Read Online Thunder On the Sea: A Tim Phillips novel (War at Sea Book 11) by Richard Testrake - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Richard Testrake
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sailed away from her antagonist. This was curious. The Aphrodite was twice the size of Prince Rupert and had nearly twice the number of guns, although not of large-caliber as expected. Why was she running?
As the post ship approached from astern, the muzzle of a large gun appeared in the stern window on the enemy ship, followed by another. Unlike the guns fired during the recent action, these appeared to be 24 pounders, much too large for the little post ship to face willingly. The two ships paced each other for the remainder of the day. Whenever the pursuer got too close, Aphrodite belched out a 24 pound ball or two. The practice of the enemy big guns was curious. Several times, when the post ship approached her quarry too closely, balls fired from those guns fell much too short. In addition, the smoke clouds produced by their firing seemed much too thick. Phillips was beginning to believe the enemy captain did have trouble with damp powder.
After following the enemy ship all day, Phillips was beginning to get a sense of its commander. Clearly the fellow did not want to engage him man-to-man and gun to gun. Even in the stern chase, the enemy was miserly with its use of the two heavy guns in the stern windows.
Suspecting the enemy captain was very short of ammunition, Phillips made other plans. As dusk approached, his lookouts came down as they normally would for the night. Usually, at night lookouts were placed around the deck, forward and aft, port and starboard.
There was only a sliver of moon, and that was frequently hidden by cloud cover. Allowing the enemy ship to pull ahead a bit, during one of the dark spells, Phillips ordered the lookouts back into the tops. There were two night glasses aboard ship. These glasses were especially made to have superior light gathering properties, making it easier to distinguish ships in the dark of night.
One curiosity of these glasses was the image they presented to the viewer was always upside down. Normally Phillips did not allow these valuable glasses to go above deck, but in this case, his first and second officers took them into the main and foretops which they occupied with the lookouts. A midshipman messenger went with them. As the dark of night became more intense, the messenger came sliding down a backstay. He reported Mister Fitzhugh had seen the frigate altering course to port.
Accordingly, Prince Rupert continued on her own course, but sent up her t’gallant masts. Once sail was set on these mass, Prince Rupert gained a few knots in speed. The two ships were now out of sight of each other. Phillips was just guessing about his enemy’s course, but suspected she would continue toward Corsica. Accordingly, once he judged he was abreast of the enemy, he edged a few points to starboard.
Hours later, at false dawn, the fore lookout hesitantly called, ‘Sail in sight’. Soon after, Mister Fitzhugh in the main top with the night glass reported, “Frigate on the starboard beam.”
Calling his officers back down, Phillips had all the sail set that Prince Rupert would bear. As the sun came up, the post ship was coming up on Aphrodite’s port bow, with all her guns run out.
Deadly earnest, Phillips ordered his people to send a crashing broadside onto the enemy quarterdeck at his command. Before he could do so however, Aphrodite first hoisted, then hauled down her tricolor. One of the post ship’s forward starboard guns fired a ball just forward of her cut water which brought the big ship to the wind.
Captain Phillips went aboard the frigate with the prize crew himself, curious to find out what was going on. As he climbed the side of Aphrodite, he was greeted by a side party and met by the ship’s first officer. Phillips spoke no usable French and the French officer apparently had little English, but that lieutenant beckoned Phillips to follow him. They went to the door of the Captain’s quarters and there he saw a disgusting spectacle. The captain of Aphrodite lay in
As the post ship approached from astern, the muzzle of a large gun appeared in the stern window on the enemy ship, followed by another. Unlike the guns fired during the recent action, these appeared to be 24 pounders, much too large for the little post ship to face willingly. The two ships paced each other for the remainder of the day. Whenever the pursuer got too close, Aphrodite belched out a 24 pound ball or two. The practice of the enemy big guns was curious. Several times, when the post ship approached her quarry too closely, balls fired from those guns fell much too short. In addition, the smoke clouds produced by their firing seemed much too thick. Phillips was beginning to believe the enemy captain did have trouble with damp powder.
After following the enemy ship all day, Phillips was beginning to get a sense of its commander. Clearly the fellow did not want to engage him man-to-man and gun to gun. Even in the stern chase, the enemy was miserly with its use of the two heavy guns in the stern windows.
Suspecting the enemy captain was very short of ammunition, Phillips made other plans. As dusk approached, his lookouts came down as they normally would for the night. Usually, at night lookouts were placed around the deck, forward and aft, port and starboard.
There was only a sliver of moon, and that was frequently hidden by cloud cover. Allowing the enemy ship to pull ahead a bit, during one of the dark spells, Phillips ordered the lookouts back into the tops. There were two night glasses aboard ship. These glasses were especially made to have superior light gathering properties, making it easier to distinguish ships in the dark of night.
One curiosity of these glasses was the image they presented to the viewer was always upside down. Normally Phillips did not allow these valuable glasses to go above deck, but in this case, his first and second officers took them into the main and foretops which they occupied with the lookouts. A midshipman messenger went with them. As the dark of night became more intense, the messenger came sliding down a backstay. He reported Mister Fitzhugh had seen the frigate altering course to port.
Accordingly, Prince Rupert continued on her own course, but sent up her t’gallant masts. Once sail was set on these mass, Prince Rupert gained a few knots in speed. The two ships were now out of sight of each other. Phillips was just guessing about his enemy’s course, but suspected she would continue toward Corsica. Accordingly, once he judged he was abreast of the enemy, he edged a few points to starboard.
Hours later, at false dawn, the fore lookout hesitantly called, ‘Sail in sight’. Soon after, Mister Fitzhugh in the main top with the night glass reported, “Frigate on the starboard beam.”
Calling his officers back down, Phillips had all the sail set that Prince Rupert would bear. As the sun came up, the post ship was coming up on Aphrodite’s port bow, with all her guns run out.
Deadly earnest, Phillips ordered his people to send a crashing broadside onto the enemy quarterdeck at his command. Before he could do so however, Aphrodite first hoisted, then hauled down her tricolor. One of the post ship’s forward starboard guns fired a ball just forward of her cut water which brought the big ship to the wind.
Captain Phillips went aboard the frigate with the prize crew himself, curious to find out what was going on. As he climbed the side of Aphrodite, he was greeted by a side party and met by the ship’s first officer. Phillips spoke no usable French and the French officer apparently had little English, but that lieutenant beckoned Phillips to follow him. They went to the door of the Captain’s quarters and there he saw a disgusting spectacle. The captain of Aphrodite lay in
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