Sorry for the delay in posting the Part 2 of this scenario. No reasons other than I have been really busy on writing and photographing the next wave of 4PLAY scenarios during my annual leave. More on that soon but meanwhile....
Turn 16
Terrible luck befell the English.
The ‘Damn your eyes!’ card was drawn and a nervous, civilian- manned battery at
the north end of the New Dockyard loosed its guns in panic at the brig Skylark
which had just slipped its moorings and was heading down to the fight. The
close-range fire ignited its magazine and in full view of the entire dockyard, Skylark
exploded and sank less than 30 yards offshore. A crushing blow. What of Monmouth?
Since appearing on T8 she had progressed no further than the south edge of the
dockyard being held by wind and tide in irons and powerless to progress. In
clear sight of the mayhem unfolding a mile away, she could make no
contribution. The Dutch star-chamber decided it was time to move from their
anchorage and direct the attack from closer in. De Ruyter, with de Witt aboard
the jacht Jong Prins sailed under the very muzzles of Spragge’s battery
at a distance of less than one hundred yards. Ahead of the admiral’s craft
English longboats attempted to grapple Gouden Appel but were fended off
just at the mouth of St Mary’s Creek. The laggard burner Wapen van Londen
was hit by the Bay battery as it brought up the rear of the attack flotilla.
Turn 17
Within sight of the target, Gouden
Appel fired and her crew abandoned ship. Even as they did so, the English
approached her with two longboats whilst two others tried to grapple the
burners Rotterdam and Draak. One of the English boats managed to
get a line onto Gouden Appel and pull her slowly towards the mouth of
the creek. Soldiers, sailors and dockyard workers climbed from their longboats
onto the decks of Rotterdam and Draak. After a sharp fight the
Dutch prevailed and cut the damaged boats loose, sunk them and threw the
English survivors overboard. Further high drama occurred when the ‘Serendipity’
card drawn earlier by the English was used to double the number of shooting
dice of Spragge’s battery. His target was de Ruyter’s jacht sailing directly
across the muzzles of his guns only a few score yards distant. The catastrophic
hit ignited the powder store on Jong Prins which promptly disintegrated.
I couldn’t believe it! I checked the officer casualty table and amazingly de
Ruyter and de Witt were grazed but alive and swimming in the Medway waiting to
get picked up! Elsewhere, the hapless Monmouth had grounded on a mudbank
opposite the dockyard whilst at Upnor, the frigates had to hoist their anchors
and move to prevent collisions as burners and jachts jostled each other through
a channel less than 40 yards wide in the middle of the river.
Turn 18
Admiral van Ghent’s de Brak
witnessed de Ruyter’s dilemma and swiftly scooped up the bedraggled power-pair
who were served brandy and allowed to compose themselves. The ordeal was far
from over. De Brak, having rescued the great men, was now exactly
in the same position as had been Jong Prins. Spragge let loose again
smashing shot into three VIPs rather than two however, no catastrophe occurred
this time and although damaged, the jacht crammed with talent, pushed further
upriver and beyond the arc of the English guns. As this nail-biting tension
unfolded, the under-tow and blazing Gouden Appel blew herself apart. The
combustible burner ignited and disappeared in the maw of St Mary’s Creek.
Astonishingly, the boat and crew towing her, survived.
Turn 19
Hollywood-esque? Nevertheless,
the Dutch trio aboard de Brak forced by the mayhem close by to hug the
shore, ran aground on a mudbank in St Mary’s Creek. A few hundred yards distant,
other English longboats again attempted to grapple and board the burner
Draak but were swept aside. From upriver, an English fireship Hound
appeared, fired, and floated toward Groningen. This largest of the Dutch
frigates, had be forced upriver to avoid blocking the burner attack and now
found herself struggling to turn in the shallows at the mouth of St Mary’s
Creek. Her guns pointed east and west whilst the fireship approached her stern
from the south.
Colonel Scott’s beleaguered
garrison in Upnor Castle had thus far stoically held their ground despite the
weight of incoming fire. Having now sustained 16 hits the morale rules kicked
in. The check was passed with flying colours and the garrison hung on.
