Friday 11 October 2024

The Bantry Bay French Cannons at Cardiff Castle

A remarkable relic from the attempted French landing in Bantry Bay during the winter of 1796

This time last year I was happily play testing my new scenario that presupposed a partially successful landing by French forces in Bantry Bay in the winter of 1796 instead of the actual events that saw the naval expeditionary force abandon the attempt in the face of terrible winter storms that frustrated the landing of troops and led to a withdrawal, not without significant losses, back to France.

The planned French invasion site of Bear Haven in Bantry Bay, Ireland, 1797

Whilst doing the research for my game and the associated orders of battle, I remembered seeing some French cannon that were identified as likely relics from two French frigates wrecked in Bantry Bay during the aborted landings, part of many wonderful treasures held in Cardiff Castle as reported about in my post from 2021.

JJ's Wargames - A Long Weekend in Cardiff, 2021

At the time of our visit I had only given the cannons a cursory glance, their real significance only occurring to me as I sat down two years later to look at the historical circumstances that characterised L’Expédition d’Irlande, as I composed my 'What If' ideas for the scenario that finally became my game plan for Bantry Bay as seen below in action at the NWS meeting at Yeovilton in 2023.

My French invasion force recreated for our Bantry Bay game played at the NWS meeting at the FAA Museum Yeovilton in 2023. A link for 'Bantry Bay 1796' can be found in the 'My Scenarios' section in the left hand bar of the blog page.

L’Expédition d’Irlande, that was due to depart in September 1796, was dogged by delays, but by December a forty-three ship fleet, comprising seventeen ships of the line, thirteen frigates, corvettes and transport ships, commanded by Vice-Admiral Morand de Galles, together with 13,975 veteran troops under General Lazare Hoche, stood ready at the Atlantic seaport of Brest in Brittany. 

On the mild morning of the 16th December, the signal was given to ‘heave short’, as the ships’ cables were pulled short over their anchors; two hours later anchors were weighed and the fleet cleared port.


They eventually arrived at the rendezvous point off Mizen Head on the 21st December and opened their sealed orders, written by Morand and Hoche, containing the location of the proposed landing—Bantry Bay. They were to disembark there and march on Cork, join forces with the United Irishmen and their supporters and push northwards.


The fleet coasted close to Mizen Head before standing out to sea for their approach to Bantry Bay. French fortunes changed when off Duresy Island they picked up a number of Irish pilots, who had sailed out in a hooker in the belief that the French ships were British. Nevertheless, they agreed to guide them into the bay. 

Armee-d'Irlande

The French ships, pitching and rolling, tacked for hours in the strong easterly head winds but made little progress as they navigated Bantry’s natural harbour, with only fifteen ships, including the Immortalité 40-guns, carrying General Emmanuel de Grouchy, the second-in-command, entering the bay. 

A longboat from the frigate Résolue, blown ashore when she was launched to tow the damaged frigate after her collision with the 80-gun Indomptable

The frigate Résolue 32-guns collided with the 80-gun Indomptable and launched a longboat to tow the frigate, but it was blown ashore and taken as a prize, along with Lt. Prointeau and his crew. Meanwhile, the ships outside the bay’s mouth dropped anchor when the gale developed into a storm that lasted two days, preventing their passage into the bay; others were blown back into the open sea.


For four more days the French ships were battered by the high winds, none able to approach the shore without severe risk of being destroyed on the rocky coast, and many losing their anchors as the cables snapped, forcing ships to run before the wind and scatter into the Western Approaches. 


Others were less fortunate: an American ship named Ellis, passing close to Crookhaven on the 29th December, encountered a vessel wallowing in the waves, dismasted and with the deck strewn with bodies. The American captain, Harvey, reported that he approached the ship but was unable to assist her due to the storm and as he watched, the ship was driven ashore and destroyed. This was the 44-gun frigate Impatiente, of which only seven men survived from her complement of 550 crew and passengers. 

