Below you will find an After Action Report from Neil Stevens covering the Battle of Cape Santa Maria scenario from Serpents of the Seas, part of the Flying Colors system. Enjoy!
5th October 1804
On this date HMS Indefatigable, with Graham Moore as Commodore and frigates; HMS Medusa, HMS Lively, and HMS Amphion, intercepted four Spanish frigates off Cadiz under the command of Rear-Admiral Don Joseph Bustamente, Knight of the Order of St James. The Spanish ships were carrying bullion from Montevideo, South America, home to Spain. Spain was a neutral country at this time but was showing strong signs of declaring war in alliance with Napoleonic France. Acting on orders from the Admiralty Moore required the Spaniards to change their course and sail for England. Adm Bustamente refused and a short engagement ensued. [i]
It is at this point that we pick up the fortunes of Cdre Moore and Rear-Adm Bustamente and, using GMT’s Flying Colors system and specifically the expansion game Serpents of the Seas, we replay the battle to see if the British can steal the Spanish treasure on the high seas. The game was played over VASSAL with Ian Saunders assuming the role of Cdre Moore and Neil Stevens taking the role of Rear-Adm Bustamente.
The scenario starts with the British fleet, less HMS Lively who is returning from detached duties, upwind of the Spanish and bearing down on the treasure fleet. Moore is commanding from HMS Indefatigable and Bustamente flies his flag from the Medea.
Turn 1
The British seize the initiative and opt to activate their main fleet first and hold onto the wind advantage, maintaining the beating line into the wind. The Medusa moves forward and exchanges fire with the Fama, the Indefatigable follows also firing at the Fama with the Amphion tagging along at the rear engaging the Medea. The Spanish conduct some long-range defensive fire and then bear away from the British line to a position where they are running with the wind using a 1P1P move that is permissible because they have 3 movement points with the small ship movement enhancement (Series Rules page 7). Remember that turning from a beat to a reach does not cost a movement point but turning from a reach to a run does, and this turn spends their 3rd and final movement point. The Lively, out of command and activated last, also remains close-hauled and manages to get a shot off at the Clara who returns the compliment.
Turn 2
Moore retains the initiative and opts to activate first for the 2nd game turn. The Lively, still out of command because she is too far from the flagship and not in formation, is activated first. This allows the main fleet to see what the Spanish are going to do before they make their move. The Lively passes her initiative roll again and attempts to bow rake the Medusa but fails to get into the right position and shoots wide of the mark. The Spanish fleet activates next with the Clara opting for her enhanced movement taking her to 5 movement points. She moves 3S2 and attempts to stern rake the Lively. This has to be rolled for in the game as a means of determining whether the raking ship can get itself into the correct position at the exact moment that its guns are ready to fire. The sterns of the wooden sailing ships were the most vulnerable area of the ship, mainly because shot impacting from behind would travel down the length of the ship, dramatically increasing the likelihood of damage, and so raking the stern of the enemy was what every Captain would attempt to achieve. The shot from the Clara causes enough rigging damage to the Lively to reduce its movement allowance by 1 for the rest of the game – it now has sustained 3 rigging hits. This was a nice manoeuvre from the Clara with the Lively having no defensive fire options. But the situation worsens for the Lively when the Mercedes makes the same move and attempts a bow rake and is successful. As she was firing with the wind, she targeted the hull and it paid off with a 50% increase in damage scoring 3 hull hits. With 5 hull hits the Lively is now perilously close to becoming damaged which would cause it a drop in her firepower with a reduction in her relative rate. With the remaining ships, the Spanish move to try and remain in formation. Moore realizes, perhaps belatedly, the peril that Lively is now in and quickly turns away from the wind to head to her rescue with the utmost speed.
Turn 3
Bustamente realises that he can no longer signal the Clara as the Lively is in the way and blocks fleet command. She is therefore out of command as remains the Lively. The British continue to retain the initiative and again opt to activate the Lively first to try and extract her from her current predicament. Passing her initiative dr yet again (needing a 0, 1 or a 2 on a d10) she moves between the Mercedes and the Clara and fires her starboard broadside and port broadside at the respective ships. The Clara is chosen for defensive fire as she is out of command and would be unlikely to activate for fire in her turn. She opts to fire at the rigging to ensure a positive modifier for firing into the wind and is rewarded with 2 rigging damage. However, the Lively’s fire is spirited causing significant hull damage and a fire to break out on the Clara. Defensive fire from the Mercedes does cause the hull hit needed to damage the Lively and her return volley fires high but causes significant rigging damage which will reduce the speed of the Mercedes. The Spanish fleet activates next with the purpose of defeating the Lively who is putting up a stiff fight. The Mercedes turns into wind, entering the same hex as the Lively and attempts to pass to her stern. But the Lively captain still has a trick or two up his sleeve and successfully evades being out-manoeuvered. The Mercedes passes in front of Lively’s bow. Because she has already defensive fired her port broadside she cannot fire again from this angle. The two captains glare at each other as the ships pass close to one another. The Medea wears away from the wind and fails her attempt at a bow rake on the Lively. Some fine shooting scores another 3 rigging hits on the Lively who now has a total of 8 rigging damage which will reduce her movement allowance by 2. The Fama follows her flagship and tries a long range shot at the Lively but to no avail. The British fleet moves in to intervene with the fight for the Lively but they are unable to bring any guns to bear. The Clara, out of command and on fire, rolls successfully to engage with the enemy (0 or 1 required on a d10) and cannot resist the opportunity to stern rake the Lively with her port broadside. The result is an additional 2 hull damage which means the Lively has fewer than 3 hull hits remaining and so is considered vulnerable (Series Rules – page x). She rolls well and survives her Strike check.
