Yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life.
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| The early stages of yesterday's game, English frigates (HMS Phoebe in the van, followed by HMS Perseverance) making their way past the indicator of the wind direction (located at table bottom-right). |
It was the beginning of something that has been bubbling around as an idea for years, about which I have chopped and changed my thinking of how to enact, but now, thanks in great measure to my focus on ships for the past several months, has gelled clearly in my mind and has expanded to something wonderfully exciting. I'm gonna recreate all* of the actions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars#.
(*most, or as many as possible/of interest)
(# several revolutionary and counter-revolutionary wars in addition to the Napoleonic wars: Haitian Revolution 1791–1804, French Revolutionary Wars 1792–1799 (or 1803, depending on whether one includes the Consulate), Polish-Russian War of 1792, War in the Vendée 1793–1796 & 1815, & Kościuszko Uprising 1794)
The aim is large, the beginning was small and the action was not even from one of those conflicts!
Nevertheless, it was a good place to start, since it was a naval action involving the French and British, based on an intriguing historical encounter which made for a fascinating game. Additionally, it was fitting and pleasing that it was the main focus for Julian and me catching up for the first time for this year.
Background
The Battle of Tellicherry occurred before the outbreak of any of the conflicts listed above. It was part of a 'phony war' between France and Britain, but was associated with the Third Anglo-Mysore War—another 'revolution' of sorts—involving Tipu Sultan of Mysore and the British East India Company.
As part of the morphing and blurring of Company and British rule of India, the Company's forces, which were lead by Sir Charles Cornwallis (he of the Yorktown surrender), Governor-General and commander in chief in India, was assisted in its campaign by ships of the British navy, under the command of his brother, Commodore William Cornwallis.
(Below are a couple of maps to help to place the locations mentioned in the following description.)
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| 'Plan of Tellicherry Road on the Malabar Coast by Capt. Thomas Lynn of the Chatham, Man of War' circa 1784. This beautiful map, from the collection of the Bibliotèque Nationale de France extends from Mahé to just north of Tellicherry. The entry from the National Library of Australia provides some more details: Map of Tellicherry Road, Malabar Coast showing forts, and depth by soundings. "Published according to Act of Parliament by A Dalrymple, May 7th, 1784." [From: Dalrymple's charts : a collection in 3 volumes of charts, maps and plans for navigation. London : published by A. Dalrymple, 1807?.] |
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| A modern topographical map of the south-western Indian coastline, showing Mahé and Tellicherry (Thalassery) in the south to Mangalore (Mangaluru) in the north. |
The British suspected that the French were providing assistance to Tipu Sultan, so Commodore Cornwallis had ordered that all French ships of commerce be searched. On 23rd October, two of the ships of his command, the frigate HMS Phoenix (Sir Richard Strachan) and the sloop HMS Atalanta (Captain Foote), attempted to intercept a French merchantman that passed by Tellicherry. They were unable to catch up with the merchant ship, due to the light wind which prevailed, but followed it into the port of Mahé where Foote forcibly inspected it. No arms nor contraband were found.
Hearing of this, the French naval commander in the area, chef de division Saint-Félix dispatched one of his frigates, la Résolue under Captain Callamand, to proceed to Mahé to escort merchant ships. Accordingly, on the 19th November la Résolue and two merchant ships left Mahé and headed north for Mangalore. Passing by Tellicherry, Cornwallis ordered Captain Sir Richard Strachan to take his frigate HMS Phoenix along with HMS Perseverance (Captain Isaac Smith) to intercept and search the French merchantmen.