French warships, labeled Le Révolutionaire, L'Egalité and The Revolutionary Jolly Boat, being tossed about during a storm blown up by Pitt, Dundas, Grenville and Windham, whose heads appear from the clouds. Charles Fox is the figurehead on Le Révolutionaire which is floundering with broken mast. The Revolutionary Jolly Boat is being swamped, throwing Sheridan, Hall, Erskine, M.A. Taylor and Thelwall overboard.

Harvey also recounted coming across the Révolution and frigate Scévola. Captain Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley was in the process of removing the crew and passengers from Scévola before she foundered, the heavy weather having reduced the 40-gun razee frigate to a sinking condition. 

Rigging layout for a typical upper deck French 6 or 8-pounder gun. Note the securing rope passed through the carriage rather than over the cascabel as seen on British guns, a typically French arrangement.

Ellis was not the only ship to discover Révolution; the long-delayed Fraternité encountered the ships and observed the destruction of the Scévola, which was burnt once she had been abandoned.



With amphibious landings impossible due to the weather conditions, which were the worst recorded since 1708, the fleet had broken up within a week, that left small squadrons and individual ships making their way back to Brest through storms, fog and British patrols.


The British were largely unable to interfere with the French fleet before, during or after the attempted invasion. A few ships operating from Cork captured isolated French warships and transports, but the only significant British response came from Captain Sir Edward Pellew, who was able to drive the French ship-of-the-line Droits de l'Homme ashore in the action of 13th January 1797 with the loss of over 1,000 lives. 

Indefatigable, fires as she bears, with a stern rake into the damaged Droit's de l'Homme - John Steven Dews.
https://www.johnstevendews.com/

In total, the French lost twelve ships captured or wrecked and thousands of soldiers and sailors drowned, without a single man reaching Ireland except as prisoners of war.

A 40-gun French frigate, as depicted by Antoine Roux, that would have typically carried guns like these on her upper deck.

As seen in the picture of the information plate close by one of the guns, these are thought to be 6 or 8-pounders, although my research found a picture below of a very similar gun also held in the Museum of Wales and also recovered from the Glamorganshire Canal which they record as being an 8-pounder.

https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/e76a07a5-928d-325e-a71f-b5a3d48a0059/frenchnaval-cannon-from-glamorganshire-canal/

It also has an inscription in common with these guns, namely the R F either side of an anchor although lacking the Phrygian Cap symbol as seen on the museum piece.

No doubting the French Revolutionary origins of these guns with Égalité and Liberté inscribed on the barrels

As also indicated on the information plate, French 8-pounder naval guns like these are not a common site, with most examples brought on land and used as fortress pieces normally of the heavier types, 18-pounders or larger, carried by ships of the line, and given the history attached to them makes them even more interesting.


There were three French frigates wrecked in and near to Bantry Bay at Crookhaven just along the coast from Mizzen Head:

Surveillante 32-guns wrecked in Bantry Bay on 30th December 1796.
Scévola 44-guns scuttled off Crookhaven after storm damage on 30th December 1796.
Impatiente 40-guns wrecked on 30th December 1796 near Crookhaven. Nearly 550 men drowned.


The 8-pounder was the typical upper deck gun carried by French 36/40/44-gun 18-pounder frigates, with 6-pounders mainly carried by the 32-gun 12-pounder smaller types and corvettes.

L'Incorruptable was a 40-gun Romaine-class frigate built in the 1790's and a sister ship to
 Impatiente wrecked near Crookhaven

The French 8-pounder was slightly heavier than a British pound weight, weighing in at 8lbs 10 ounces.

Inscribed Ramus au Creusot indicating their casting at the Royal Foundry at Creusot in 1796




These pictures of the guns outside Cardiff Castle were courtesy of Ollie, Will's girlfriend, who kindly offered to get me some pictures after I mentioned wanting to get a closer look at them some time during our visit a few weeks ago and she did a great job capturing their detail - cheers Ollie.


Next up - Carolyn and I are off on our travels again at present, this time to another amazing part of the world and I hope to have some interesting stuff to post about here on the blog.