Turn 4
The British continue to hold the initiative and realise that they must press the Spanish rapidly to have any chance of saving the poor old Lively. Meanwhile the Spanish are now all in command and are looking to destroy the Lively which remains isolated and out of command. The British activate their main fleet first and rush to close with the enemy. The Amphion closes with the Clara and they exchange broadsides. Clara is getting closer to becoming damaged as she has now sustained 4 hull hits out of the 5 required. The Indefatigable also rushes in and finds a position from which to fire at the Clara without any defensive fire options. The fire is telling and damages the Clara causing her to flip to her reduced side. So, the Spanish fleet activates and the Clara attempts to wriggle out of trouble. She exchanges broadsides with the Lively pivoting around her bow but they are both rather ineffective; it seems they have both had enough of the fight. The Mercedes turns into wind and fires at the Lively without any chance of a response. The damage is mounting up on the Lively as she continues to soak up the punishment. This leaves her with 9 rigging damage and a single hull point remaining. She then continues to move away from the British fleet. The Medea picots around the Lively following the Mercedes but her broadside is aimed at distance at the Amphion with no defensive fire possible. The shot strikes low and causes a hull damage point. Finally the Fama, following her flagship, moves in a position to bow rake the Lively to try and put the final nail in her watery coffin. But the gunners fire too high and pelt the rigging. The Lively is not done yet though and passes her command activation check allowing her to conduct offensive actions. She turns to port and moves to stern rake the damaged Clara. This is devastating for the Clara who is reduced to zero hull points. Her part in the battle is over and she strikes her colours which saves her from sinking as struck ships do not sink. But the battle swings again as the Lively determines that she too has had enough and, surrounded by Spanish ships, she too strikes her colours. As these are the first losses of the game both sides must take a break check. Whilst the British will not yet break the Spanish may decide they have had enough but this time they do not break and the battle continues.
Turn 5
The British maintain the initiative and opt to move first. Medusa first chases down the Fama and attempts a stern rake. Unable to achieve the full rake she still damages the hull and the Fama is now perilously close to having to flip and become damaged. So the indefatigable decides it must finish the job and she too runs up to the stern of the Fama and lets rip. Achieving a stern rake and noting that the indefatigable is a 4th rate ship, unlike all the others, and this proves to be devastating and far too much for the Fama who is reduced to zero hull. The Amphion meanwhile tucks herself in between her flagship and the Medusa to maintain formation integrity and line up to collect the treasure now on offer. As she does this, she exchanges broadsides with the Medea and comes off second best as her rigging takes more damage than her adversary and a fire breaks out onboard. Just when you thought the battle was nearly over! Now it is the turn of the Spanish fleet to activate. But they can see the writing on the wall with two ships now out of action and as they are outnumbered they are more likely to fail the upcoming break check. Perhaps it is time for discretion to play the better part of valour. The Mercedes continues her move to windward, then turns to a reach and raises full sails. The Medea considers trying to take the Lively but with the remaining fleet bearing down on her realises that this glory would quickly fade and she follows the Mercedes out of trouble raising full sails at the end of her move. The struck ships drift with the wind and fortunately for the Amphion she manages to extinguish the fire. The poor Fama strikes her colours as she fights to save the ship. The Spanish pass the break check and so can continue the battle.
Turn 6
The Spanish win the initiative and decide that they will attempt to escape with the remaining treasure and they head off at maximum possible speed. They are reaching and have full sails up so they move swiftly away from the British. Meanwhile the temptation of two prizes is too much for the British commander and he approaches, grapples and captures the two stricken Spanish vessels. An immense amount of treasure is discovered and any thoughts of the ones who got away quickly recede as the British officers struggle to ensure that no pieces of eight find their way into the possession of any of the crew.