The game
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| We began the game with the English frigates, having left Tellicherry, in pursuit of la Résolue and the merchantmen. |
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| In the foreground, La Résolue had outstripped the merchantmen, while in the distant background, the English frigates turned to a better position relative to the wind so as to gain on the small group of French ships. Strachan signalled the French to stop so as to be inspected, but received no reply. |
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| The English frigates were soon parallel with the French, since la Résolue had slowed to allow the merchantmen to catch up. |
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| Strachan enacted his plan to head off and intercept the French ships. Signalling again to the French, they sent the reply 'je ne comprends pas'. |
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| As the English ships closed, Strachan ordered the firing of two ranging shots, by Phoebe between la Résolue and the first merchant ship, by Perseverance between the two merchantmen. |
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| Outraged by this act of aggression, Callamand determined to fire a broadside at the lead English frigate as soon as they came within close range. Strachan had determined to do the same. |
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| The exchange of broadsides caused some crew casualties on each ship. The French succeeded in starting a fire aboard the Phoebe (double five for the random factor), but it was immediately extinguished by the English crew. |
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| Carrying on, Strachan was able to achieve his desire of grappling la Résolue and sent over a boarding party. Taken by surprise, the French crew were unable to repel the boarders, so the fight continued... |
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| Meanwhile, HMS Perseverance and the merchant ships turned to starboard and to port respectively so as to avoid the entangled frigates. The lead merchant ship reacted too late and was temporarily entangled with la Résolue, but the crew acted swiftly to release her. |
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| Captain Smith manoeuvred HMS Perseverance in line with his orders to occupy a post to leeward of the French ships. For their part, the captains of the merchant ships, reduced sail in order to heave too, not wishing to take part in a 'hot action'. On board la Résolue, the mêlée had moved below decks as the English, lead by Strachan in person, continued to gain the upper hand. |
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| More French crew joined the fight to repel the British marines but, not realising their superior numbers, faced by a better organised, lead and motivated force, their morale gave way and... |
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| ...la Résolue was taken, striking her colours |
We both enjoyed the game immensely. Though small and brief (we completed it in ten turns completed over a couple of leisurely hours), it presented lots of challenges and decisions for both of us.
Having only used the rules once before, we both had to start again with them, but slipped into gear quickly and they came through with colours still flying. I particularly enjoyed the boarding action, which was fought over three turns. We did not have one of these in our previous game, so began in a play-by-numbers fashion, but were completely au fait with the system by the second round. It was a near-run thing. The rules provide an weighting in favour of the defenders (appropriately in my thinking), so the English marines and selected crew needed their élite rating and the added bonus provided by Strachan's presence in the attack to tip the balance against the French weight of numbers and power of the defence.
Historical comparison and implications
Wargamers who like to get into some detail with history are blessed today with such ready access to primary and what I would call 'contemporary secondary' sources. Such was the case for this action where my sources were the naval histories of James and Troude, but principally Strachan's letter to Cornwallis, written immediately after the action.
Strachan's letter is a fabulous, primary source that is available from the digital collection of Rice University. It is difficult to read in this format, so I retyped it. It provides a detailed, readable and insightful summary of the action:
Phoenix, Tellicherry 21st Novr 1791
To The Hon’’ble William Cornwallis, Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Ships
Sir,
In consequence of the Signal which you made for me to examine Strange Sails fluffing near the fleet, I proceeded in pursuit of Two Merchant Ships - about noon a French Frigate that was also standing to the Northward, made a Signal & shorten’d Sails, and the Two Merchant Ships closed to her -a little after One we fired a Gun unshotted to Leeward to denote that our intentions were friendly, and to induce them to bring too - at this time the French Frigate had set all her Sails, except Royals, and the Merchant sailed well - His Majesty’s Ships the Perseverance & this Ship not being able to gain upon each other, and very little on those we pursued - I soon after order’d another Gun unshotted, to be fired to Leeward and then the French Frigate made a Signal, and brought too, with the Two Merchant Ships ahead of her - upon coming up with him, he appprais’d to be clear for Action - their people were at their Guns, which they kept pointing at us -he hail’d, and ask’d what I wanted - I inform’d him that I had Orders to search the two Vessels ahead of him, but as our Nations were in peaceful Friendship, we did not mean to use any violence, and that I would send my boats on Board him to explain - in case the Vessels should be under his Charge - he answer’d that he did not understand me, and began to make Sail - this Ship being between him & the Two Merchant Vessels - I however reflected upon the consequence of harsh measures, and sent a Boat with the First Lieutenant to explain, if possible, to his satisfaction, that no National insult was intended - Upon the Boat getting alongside him, and the Officer delivering the Message, he began to make Sail, and made a Signal which was instantly obey’d by the Two Merchant Ships, they making Sail - I was then ahead of him - I saw, that if they once had the Start, we should not easily get up with them - I therefore made Sail, the French Man of War pointing her Guns at us - Our Boat was now a great way astern - I hailed the Frigate and told him, that if he did not stop the Ships from making Sail I should be obliged to fire at them - he told me in English, “I do not understand you Sir” - One of our people hail’d him in French, and endeavour’d to persuade him to stop the Ships by Signal, that no accident might happen from our firing at them, which we should be obliged to do if they did not stop - I therefore began to fire at One, with our Bow Chaser, and the Other, with our Larboard Guns - they soon shorten’d Sail, but did not bring too - the Frigate fired some Shots, but not at us - the Perseverance at some distance from us boarded One, and we dropped our Boat on board the other - We back’d close to her, to prevent the Frigate from injuring our Boat - she fired two Shots across us, and soon after having closed with us, began to engage with much vivacity on our Starboard Side - upon receiving the Second Discharge from his Broadside, I began to return it - our people having, with great presence of mind obey’d their instructions in not firing ’til order’d them - I luffed close to her, she having more way, attempted to make us across the Bow, which I prevented by keeping close to her, and when her Guns were all discharged, luff’d across her Stern, swept her Ensign from her Mizinmast with our Jib Boom and raked her - her pendant came down, but she still continued to attempt to cross us on the other Bow - we closed with him on the Starboard side, and after a Broadside which brought his Sails down, they call’d out, & made Signs that they had surrender’d.