Just to whet the appetite and give a bit of a clue, this place features large in Norse mythology and Sagas, coupled with stunning and often dramatic landscape, and otherwise known as the land of fire and ice.


More anon

JJ

Friday 4 October 2024

Naval Wargames Society Weekend 2024, Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton

 
Last weekend was the annual gathering of the Naval Wargames Society at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton, where I gathered with friends to play the Battle of Camperdown using Far Distant Ships on the Saturday as well as taking some time to get some pictures of the other games on show as fellow naval wargaming enthusiasts got together to get model ships out on the table.

This is the third occasion that I have attended the show, and last year we played Bantry Bay 1796, using Kiss Me Hardy, link below.

JJ's Wargames - Naval Wargames Society Weekend 2023 - Fleet Air Arm Museum Yeovilton

This year, following a ten month build project, I was eagerly looking forward to running out the Camperdown collection complete on a twenty foot by ten foot table to recreate the battle fought off the Dutch coast on the 11th October 1797.

The tables are set up and the models are being put into their start positions for Camperdown

With plenty of help on hand from our ten players, we quickly set about arranging the tables and positioning the fifty models into their start positions, recreating the British attack on the Batavian Dutch line at about 12-midday.

On the opposite twenty foot by five foot table the British are being arrayed in their two divisional groups as closer to camera on the opposite table the Batavian-Dutch line starts to take shape in readiness to receive them.

Once things were set up and the players appointed their respective commands we had a quick briefing on the scenario objectives, specific rules and signalling, and play was soon underway.

As the British began their forty minute approach to battle moves, adjusting sail settings to make best speed towards the Batavian line, as the Batavians did their best to redress their line following several of their ships not managing to maintain their positions, I went and checked out the other games on show.

French and English Ships of the Early Sixteenth Century - Ian Armstrong
I featured Ian's collection of scratch built sixteenth century ships last year, complete with their fighting crews of sailors, gunners and longbowmen and he has added to the collection since then and these models have to be seen to really appreciate the skill and attention to detail that Ian has lavished on this project.

I think you will see that the pictures I took speak for themselves.










The Invasion of Cuba 1762 - Willz Harley 
Willz was explaining to me that this game was very much a tribute to their friend and fellow enthusiast Stuart Insch who had sadly passed away this year but had produced an excellent little scenario book covering actions from the Anglo-Spanish War 1762-1763, part of the wider Seven Years War conflict, which had lots of ideas about how to stage amphibious operations as featured in this particular game.
 

The game depicts a British landing on Cojimar beach, Cuba, via naval landing barges and with the Spanish defending a small fort and shoreline redoubts; the game using Paul Robinson's quick play rules combined with action/event cards and 30mm Spencer Smith figures.






General Quarters I, WWII, Mediterranean circa 1940
I have the newer version of General Quarters WWII naval rules, but I cut my teeth with both WWII and WWI naval games using the old C-in-C rules published back in the seventies with very fond memories of battleship duels knocking off floatation and gunnery boxes playing them that I was instantly reminded of with this particular game, using a set of rules that I got very familiar with back in the day.





American Civil War Participation Game 
The mat and the 1:600 models would presuppose this to be a Peter Pig 'Hamerin Iron' game which I have had the pleasure of playing with fellow Devon Wargames club mates in the past.


ACW naval is very popular and has seen a resurgence of interest in recent times with increasing ranges of 3D printed models now on offer, and this game amply illustrates the potential to turn out a very attractive games with a little attention to some nice models married with an attractive table.




Buoyz 'N Da 'Hood' - Southbourne Tabletop & Boardgamers and Wessex Wyvern Wargames Clubs

Fire and Flood was the title of this game, with HMS Lannister seen here fending off an attack by unknown attack boats (probably Irristanis) in the Red Sea during Operation 'Prosperity Guardian'. 

The information display below explains more about the rules designed to offer fast fun naval action.





Carrier Force - 1/600 WWII Naval Air Combat.
A new set of rules in development were on display designed to recreate carrier task forces striking at one another from over the horizon with some clever ideas using a card driven mechanism for determining spotting and the whereabouts of task forces at any given time plus submarine attacks, which the chaps were preparing to play through when I stopped to take some pictures.


