move. The green’s course was drawing as she continued to accelerate. Susquehanna was on a broad reach, her best point of sail. Pushing a hefty bow wave at nine knots, Susquehanna did her best to run, but it couldn’t last. A broad reach was one of the worst points of sail for a cutter, but with their superior speed, the cutters would come up in time. Bolger could only hope that in the time remaining, a friend would come over the horizon.
The Butcher’s Bill for Susquehanna
The Green Cutter
The Red Cutter
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Originally Posted by flash
The cutters are so lively that when they're played by the 
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