The Rigging, Yard Tackles, and Boats being much damaged, I could not board her, and therefore made the Signal that we had not, as the Perseverance was at some distance, & did not seem to understand the Signal - and being anxious, I stood towards her, and gave the French Ship in charge to Captain Smith, with the accompanying Instructions, which I hope you will approve of - She proved to be la Raisolue of 36 Guns, & 250 Men, Commanded by Monsr De Callamande, Lieutt De Vaisseau, who was wounded in the Action - I left her at Anchor between Mangalor & Dula [Ullal?] repairing her Damages, & hope by Captain Smith’s Assistance, she will be able to sail the 20th in the Morning - but I am inform’d she has suffer’d much - having given Captain Smith his Instructions, our First Lieutenant came on board, having as I said before, been left astern - he inform’d me that the French Captain told him that he “would not allow the Two Ships which were under his Convoy to be search’d - that he thought its a presumption on the part of the English to attempt to do it on the open Seas - but that if we had blockaded any Port & they were going there, he would have allow’d me to search them, but that he would “not then” and order’d his Men to their Quarters - upon which our First Lieutenant (Parker) left the Ship - At this time he made the Signal to his Convoy, which I last alluded to.
You will excuse Sir, my being so particular in the detail of this Affair, but as it may be the subject of much National importance, I think its my duty to give you the fullest information, and have brought for that purpose, the Second Captain of the French Frigate, with his own Consent, the Captain being Wounded, to corroborate what I have asserted with respect to their motives for engaging us.
Enclosed is my Journal, a State of HIs Majesty’s Ship, with a Return of Kill’d and Wounded, and a Report of the Officer of this Ship, who boarded the Two Merchant Vessels.
I have much pleasure Sir, to add, that His Majesty’s Ship is in perfect readiness to perform any Service you may please to order her upon - the little Accidents of the Service being repair’d - as well as we could do it.
I have the Honor to be
Sir,
With the greatest Respects
Your most Obedient
Humble Servant
[signature]
P.S. - I beg to add Sir, that a Note accompanies this letter from the Captain of the French Frigate. Upon my sending my First Lieutenant on Board to him after he had surrender’d - he desired him to tell me, that he was ready to do any thing I wish’d with respect to the movements of the French Frigate - I then desired him thro’ his Second Officer who was on Board with me, to assure me that he would follow us to Tellicherry, that this affair might be explain’d - the Note does not appear to me to be perfectly satisfactory and as his Ship was represented to be much shatter’d, I was induced to desire Captain Smith to assist him, and escort him to Tellicherry, but told Captain Smith he was not to be consider’d in the light of a Captured Vessel, and to be permitted to wear his Colours - of this I also acquainted the French Captain with, and that the Perseverance would give him any assistance.
As I have not mention’d the Perseverance in the course of the Action, I think it is my duty in justice to Captain Smith, to inform you, that when it began, the Perseverance was at some distance, near the Ship Our Boat was on Board, and we were situated that the Perseverance could not fire conveniently, when she came towards us, without running the risk of doing us injury.