This game was being played on a smallish perhaps four foot square mat with opposing task forces on opposite sides and a centre line demarking opposing sea areas, with the various flights crossing in between.

The rules are in their final playtests and development with a view to publishing in the near future.




The Battle of Camperdown 11th October 1797 -  Far Distant Ships, presented by the Association of Nippers and Powder Monkeys.

We started playtesting Far Distant Ships (FDS) back in January this year with another warm-up game played this month in preparation for this game, and we found the rules offer a great simulation of commanding fleets from this period of the age of sail, very much putting the players in the role of commodores and admirals rather than individual ship's captains.
 

If you missed those previous posts outlining the games we played earlier together with an overview of the rules plus some of the additions and tweaks I added for this game and for using them with 1:700 models you can follow the links above.

Anyone following the project to build the Camperdown collection on the blog will have seen the conclusion of that build in August and the focus shift to planning running the battle as a whole and the table plan that emerged as seen below and which formed the table arrangement for the start of our game, plus some of the scenario rules and chance cards I was intending to use, and there is a link below to my post from August covering these ideas.
 
JJ's Wargames - All at Sea - Battle of Camperdown, Game Planning.

As can be seen, the table plan took shape with the models, including a 'Tactical Cohesion' check for the Batavians in line to see if some of their captains had failed to keep station, with some ominous gaps caused by this test obvious in the rear most ships of their line that had forced other ships out of position and was still causing problems as the British division of Vice-Admiral Onslow bore down on them at about 12.30.

The Monarch and Russell bear down on the Batavian rear with several large gaps apparent from a failure to maintain proper station. Further along the first ships of Admiral Duncan's division lead by the flagship Venerable have just entered the table

One of the key aspects of FDS is the ten minute per move scaling, and it is this scaling that enables an historical battle to be compared with the narrative of the game generated by comparing the historical clock to that of the game and the timing of events as they occured.

The Batavian light ships are moved in a parallel line attempting to cover any gaps with orders to engage British ships of the line successfully breaking through. Note the balance of the British fleet is still deployed on the rear most table.

Thus we had the set up designed to allow both British divisions to arrive and attempt to break the Batavian line at about the same time recorded in the ships logs for that day, that would see Admiral Onslow's leeward division launch their attack at about 12.30 and Duncan's about thirty minutes later.

The PM section of the log from HMS Russell, part of Onslow's leeward division
indicating that her part in the attack opened at 12.37 as she began her action with the Delft.
Taken from 'Great Sea Fights 1795-1805' these logs have proven invaluable in 
helping to plan our Camperdown battle set-up.

What was really great to see was that all the chaps had either no or a little familiarity with the rules but after a few turns of play following the sequence everyone was intuitively following along and the combat calculations were being totted up with very little need to refer to the QRS, other than to check out the results of the occasional critical hit and its associated effects.


The Batavian-Dutch were compelled to fight as per De Winter's plan as the British were with Duncan's response to the situation once he had worked out the need for an immediate attack in line of bearing and with not much regard for any fancy dressing of lines.

The rear of the Batavian-Dutch line open fire on the leading ships of Onslow's division, they now having closed to medium range, close enough to prompt the Dutch broadsides aimed at British hulls. Note the second ship in the Dutch rear, Alkmaar 56-guns has not yet managed to close up on the stern of the Haarlem 68-guns directly ahead.

Another of the key aspects rendered in FDS is the need to signal any changes in orders to the fleets or to specific vessels within it and to get the players up to speed with the signal flags and their respective signal books I briefed each team that they were operating to the respective signals issued by their historical counterparts.


This saw Duncan having already signalled to the British fleet to Sail large, heading East, to pass through the enemy line and to engage the enemy closely, and with De Winter having signalled to form line of battle, heading NE and to engage the enemy. 

My additions to the Signal Book defines to players precisely what these 'General Orders' signals instruct the ships and their captains under their command to do or not do.