It is here that we leave the Battle of Cape Santa Maria and take a stock of the events that have unfolded before us. The British have successfully captured two Spanish frigates and the treasure within which, in game terms, are each worth 4 victory points. The Spanish managed to damage the Lively who struck but as they failed to claim their prize this is only enough for them to earn 1 victory point in reply. So, in game terms it is quite clearly a British victory 8 points to 1. But as the game’s author clearly states, the scenarios are not designed to be balanced but are aimed for realism and to play as close to reality as is possible in a simulation. So, let’s have a look at what happened in reality.
The Reality
Very quickly into the fight the unfortunate Mercedes caught fire and blew up. Then the Indefatigable captured the Medea and the Lively captured the Clara. After a further chase the Lively and the Medusa captured the Fama. The Medea, the Spanish flagship, was armed with 42 18-pounder guns and from a crew of 300 men lost 2 killed and 10 wounded. The Fama, armed with 36 12-pounder guns, started with a crew of 180 men and lost 11 killed and 50 wounded. The Clara, armed with 36 12-pounder guns from a crew of 300 men lost 7 killed and 20 wounded. The poor Mercedes, armed with 36 12-pounder guns, sank so quickly that the British were only able to rescue her second captain and 40 men of her original compliment of 280 men.
Indefatigable had 40 casualties, Amphion had 5 men wounded, one badly. The Lively had 2 killed and 4 wounded. Indefatigable and Amphion escorted Medee and Fama to Plymouth. Medusa and Lively brought in Clara. The Royal Navy took Medea into service as the Iphigenia and the Clara as the Leocadia.
The value of the treasure taken from the 3 frigates was extremely large and if it had been treated as a ‘Prize of War’ then Cdre Moore and his brother captains would have become extremely wealthy. As it was the money and ships were declared to be “Droits of Admiralty” on the grounds that war had not been declared against Spain and the captains and crew shared a relatively small ex-gratia payment of £160,000 for the bullion plus the proceeds of the sale of the hull and additional cargo. Spain did join the French against the British, perhaps because of the plundering of their treasure on the high seas, and Spanish ships were present in numbers at the Battle of Trafalgar the following year.
Game versus Reality
So, in game terms how does our outcome compare? Well, it would appear that our Spanish commander did rather better than his historical counterpart. Whilst two laden treasure ships were lost, two were retained and escaped. Of course, they could have been subsequently caught but let us assume that they managed to evade the British at this stage. Is there a way that we can ‘complete’ this game further by giving a yardstick of the victory for either side? If we transpose the actual events into a game victory point count the British would have earned 17 victory points: 4 points each for the capture of the Medea, the Clara and the Fama; 2 points for sinking the Mercedes and 3 points for the capture of Bustamente. The Spanish would have earned 0 victory points. A margin of +17. On the basis that our Spanish commander performed better than his historical counterpart then I offer an alternative game conclusion determined by deducting the Spanish VP total from the British VP tally and considering the following table.
>= 15 Magnificent British Victory
10 – 14 Decisive British Victory
5 – 9 Honorable Draw
0 – 4 Decisive Spanish Victory
<0 Magnificent Spanish Victory
Final Observations
HMS Lively starts downwind of the Spanish treasure fleet in the scenario. This was not the case according to the sources but I suspect was an attempt to give some degree of balance to this rather one-sided scenario. Compare the broadside firepower factors in the tables above. Positioning the Lively downwind allows the Spanish to her effectively and hopefully deal a critical blow before the balance of the British fleet is within range. So, if you wish to be even more faithful to the original situation consider allowing the Lively to start with the main fleet and then see how close you can get to that ‘Magnificent Victory’.
In terms of the game, we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as it built a breathtaking narrative that swung from one side to the other. The handling of defensive fire may not be considered by some to be purist, as it can only occur when the attacker announces a fire combat, but it enables movements to be effected swiftly without prior plotting and yet still allows the defender an opportunity to interrupt; if guns can be brought to bear. The interruption itself means that both players remain fully immersed in the game at all times rather than a defender sitting back and waiting for his/ her own turn. This is something which I particularly enjoy. As a massive fan of gaming the Napoleonic naval period Flying Colors and the associated game expansions is a fitting successor to the grail that was and is Avalon Hill’s Wooden Ships & Iron Men. My order for the updated release has already been submitted.
Afternote
The Battle of Cape Santa Maria did not entirely finish here. In 2007 the company Odyssey Marine Exploration recovered 17 tons of gold and silver from the wreck of the Mercedes stating that it had been found in international waters therefore belonged to the finder. The Spanish government branded the team “21st Century pirates” and launched legal proceedings arguing that the wreck was protected by “sovereign immunity” which prohibits the unauthorized disturbance or commercial exploitation of state-owned naval vessels. In June 2009 the Federal Court in Tampa, USA, found against Odyssey and ordered the treasure returned to Spain.
[i] Wiki – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_5_October_1804
Author: Neil Stevens
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.