[signature]**
**On reading this letter, Julian said, "He (Strachan) did not like his fellow captain did he?" I looked puzzled and said that I had not noticed. "Didn't he make special mention to Cornwallis that Smith was unable to take part in the action as he was behind with the merchant ships?" "Exactly," said Julian, "lagging behind the site of the action. A very English put-down." I defer to Julian in such matters, since he is the one of that culture, but we'd both be interested in the reaction of other readers, especially those from England.
Our version of the action followed this fairly closely; naturally since it was used to set-up the game and we were both influenced by the text, but, in typical wargaming fashion, our version was a little more heated. La Résolue struck after being boarded rather than from cannon fire alone, but the brevity of the action and outcome were in line with what happened. The crew casualties in our action were 38 French and 36 English. James states that the French lost 25 killed and 40 wounded, while the English suffered six men killed and 11 wounded. Troude cites 12 killed and 56 wounded on the French side.
Strachan was well aware of the 'national incident' that the action represented and addressed it directly in his letter to Cornwallis. Captain Callamand refused to take charge of his ship, since it was a prize, so the English towed it into Mahé, where it was repaired.
Chef de division Saint-Félix took up his protest directly with Cornwallis. James states that "...a correspondence, conducted with much anger on one side, and with temper and firmness on the other, ensued between the French and British commodores. M. Saint-Felix threatened further resistance, if any vessels under his orders were attempted to be detained." Troude wrote that, arriving at Mahé^, Saint-Félix "...made very lively representations to the English Commander, and ended by warning him that, if he persisted in stopping French ships, he would consider this violation as a declaration of war, and that he would therefore repel force by force. The commodore [Cornwallis] pretended that, in this circumstance, Captain Callamand had been the aggressor."
^Interestingly, Troude states that this exchange between Saint-Félix and Cornwallis occurred the day after a later, minor altercation (4th January 1792) between the flagships of the opposing commanders.
This could have become a serious incident, but as James points out, in France "...matters were then in too disturbed a state for the nation to take that notice of the transaction which, in more settled times, would certainly have been the case."
A day of delights
Everyday above ground is a joy, but yesterday was a particular day of delights. With so much to catch up on Julian and I had a few hours of discussion prior to the game, aided by various 'goodies'.
Firstly were his newly-acquired 1/4800th ships of the Anglo-Dutch wars from Tumbling Dice. Very similar to the Forged in Battle Napoleonic ships that I have but, being a smaller scale and smaller ships, they are less detailed. They are gonna look beaut once painted. We cleaned them up a bit and talked about painting, which he will do over coming weeks.
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| Julian's new 1/4800 ships of the Anglo-Dutch wars (and early 18thC more broadly). |
Secondly, ten issues of the magnificent 'Gloire et Empire' magazine that were part of a fantastic clearance sale held recently by Ebra Editions. An absolute steal at 80% off, Julian kindly let me send them to him in Scotland (as he was in December-January) so as to reduce the cost of postage dramatically. Interesting, colourful and extremely useful for my 'battles of...'
"thank you Mark!"
Next in the chronology
The next action for ' Battles of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras' is a small follow-up to the Battle of Tellicherry. It was a minor exchange between the frigates , Minerva and Cybele, under command of Cornwallis and Saint-Félix respectively. Nothing of note happened in the historic action, but we'll turn this into a full-on ship to ship duel.
References
Hiscocks, R (2018) Phoenix v Resolue – A Peacetime Frigate Engagement – 19 November 1791. https://morethannelson.com/phoenix-v-resolue-a-peacetime-frigate-engagement-19-november-1791/—a modern summary made using the same sources that I did.
James, W (1902) The naval history of Great Britain : from the declaration of war by France in 1793, to the accession of George IV. Vol. I. First Published 1822. Macmillan and Co. Limited, London. pp. 131–132. Available from archive.org
Strachan RJ (1791) Letter written by Sir Richard John Strachan to Sir William Cornwallis about the capture of the French frigate Resolue on November 21 1791. https://digitalcollections.rice.edu/Documents/Detail/sir-richard-john-strachan-letter-to-sir-william-cornwallis/54921
Troude, O (1867) Batailles navales de la France. Tome Second. Challamel Ainé, Paris. pp. 265–268. Available from archive.org
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