I then flew the respective signals for each side illustrating how they were to be arranged and read, and then had the chaps work out what had been signalled and the implications for the way they could fight their ships, which also illustrated how they needed to make signals in the game as required.

FDS has very straight forward stats for each ship that are summarised for the players on the laminated card seen on the table above and below as the Batavian commander works out his firing potential

My Squadron information record card with everything the player/commander needs to know about his ships.

In addition to all the markers required to record damage, morale status and sail settings, range sticks like the one seen above split into close (red), medium and long range, helps to minimise time in play messing about with rulers.

The signalling aspect of FDS also makes the need for small ships to act as repeaters as was often their historical role in big battles and as can be seen below Admiral Duncan was making sure he had a chain of sloops, cutters, luggers and frigates between his two divisions to enable him to better coordinate the two attacks spread along the length of the Batavian line.

So often left out of tabletop and boardgame renditions of great age-of-sail battles, here the small ships of both sides are seen performing their intended roles and completing the look of the battle

The windward division of the British fleet sporting their blue ensigns are followed into the attack by the small 28-gun frigate Circe and the 16-gun sloop Martin

The narrative of our game followed the events of the 11th October 1797 as our game commenced at 12.00 midday, Game Turn 1 that saw the British advance from the positions illustrated on the game planner above, broad reaching and barrelling along, whilst the Batavian line plodded along, close hauled but not without two of their number failing their Tactical Cohesion test and disrupting the rear of their line.

A section of the rules explaining the potential for ships to not be where the players had intended them to be.

This is an addition to the standard FDS rules that I have grabbed from another set of rules, but one that adds that friction to the process of what the commander has ordered possibly messed up by what his captains have managed to deliver - 'oh dear, how sad, never mind'.

The 12-gun cutter King George under Lt. Raines closest to camera, with the 10-gun cutter Rose (Lt. Brodie) on her starboard quarter and beyond the unmistakeable sail set of the 8-gun lugger Speculator (Lt. Hales) connect the rear-most ships of the two British divisions.

The lugger Speculator, closest to camera, with the 50-gun fourth-rate Adamant ahead, and off to starboard the 40-gun frigate Beaulieu followed by the 64-gun third-rate Monmouth, complete the rear-most ships of Vice-Admiral Oslow's leeward division, already pressing its attack on the other table beyond.

The first note in the game log was at 12.42, Game Turn 4, when the Batavian Dutch fourth-rate Batavia opened fire that resulted in Admiral Duncan falling wounded. (Note the game turns work in ten minute increments and for narrative, when events occurred in the game, I simply had the players roll a d10 to discover exactly what the time was for recording in the log).

Firing becomes general among the rear most Batavian ships of the line.


Eleven minutes later at 12.53 during Game Turn 5, the other British flagship, Monarch received a broadside from from the 56-gun Alkmaar, that started a small fire and that was quickly extinguished by the crew, this as Admiral Onslow's leeward division prepared to attempt to break the enemy line.

As the lead ships of the British leeward division start to attempt to break the Batavian line, others close in on the Batavian fourth-rate Delft as they sail to envelop the rear. A slight glimpse of a fire is shown on the furthest British ship in the line, the Monarch as she has closed to short range amid multiple Dutch broadsides.

As the British leeward division attack develops the nearest Batavian ship, the 56-gun Delft has already struck at 12.58 after a stern rake from the 74-gun Russell. Onslow's flagship Monarch is fighting a fire that started at 12.53 after a broadside from the 56-gun Alkmaar, and the Dutch 44-gun frigate Monnikkendam can be seen eyeing up a potential attack on any of the other British third-rates attempting to break the line. Further beyond Captain John Williamson of the Agincourt is living up to his historical billing turning the Agincourt 64-guns away at medium range to begin his ineffectual support.

At 12.58 the Batavian fourth-rate Delft of 56-guns was stern raked by the Russell 74-guns as the latter broke the enemy line and her fire was enough for the Dutchman to haul down his colours.