Turn 20
Just as it appeared the attack
run would hit home, Hound exploded dashing English hopes. With 80% of
the game time over, none of the targets had yet been attacked by the Dutch
burners. Time was running out. Finally, Royal Oak, the target
closest to the Dutch, was within striking distance. Rotterdam, having run the gauntlet of
batteries, the castle and the longboats, fired, her crew abandoned her and, she
blew up! I really could not believe it. The remaining English longboats once
more tried to grapple Draak but failed. Just when it looked like she
would get her run in on Loyal London the English yacht Fox hove
alongside and boarded. A seesaw fight saw the English firstly ascendant and
then held at bay. This fight was eating up time and Draak moved no
nearer her target.
Turn 21
The Dutch drew yet another ‘Damn
your eyes!’ card and Wapen van Londen sustained significant damage as
she snuck under the muzzles of Upnor Castle’s guns barely fifty yards from the
bastion. The final surviving English boat failed to grapple the duelling Draak
but like the cavalry, van Ghent’s jacht cruised up and grappled Fox on
her larboard side. The admiral’s and their bodyguards swung across, overwhelmed
the demoralized English, captured Fox, cut loose her lines and allowed
the battered burner Draak to continue on toward the targets. The final Dutch burner Princess,
pointed at Royal Oak, fired, but just as this happened, a longboat
grappled and pulled her away towards St Mary’s Creek in a repeat of the
incident earlier in the battle. Alas, the line broke and the tide began to
carry the disintegrating burner Princess back in the direction of
Royal Oak.
With mayhem unfolding on the
river before them, the garrison at Upnor could take no more and evacuated the
castle. There was no shame in this as twenty-three hits from a possible thirty
had been sustained at this point.
Turn 22
The last of the English longboats,
barely afloat, heroically tried once more to grapple Draak and was
promptly sunk for its pains. The tenacious Draak now fired and set
course for Loyal London. Wapen van Londen, damaged and moving
very slowly, closed on the stern of Royal Oak. Her crew fired and she was left to the
tide and currents. Long abandoned and burning down, Princess drifted
into Royal Oak. Finally, the first English battleship was on fire.
Turns 23 and 24
Monmouth, stumbling from one
mishap to another grounded for the fourth time at White Wall Creek. Promising
so much, she never got within cannon shot range of the enemy. The prize Fox,
ran aground in the shallows near her point of capture and was so damage as the
Dutch struggled to free her that they set her alight and abandoned their
trophy. The swansong of the English defence came when the inexperienced crew of
a small fireship called Sparrow pulled off an impressive bit of
sailing by tacking down the eastern bank
and lining up a run on Groningen which, had struggled to remove herself
from the shallows around St Mary’s Creek. The large Dutch ship turned its full
broadside on Sparrow, bow raking and sinking her in a matter of a few
minutes. In the climactic moments of the
battle the redoubtable Draak drifted into the larboard bow of Loyal
London and the flames, carried by the wind, caught in the timbers of the
English ship. Wapen van Londen gently drifted into the stern of Royal
Oak and consolidated the already well-established conflagration begun by Princess.
Turn 25
All burners expended, all English
resistance extinguished, van Ghent gave the signal to disengage. Upnor Castle
was abandoned. Monmouth lay stranded in the mud half a mile distant.
Spragge’s guns were silent and out of ammunition. The Dutch turned with the
tide and headed downriver.
They had lost a yacht and all of the burners. Of the
covering frigates, Vrede was unscathed, Beschermer, Groningen and
Agatha had been lightly damaged with only the Harderwijck sustaining
significant degradation. Anchored just off Warham sconce, the heavy guns
and naval crews had poured punishing fire into her for three hours.
The English lost four longboats sunk, two fireships
destroyed, one brig in an explosion and a yacht captured and burned. Upnor
Castle’s garrison had been compelled to abandon the fortification. The
battleships Royal Oak and Loyal London were burning
uncontrollably however the Royal James remained intact.
A Dutch marginal victory. What a hard game to win.