Capt. Broke's Sword

[Jim McDougall]

Bob and Rick, thank you so much for these insights. I am admittedly not very well versed in naval warfare and history, but it is truly fascinating to see these perspectives. I think I see another facet to my obsessions with history brewing

[M ELEY]

Very much agreed! The sweeping of the deck with cannons was also a maneuver that pirates used in desparation (as opposed to just getting their prey to surrender). When the Rover was attacked by Blackbeard's crew, they 'scrafed' the deck with shot. This time, however, Lt. Maynard played Teach's game and hid his remaining crew below beck. When Blackbeard's vessel approached, he saw the carnage and no resistance, so cried out for his crew to board the supposedly defeated ship. Once the sea dogs were on deck, Maynard's soldiers and sailors swarmed out of the hold to confront the pirate menace hand-to-hand. The rest, as they say, is history...

[David R]

Great days, great Commanders and wonderful stories. A quote I once heard from a knowledgeable friend, as coming from the French, was that the British "built their warships by the mile and cut them off as needed".
On another note, one third of the British warships at Trafalgar were built in India and the crews were in proportion. Our secret weapon was Indian manufacturers and finance, without them we may have lost!

[Rick]

Also, a fair amount of captured vessels from France and Spain ended up being bought into the RN; Chesapeake was also bought into the RN after her capture.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by David R

Great days, great Commanders and wonderful stories. A quote I once heard from a knowledgeable friend, as coming from the French, was that the British "built their warships by the mile and cut them off as needed".
On another note, one third of the British warships at Trafalgar were built in India and the crews were in proportion. Our secret weapon was Indian manufacturers and finance, without them we may have lost!

Wow! David, now thats interesting!!! I had no idea that India built those, but they did seem to have some pretty amazing vessels.
These were from the Malabar coast in India right? Mahrattas?

[David R]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Wow! David, now thats interesting!!! I had no idea that India built those, but they did seem to have some pretty amazing vessels.
These were from the Malabar coast in India right? Mahrattas?

They were one to one copies of the standard British warships. The story goes that the RN sailed a three decker into one of the main shipbuilding centres and invited quotes. After a thorough investigation that quote was less than half what it would cost to build in Britain, and the deal was on!

https://2ndlook.wordpress.com/2010/1...-british-navy/

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

Very much agreed! The sweeping of the deck with cannons was also a maneuver that pirates used in desparation (as opposed to just getting their prey to surrender). When the Rover was attacked by Blackbeard's crew, they 'scrafed' the deck with shot. This time, however, Lt. Maynard played Teach's game and hid his remaining crew below beck. When Blackbeard's vessel approached, he saw the carnage and no resistance, so cried out for his crew to board the supposedly defeated ship. Once the sea dogs were on deck, Maynard's soldiers and sailors swarmed out of the hold to confront the pirate menace hand-to-hand. The rest, as they say, is history...

Indeed it was! a great ploy!!! enter as well the Highlander and his basket hilt, who ended the great Blackbeard !
I always wondered if certain gun crews and guns were designated to grape shot and if others were to the rigging shots.......was this kind of selective tactics in place in an aligned battle between vessels?

[Bob A]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Indeed it was! a great ploy!!! enter as well the Highlander and his basket hilt, who ended the great Blackbeard !
I always wondered if certain gun crews and guns were designated to grape shot and if others were to the rigging shots.......was this kind of selective tactics in place in an aligned battle between vessels?

I would hazard a guess that chain and bar shot would have been used to incapacitate an opponents vessel through wrecking the rigging; loading grape would make sense as the boarding vessel approached, as last-ditch anti-personnel weaponry.

Not having been there, I'm just winging it here. There would be sufficient standardisation of bore to facilitate this.

If I recall correctly, not having read O'brian in a decade or so, carronades were used in various conformations in close-contact inter-ship action.

Here's a Wiki link to carronade:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carronade

Since O'Brian is on the table, here's a link to a site mapping the various voyages in the saga:
http://www.cannonade.net/