Firing is breaking out along the length of the Batavian line as Duncan's windward division joins the attack 


With the Dutch rear falling into disarray as the British took advantage of the gaps in their line, Onslow was keen to press the advantage and not waste time having his third rates taking possession of struck enemy vessels and signalled the frigate Beaulieu at 13.00 Game Turn 6, to lower a boat with a boarding party to take possession of the Delft.

Drama! The frigate Beaulieu drops a boat to send a boarding party over to the struck Delft as the battle moves on along the Batavian line. (I have some nice 3D boats with crews ready to add to my collection, but counters are used in the meantime) 

Drama! As the British flagship Venerable 74-guns bore down on the Batavian line, she took fire from the 56-gun Batavia at 12.42, which proved particularly effective, inflicting medium damage and hitting the quarterdeck, leaving Admiral Duncan reeling from a wound to the shoulder and carried below to the surgeon. An additional broadside from the 64-gun Wassenaer added to her woes and the additional damage forced a strike test seeing the Venerable strike, not before Duncan had summoned a boat from the frigate Circe to transfer him and his flag to the British frigate, as the Venerable drifts out of the action

Meanwhile further along the Batavian line, the British windward division led by Admiral Duncan aboard his flagship Venerable was preparing to join in the attack on the Batavian van, however not before the British flagship took a particularly effective broadside from the 56-gun Batavia at 12.42, Game Turn 4 that left the 74-gun third rate with medium damage and a wounded admiral below decks.

The crew of the Speculator look on as the battle grows in intensity

The 74-gun Triumph successfully passes her test to break the Batavian line stern raking the 74-gun Brutus as she does, flagship of Rear-Admiral Treslong and commander of the Batavian blue squadron, forcing her to strike at 13.05.

The woes for the Venerable were only compounded as she received a further broadside from the 64-gun Wassenaer three minutes later at 12.45, Game Turn 4, that was enough to cause the flagship to haul down her colours and turn away from her approach as she was passed by her consorts Triumph and Ardent to press on with the attack and allow Duncan to make preparations to transfer his flag.

The extreme end of the British windward division is brought up by the 64-gun Lancaster as the British attack proceeds with temporary command established following the loss of the Venerable

Captain Sir Thomas Byard of the 74-gun Bedford assumes temporary command of the British windward division as the wounded Admiral Duncan transfers his flag to the frigate Circe

The response to the wounding of their admiral was swift in coming as the two British third-rates Ardent 64-guns and Triumph 74-guns broke in among the Batavians, the former dispatching the Batavia at 13.03, Game Turn 6 with a well delivered broadside forcing an immediate strike, and with the latter passing astern of the Brutus 74-guns and flagship of Rear-Admiral Johan Bloys van Treslong commanding the Dutch blue squadron and delivering a crushing stern rake as she passed having a similar effect as that on the Batavia, with Brutus hauling down her colours at 13.05 Game Turn 6.

All the playing materials cleared from the table as our game draws to a close in turn seven or 13.10 game time, with the British flagship Venerable struck and badly damaged, but with, in response two Batavian fourth-rates struck (Delft and Batavia) and the 74-gun flagship Brutus of Admiral Treslong.  

The panorama of our rendition of Camperdown 2024 seen from the Batavian rear that took the brunt of the initial British attack.

Our game concluded at 13.10, Game Turn 7 with the battle well and truly under way but with me having to get back to Exmouth that evening. 

We had produced a very satisfactory first big battle using FDS with plenty of drama and inspiring me to work with these rules in preparation for other games, with more time to play, say over a weekend, and no doubt much more quickly with greater familiarity.

The rules have marvellous granularity to create the narrative of these big battles but are crafted in such a way to allow the play to roll along quite speedily with no book keeping involved for the players.

Camperdown 2024 and our team of Nippers and Powder Monkeys 

Thank you to the NWS and the management of the Fleet Air Arm Museum for hosting our game. Much fun was had by all and I am looking forward to the 225th anniversary of Trafalgar, not to mention a few other ideas for future games going forward.

Until then, more anon.

JJ